Thursday, January 13, 2022

WECA virtually held its first Train the Trainer event of the year on Saturday, January 8. The event was facilitated by GetWired! program leaders Dan Bierly (Curriculum Development and GetWired! Training Manager), Galen Eckert (Electrician Trainee/Continuing Education Online Manager), and Rebecca Archer (Senior eLearning Specialist), and covered topics such as record-breaking enrollment numbers, progress on this semester's labs, how new solar guidelines will impact WECA and the industry going forward, and ongoing exploration of best practices in distance learning and online classroom management.

However, there were some lighthearted moments--like spiritedly debating sci-fi shows such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Dune; instructor Donald Williams sharing pictures of doing electrical work while hanging out with animals during his day job as an electrician at Sea World; and instructor Andre Lewis sharing that Curriculum Development Lead/Senior Education Adviser Rick Labon is the reason why he made it through his Commercial Electrical Apprenticeship program.

"Train the Trainer was awesome. It is always fun to observe the event and also be part of the camaraderie that comes with being a WECA instructor," says Eckert. "It is also refreshing to see that we all do this for one reason--our love of teaching and passing our knowledge down to future generations and knowing that we have changed some people's lives by encouraging them to continue their pursuit of becoming a certified electrician. We also had long, in-depth conversations on how to continue to provide the best possible education for our students and we worked on areas where we could become even better instructors, thus providing an even better learning environment for all involved."

Thanks for hosting and participating in a fantastic Train the Trainer event, everyone! We look forward to sharing in the continued success of the GetWired! program this year!