News
Center Sponsors Distance Learning Pilot in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Posted March 2018
On March 6 and 7 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a class of four mechanics, two from Amtran in Altoona and two from CamTran in Johnstown gathered for a two-day class on bus air brakes. The training was developed under the USDOL American Apprenticeship Initiative project run by the Transportation Learning Center, designed as a self-contained course to be delivered locally by instructors or subject matter experts.
The distance learning exercise was done as a pilot to evaluate its future application to other transit agencies with limited training resources. Many small and medium agencies lack dedicated training staff. Using distance learning complemented by on-site hands-on learning makes it possible for these agencies and their unions to build a structure for training and apprenticeship without having to create the actual training content.
The distance based learning was administered locally by Bernie Walkowsky, CamTran’s director of maintenance from video recorded material provided by Brian Markey, an adjunct instructor at LA Trade Technical College and a retiree from LA Metro. His lectures were hosted on the LA Trade Tech learning management system, complete with lesson plans, slides and 3-D animations. Mr. Walkowski controlled the pace of the presentations, interjecting hands-on exercises and his own commentary as appropriate.
The two-day course was structured around a combination of classroom presentations and hands-on learning with quizzes given after each learning module. Each participant took a 42 question assessment prior to starting, then the post-assessment after completing the course. On average, the mechanics improved their scores by over 26 percentage points from pre-assessment to post-assessment.
This pilot course in Johnstown marks a beginning for high-quality distance learning being pursued by the Center and its partners in labor and management. LA Trade Tech will build on the learning from this pilot, develop additional courses, and run additional pilots to test those courses.
