After travelling the province for much of the last six years, Premier Dwight Ball said he can share lots of stories of young apprentices, into their block training in the trades, who have had to leave where they were working and go to some facility where they would get their training inside an institution.
Providing those people with another opportunity to complete their programs is the focus of a more than $900,000 online training initiative pilot announced by Ball at Academy Canada in Corner Brook on Thursday.
The investment is being delivered under the Labour Market Development Agreement with the federal government.
Through it five programs offered at Academy Canada and College of the North Atlantic will include an online training component.
“Creating online access to training will give students the option (to study) from anywhere, including their home community, while working and participating in block trainings,” said Ball.
Here’s the rundown on the pilot initiative:
Investment
$903,000
Partners
Academy Canada
College of the North Atlantic
Programs
Automotive service technician at Academy Canada
Plumber, construction electrician, welder and carpenter programs at College of the North Atlantic
Getting ready
First phase of pilot involves transferring in-class curriculum to an online learning platform. The platform will be highly interactive and include regular interaction with instructors and classmates through Skype and it will also include the use of simulation software.
When will training start
Training for the five programs will be available in the 2018-2019 training year and is in addition to the existing in-class training option.
Future plan
The province is looking at adding six more trades to the offering.
