Report of the MCAA Education Committee

Words: David Hill

The 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.

World of Masonry Education

The MCAA will be offering four courses again at World of Masonry. The foreman Development Program, The MQI program, Basic Masonry Estimating and the Codes and Standard program are all being offered again. The registration for the courses with the exception to Basic Masonry Estimating are very close to numbers we saw last year. The Estimating course numbers are down over last year and we have hired a new instructor this year to help revitalize the program. In addition to these programs, MCAA has partnered with WOM to develop a new hands-on participation booth on the show floor. There will be a schedule of the offerings on the show floor as well as additional promotion from HW. Each session will be 50 minutes in length and will be interactive. These courses are free to attendees and credit for certification will be granted. The MCAA also worked with HW as an educational partner to add several programs to the HW education series to help strengthen the masonry position in their program.

Education Seminars

The MCAA has been offering seminars throughout the country during the year. Programs such as the Wall Bracing Course, the Codes and Standards program and the MQI program have all been offered in a variety of different locations. Attendance has been strong as of late in particular for our Wall Bracing and Codes program. The MCAA has also begun to market the accompanying books strongly at these programs and as a result sales for these books have done very well for the year. We anticipate additional programs being added throughout the balance of the year and expect to continue to see this area be a great growth area for the organization.

On-line Course

The MCAA rolled out a host of brand new on-line courses this past fall (over 80). These courses are all approved for certification credit. There are many courses on a variety of topics from business related courses to safety related courses. The programs even include the OSHA 10 and 30 hour courses and many of the courses offer a Spanish option. Later this year, the MCAA plans to add even further programs which will help round out on-line offerings for the certification program.

Certification

At this time we have 8 certified contractors. This past year we have registered over 50 companies who are aggressively seeking their certification. Many other firms have made contact with the office and have expressed interest and have already begun to accumulate educational requirements. The certification committee also approved the ability for contractors to receive on-line courses beyond what was first approved. Currently contractors must complete two programs in person. One is the MQI program, the other is some form of 4 hours of a code and standard program. We expect that the certification program will take off this year especially in certain geographical locations.

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