News and Updates

Linking Technical Experts and Trainers - As Presented by Center Senior Advisor Dr. Chuck Hodell

Posted August 2013

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)  has just published a new guide for trainers and instructional design professionals working with technical subject matter experts.  Entitled SMEs from the Ground Up: A No Nonsense Approach to Trainer-Expert Collaboration, the book was written by the Center’s senior program director for instructional design, Chuck Hodell.  This volume supplements Dr. Hodell’s prior ASTD book, ISD from the Ground Up.

Signals Training Consortium Holds First Set of Courseware Development Team Meetings

Posted July 2013

From July 16-18, signal maintenance Subject Matter Experts from all over the country came together as part of the Signals Training Consortium to work on courseware on three different topics:

*  Switches
*  Train Stops
*  Grade Crossings

The group worked with instructional designers from the Center to create content on these topic areas, ranging from introduction and overview to inspection and maintenance and even started working on troubleshooting of grade crossing systems.

Rail Vehicle Technician Qualification Pilot Held at MBTA

Posted July 2013

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) hosted a pilot of the National Rail Vehicle Technician Qualification Program at two of its rail facilities in Boston, July 9 and 10. Written assessments were administered to nineteen technicians in four subject areas: Couplers, Propulsion and Dynamic Braking, Car Body, and Doors. Their voluntary articipation was part of a process to help validate questions developed by a joint national labor-management committee on rail vehicle maintenance.

TWU and SEPTA Orient Students for Summer Transit Internship

Posted July 2013

Thirteen young people and their parents traveled through a massive Philadelphia rainstorm to get to the TWU 234 union hall Wednesday evening, June 26.  No one wanted to miss the orientation session for the fourth year of the SEPTA-TWU 234 summer internship program.  Students were selected from four Philadelphia High School Career and Technical Education programs.  The TWU-SEPTA Summer Internship runs for eight weeks, paying students for forty hours of work each week.  The students begin with classroom-based safety and background training, followed by summer-long shop assignments where,  working with TWU 234 mentors and SEPTA supervisors, they develop skills ranging from the technical—such as electrical, mechanical and body work—to the “soft skills” necessary for success in any workplace.

Weekly Update for July 3, 2013

Posted July 2013

This week’s update includes stories on Foxx next US Transportation Secretary, transit agencies against patent troll and NJ Transit working to reduce suicides.