Report of the MCAA Education Committee
Words: David HillThe Education Committee has had a very full and busy year. We are charged with providing educational material and information that supplies knowledge and understanding to our industry. Written resources continue to train and educate our members. The Forklift Manual and the Wallbracing Design Handbook and Manual are two prime examples.
This year at the World of Concrete/World of Masonry we are providing four educational seminars. These include: Basic Masonry Estimating, Masonry Forman Development Course, Masonry Quality Institute and Understanding Masonry Codes & Standards. Each of these is very instrumental in seeking to become a Certified Masonry Contractor. We will also be working with Hanley Wood to develop additional topics to expand the masonry offerings at the 2009 convention. We are also analyzing what MCAA's educational offerings need to be next year.
One of our goals for this year was to develop a series of educational seminars that would be offered around the country. To date, we have eight Masonry Quality Institute seminars scheduled. The cities so far scheduled are: Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Tampa, Baltimore, Phoenix, Louisville, KY and Seattle. Masonry Codes and Standards is being offered two times in Chicago. There will also be a Wall Bracing Design Course held in Chicago May 7,2008.
We are looking to set up an approved provider program. This will allow approval of courses and their content. We are in contact with masonry chapters around the country to see what other educational courses can be offered. By partnering with chapters around the country, there should be an abundant supply of educational opportunities.
The masonry certification program is and has been our main focus this year. Over the last year we have been making revisions to the requirements to become certified. Through consultation with our committee, the AIA and other design professionals we have revised the weighted areas of the program. This has required that additional Codes & Standard exam questions be generated. The Masonry Quality Institute section, which stresses the importance of quality and the Codes & Standard section, which focuses on requirements and construction standards have become the drivers of the program. The other components which make up the program include Safety understanding, Ethics and Business Practices, Bidding Practices and Masonry Product knowledge.
Throughout the year, some contractors have been working very diligently to get the required hours needed to take the cettification exam. By the end of this convention, we should have between 12 and 20 companies ready to take the exam. The MCAA plans to offer the first certification exam in June of 2008.
In an effort to make the tracking and management of credits easier for the company trying to become certified, we have been investigating several different avenues. We will be trying to finalize this part after the convention.