UA Canada and CWB Group celebrate the first Acorn pilot program
On December 11, 2019, CWB Group and UA Local 67 celebrated the first Acorn pilot program for the Welding Apprenticeship Level 1 course. Students, CWB Group members and instructors alike did a roundtable discussion on what the students enjoyed most about the course. As the first pilot program, students and instructors were encouraged to provide feedback because one of the exciting features of Acorn is that the curriculum is updated frequently throughout the year, meaning that suggestions for improvement are always welcome and will be implemented by the team at CWB Group.
Some of the students were extremely excited to share their thoughts and comments on the programming with one student sharing that throughout his career, he has done a lot of CWB testing and wouldn’t be where he is today without the stringent standards that have been set in place by the CWB Group. He admitted school was a continuous struggle, but after enrolling in our pilot program, he found the interactivity and visual focus of Acorn to be extremely beneficial to his learning. He likes being able to see what he’s building and welding and has thoroughly enjoyed all that Acorn has offered him as a student. “The accessibility was huge for me; being able to access the curriculum through my phone or laptop at home. Although the manual notes are great in class, being able to access it anywhere and everywhere was something that I really appreciated,” shared another future graduate. In speaking to the students at the event, it was clear that they were thoroughly impressed with Acorn and welding as a trade and are excited to complete their Welding Apprenticeship Levels 2 and 3, which was a great accomplishment for both UA Local 67 and CWB Group.
CWB Group and UA Canada have dedicated their organizational efforts to bringing awareness to the trades and encourage young people to consider them as viable career options. Partnerships such as these and the success we experienced in this pilot program are the reason that we continue to drive engagement towards welding and invest in its future. “I’d like to thank you all for picking welding as a trade,” said Ian Campbell, Director of Product Development at CWB Group, in his closing remarks. “You are going to be a group of people that are going to be very much in demand in the future.”
The instructors also provided us with invaluable feedback and said that they loved the fact that the curriculum sees quarterly updates that the instructors are informed simultaneously. This was the main focus of our pilot program; to gain feedback on what was successful and where improvements can be made to continue to drive Acorn forward. As a flexible learning platform that can be quickly adopted on its own or adapted to fit within existing training initiatives, Acorn sets its students up for success because it is tailored to each student and fits within their learning practices.
If you have any questions about how Acorn can help you, please contact Jiah Yang at jiah.yang@cwbgroup.org or visit www.cwbgroup.org/acorn for more information.
