Minutes for the Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council (TCCC)
Semi-Annual Meeting
Crowne Plaza Universal, Orlando, FL
December 3-4, 2003
Attendees:
Bill Albaugh, FDOT
Christie Anderson, IA DOT
Michael Arasteh, FHWA- RC
Bill Beuter, VDOT
Michael Clark, NICET
Jack Cowsert, NC DOT
Howe Crockett, FHWA- WFLHD
June Dea, Program Administrator
Ewa Flom, FHWA-NHI
Sandy Greenwood, Univ. of FL CTQP
David Grouchy, FHWA-OPD
Sharon Holmes, FDOT
Tom Malerk, FDOT, AASHTO Materials
Paula McGee, AASHTO Training Directors
David McKee, ATSSA
Christopher Newman, FHWA - HIAM
Lee Onstott, NMSHTD, AASHTO Construction
Robert Peda, PennDOT
Ananth Prasad, FDOT
Leo Stevens, NETTCP
Douglas Townes, FDOT
Day One
Crockett - Welcome & Introductions
Information Sharing
Chris A. - The annual M-TRAC meeting was not held because of travel funding restrictions. There are 3 weeks of training for new employees in IA DOT. They are developing more classifications and intend to use the curriculum design.
Cathy B. - MNDOT has an inspector development program - 75% contractor, 25% DOT. There are large layoffs and 120 people being promoted to project managers. There is a 3 week bridge construction course available for advanced inspectors.
Doug T. - Getting final estimates on a FL specific qualifications course. Need help with on-line registration. Also need help with an OSHA 10 course for DOT employees.
Bob P. - Attended the AASTO subcommittee on Maintenance meeting. Developed a joint salary survey along with TRB, but need an e-version. Have a training effectiveness analysis tool. Added 5 or 6 courses to the main training matrix. NICET is working with closely with PennDOT in 90 separate areas with a kickoff in Jan. '04. Adopted an ASCE auto mechanics course for DOT mechanics. Had strong support in maintenance foreman on the job training.
Mike C. - NICET performs certification, licensure and apprenticeship. AASHTO standards are state fed. Need to get rid of state specifics in effort to standardize.
Bill A. - FL is rethinking training to meet changes in organizational philosophy. Need to use fees to support the entire course cycle - development, teaching, updating.
Dave M. - ATSSA has a longitudinal barrier systems course. CBT is not fully meshed into their training.
Sharon H. - FL moving from scheduled training to on-demand training. CBT allows immediate feedback. Maintenance rating program as a measure for construction.
Mike A. - Bridge construction inspection course still needs participation from states and academia. Workshops on the material aspects in 2004.
Tom M. - Attended subcommittee on Materials. Resolution for training effectiveness was the main issue. The Materials Subcommittee supports the resolution but didn't vote on it, since the Maintenance Subcommittee passed a supporting resolution. Confusion of AASHTO vs. ASTM standards - FL just uses AASHTO. Refer to handout for current SETFTTQ issues.
Lee O. - AASHTO Construction subcommittee wants TCCC to support their resolution to adopt design CBT for construction folks. Wants TCCC input to incorporate existing training. A basic survey course is needed; our consultant can modify the NM course for national use. NM is partnered with WAQTC to develop materials training. Other NM courses - bridge training, project managers course (people/negotiation skills), Road scholars program for basic skills like surveying, math, etc. There needs to be more coordination effort - for example, Mike Praul's bridge painting course in the NE.
ACTION: Lee will get estimates and a proposal from his consultant to modify the NM surveying course for national use.
Paula M. - Course updates are needed on the website. NM is in need of flagger training and exploring a transportation university. NM has web-based training with 11,000 classes tested the last 1½ yrs.
Cathy B. - MNDOT has a flagger course to certify consultants as trainers.
Jack C. - NC technicians have skill based pay and are tied to certifications. Problem with lower grade technicians. Private firms want evening and weekend training.
Bob P. - PennDOT has an annual construction academy - contractors can attend but must pay.
Bill B. - VADOT is in the 1st year of the inspector training program. Is considering following the PennDOT model for the inspector training report. Losing 25% of inspectors in the next 5 yrs. Resident Engineer Academy is on CD and available through Chris N. The report is 15 pages with huge attachments.
ACTION: Chris N. will post the RE Academy document (without attachments) on the TCCC website.
Leo S. - NETTCP has started round 2 of the QA technologist course. The book is being printed. Reciprocity with NY state is starting but still a problem.
Chris A. - TRB has a game to determine training for new technology. Linda Mason with TRB sent me a copy of Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 96 titled "Determining Training for New Technologies: A Decision Game and Facilitation Guide".
TCCC Business Planning Meeting (Chris Newman)
The council members discussed the outstanding business issues for the TCCC - AASHTO official representation, funding, marketing, and the NHI agreement. The AASHTO CEO appointment is still unresolved. We are still waiting for a response from FHWA management. The TCCC/NHI agreement should give more weight for AASHTO.
The TCCC has $650K in commitments but actual obligations amount to $365K. The funding available for training and curriculum development is about $300K. There is a disparity between commitments vs. obligations that needs to be straightened out with the pooled funds manager.
The response to the division memo for greater participation was poor. TCCC needs to get the Resource Centers more involved. We need to utilize the RC's marketing experts to promote the TCCC. Paula McGee is interested in working with the RC marketing person(s). The division champions still need to be determined. In order to get action on this, we need support from Division Administrators. TCCC could invite host state's DA to the meeting.
The brochures and marketing material for TCCC needs to be updated. Communication with research divisions is critical. TCCC should be marketed to state chief engineers so they can push the TCCC case to research and make sure the money is obligated and put it into the state work plans early on. TCCC members need to go back to their regions and promote the program. States that are not already members need to be made aware that there is no minimum to join the program.
ACTIONS: Have the most recent TCCC PowerPoint presentation posted on the website and continually updated. Follow-up with AASHTO CEO letter. Obtain more complete financial record of TCCC budget from FHWA finance. Follow up with Resource Marketing personnel concerning marketing of the TCCC. (Chris N.)
ACTION: June will attach a budget report to the minutes.
ACTION: Members need to promote program to the state chief engineers, research divisions and Resource Centers. (All)
TCCC/NHI Agreement
Chris Newman distributed the latest revision of the TCCC/NHI Partnership Agreement for the Council's review. The members provided their critique.
- The 5 regional groups present don't represent all the states. There needs to be language to cover non-represented states in the agreement.
- NPHQ should be listed on page 2 of the agreement
- The scope needs clarification on who has access to the material
- Delete "highway" to incorporate intermodal
- Maintenance needs to be mentioned specifically in the agreement 5th line, 1st page.
ACTION: Chris N. will revise the agreement and provide members with a final draft.
TCCC Website
The council members listed areas of the website that need improvement. The group was informed by Dave Grouchy that the LTAPs are considering implementing a course database. They would like to work with together with the TCCC on the database.
- The process for course input needs to be improved and posted on the website
- Explore the addition of a professional web master that can dedicate the time to the implementation, updating, and improvement of the web site
- Need a search button
- Need a pooled fund page
- Private sector, association, and LTAP training resources need to be linked
- Need a dedicated webmaster for updates
- Need a hit counter
- Post NCHRP courses
- Explore an automatic subject notification feature, Ex. Safety exchange issues
- Need auto uploads
ACTION: Chris N. will provide Dave G. with TCCC website info. Will locate a dedicated individual for the website.
Use of Remote Testing Centers (Doug Townes)
Doug discussed the lessons learned from American Concrete Institute (ACI) remote testing. Refer to the presentation for details.
TCCC/NTTD Joint Meeting (Chris Anderson)
The meeting is set for the week of October 31, 2004 in Kansas City. The council decided that it will be best to have a totally separate TCCC meeting at the same time and hotel so that there will be the opportunity to have joint sessions with NTTD and avoid the confusion of co-sponsoring a joint meeting. The council discussed inviting technical training coordinators to the meeting, but was uncertain whether funding and travel approvals could be obtained for their travel.
ACTION: Chris N. will contact Rick Barnaby re funds for NTTD meeting and inquire about FHWA funding for technical trainers.
ACTION: Regional groups will provide Chris A. a list of their region's technical training coordinators
Computer Based Training - Florida's Experience (Doug Townes & Coastal Training)
Doug outlined the pros and cons of software packages used to develop CBT. FDOT sends engineers to learn the software and then have them train the trainers. Florida decided that Dreamweaver was an inadequate software package to use for their CBT course development.
A presentation on site-specific training was given by Coastal. Coastal hosted a site for FDOT to allow their employees to test. Coastal provided the passwords as needed to FDOT and hosted the test. An example of this is the OSHA 10 course that was developed by Coastal. Coastal also has a custom creator software package that allows you to create your own course. The company is willing to co-develop if the course can be used for other applications. Custom developed interactive CBT takes an average of 6 weeks of work per one hour of interactive training. The industry average is $1000-2000 per finished minute, varying according to content. The normal cost per course is $60-$100K per course.
Computer Based Training Discussion
The council discusses the merits of Mike Moravec's proposal to extract construction training from the Geometric design CBT series and tailor it for the TCCC. Some members liked the idea because a product can be produced quickly. Others were concerned because they questioned how relevant the info in the CBT series is to construction and skeptical on how well it can be tweaked. The group also discussed whether CDs is the best platform to go as some members favored web-based training. The council decided it was best to hold a videoconference with Mike Moravec and get more definitive answers to these questions and also get answers to costs and funding issues. 508 compliance was also raised as an issue with future CBT course development.
ACTION: Mike Arasteh will set up a videoconference between Mike Moravec, Chris Newman, Lee Onstott, Ananth Prasad and Paula McGee to discuss funding and the timeline for modifying the Geometric design CBT series for construction.
NICET Update (Mike Clark)
NICET is working closely with PennDOT and using the maintenance matrix developed for TCCC as well as involved with PennDOT training academies. They currently have 7 programs in the highway arena.
Train the Trainer (Chris Anderson)
Debbie Gwaltney is the NHI lead in this effort. NHI is taking the NM course to fast track it. NHI is not offering any course instruction, but Serji is interested in teaching and can help with the development as well. There should be a schedule available for this by the next meeting. FDOT can provide pilot participants and an evaluator.
Training Effectiveness (Chris Anderson)
The resolution has gone forward through the Subcommittees on Maintenance and Construction. Lee O. will find out what the status is and what processes are involved. Chris A. will follow-up with Lee and report to the group.
ACTION: Lee will contact the Construction subcommittee to get a status report. Chris A. will report findings to TCCC.
Certification/Decertification Discussion
The members discussed situations where technicians were put on probation or decertified in their states. An important consideration that came out of the discussion is that decertification is a serious matter and should not be done lightly. It is means for a livelihood and decertification may prevent an individual from making a living. There must be due process and peer review.
Day 2
Bridge Construction Inspection Course Update (Mike Arasteh)
Mike provides the group with a course outline. The technical panel had a videoconference on Sept. '03. NHI has the final RFP. The class is scheduled for 4 ½ days and the target audience should have a HS diploma. Certification will be part of this course. Mike queried the group to provide him more training materials. Bill B. will send info on an inspector course. Robert Salazar from NM and Linda Hughes of WA and MinnDOT have applicable bridge information. NICET is developing a testing track in conjunction with this course. A suggestion was made that precast concrete should be changed to prestressed concrete to prevent confusion.
NHI Course Update (Ewa Flom)
Ewa provided the council updates on courses relevant to the TCCC. Please refer to the course update attachment.
ACTION: June will provide members with Ewa's and Peter Osborn's course updates.
Curriculum Development (Chris Newman)
The matrices for materials, construction and safety need to be completed. NHI has a consultant that can work with the group to complete the matrices. The SOW for the consultant should be done in a few weeks. The council is looking to complete the project in 4 to 5 months. Here are the primary tasks of the consultant.
- Use employee development and maintenance matrices as a model
- Work on other matrices to completion
- Overlay course with matrix.
- Identify subject areas; disciplines within subjects, then appropriate courses
- Locate gaps and identify what remains to be done
- Collate training that exists using the TCCC dbase as a source
- Packaging and marketing the curriculum
ACTION: Jack and Howe will provide Chris with the latest materials
LTAP (Dave Grouchy)
Dave Grouchy of the LA LTAP center introduces himself to the council. He suggests that the LTAP may be able to help in the train the trainer area. He also suggests that there may be ways to combine different databases into a national course database. Dave will continue to represent LTAP at the TCCC meetings.
Surveying Course (Lee Onstott)
Lee recommends that the council consider funding modification of a NM course on surveying for inspectors for national use. The cost would be nominal - $12 to $18K. The members voted to support development of this course. Dave G. mentions there is a CD based course available in LA free of charge. The members agree to spend a few weeks evaluating available materials (Ex. LA, VA, AZ)
ACTION: Lee will package the information and distribute to the council.
Breakout Sessions for the Remain of Day 2
Curriculum matrix working session
Next Meeting
June 8-9th, 2004. Portland, OR and Pittsburgh, PA were suggestions.
