UA Local 67 and the CWB Group celebrate the successful launch of Acorn

On December 11, 2019, the CWB Group and UA Local 67 hosted the future graduates of the Acorn pilot (pictured here) to celebrate their many wins throughout the duration of their Level 1 course.

CWB Group, in partnership with UA Canada, recently completed a 10-week Acorn program at UA Local 67 through its trade school called the Technical Trades Academy (TTA). The first class to use its Acorn program for their Welding Apprenticeship Level 1 course provided very positive feedback.

To Dale McGavin, Director of Training at UA Local 67 Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC), the implementation of such an immersive curriculum would be hugely beneficial. Acorn offers interactive online coursework that allows students to engage with their education in a way that’s never been done before. Students are able to take a hands-on approach to their learning where they can go at their own pace, whether it be in-class, online, or mobile.

On December 11, 2019, the CWB Group and UA Local 67 hosted the future graduates of the pilot to celebrate their many wins throughout the duration of their course. Ray Lemieux, Training Specialist at UA Canada and Dale McGavin provided the opening address, and Ian Campbell, director of product development and new ventures at CWB Group led a discussion on the future of Acorn at the CWB Group. Participating students of the pilot program had the opportunity to share their perspectives on the program.

“The biggest advantage of this program is that you are standardizing training,” said McGavin. “One of the biggest challenges from province to province and in each individual institution is that there has not been a consistent approach to programming in the past? People have different ways to teach but the actual course content, standardizing training like this across the board, ensures that what you have in one classroom you have in another. You get consistency. There is a lot of talk about harmonizing training across the country, and I think this is a great way to do that.”

Students expressed their appreciation for a number of aspects of the program materials. One student pointed out the value of being able to look at 3D models of assemblies rather than just 2D drawings to get a clear understanding of a part.

Another student noted the advantage of being able to have the text read out loud through voiceover technology.

A third pointed out that having the option of accessing material through his phone made it easier to study any time and anywhere.

“The students love the interactive aspect of the program, and it’s something that we’ve never done before, which has been great,” said McGavin. “Overall, we are extremely pleased with how the program is mapped out, and the students are really enjoying the online elements. The voiceover option in the program is unique to any other training programs out there because it provides built-in accommodations making it inclusive and individualized for each student that is enrolled.”

The team at CWB appreciated the feedback and hope to hear more from these same students as they continue with their Level 2 course.

“I think it’s important to get this feedback because we can sit and make curriculum but really the value of that curriculum is in how the students interpret it and how they use it,” said Campbell. “Having a pilot like this is great because we’ll get people who have gone through all three years and we’ll be able to see where we got things right and where we need to improve and we’ll be able to fix those.”

Dale McGavin (l) addresses students during the celebration of the course completion alongside CWB Group's Ian Campbell.

“Our partnership with Acorn has given our individual locals the much-needed resources and teaching tools which cannot be overstated,” shared Ray Lemieux, Training Specialist at UA Canada. “When travelling around the country, the biggest obstacle we encounter is the issue of time for our welding instructors to produce and deliver in-class theory training in a professional manner. Building trade school content to the extent which Acorn has delivered can only increase the level of success and learning opportunities that our students will receive. We as an organization are very excited about our partnership with CWBi Acorn as we standardize our welder training programs. The continuing education of our members through the modern and constantly updated training material provided by this partnership will help us achieve the objective of staying leaders in the piping industry.”

UA Canada and CWB Group announced their partnership at CWB Group’s annual Educators Conference in May, and both organizations hope to advance the enrolment in the skilled trades to boost Canadian economic performance through various initiatives and programs.

Due to the success of the pilot program, the JATC under the UA Canada umbrella hopes to implement Acorn into their Level 1, 2, 3 apprenticeship courses over the next year. Through strategic partnerships such as these, the CWB Group hopes to increase awareness around the skilled trades and encourage young professionals to consider welding as a viable and outlasting career option.