{"id":92796,"date":"2007-04-04T19:17:02","date_gmt":"2007-04-04T19:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/article\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o"},"modified":"2007-04-04T19:17:02","modified_gmt":"2007-04-04T19:17:02","slug":"competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/business\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\/","title":{"rendered":"Competency-Based Program Proves Its Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"\r<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHardly anyone ever graduates from our program,\u201d said masonry instructor Rick Brown, unemotionally. \u201cBut I need to explain that,\u201d he added with more vigor in his voice.<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur students are so much in demand that they are hired before completing the course. In my eight years here, I&#8217;ve only had five students complete the whole program and wear a cap and gown.\u201d<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brown is in charge of the bricklaying program at the Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College, which was established in 1973. As a regional campus of the Utah College of Applied Technology, the program offers a 960-hour Bricklaying Certificate of Completion and a 600-hour Bricklaying Basics Certificate of Proficiency. Instruction is offered in an open-entry, open-exit, competency-based format.<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI like to think of it as salability-based,\u201d said Brown. \u201cStudents certainly have to be competent, but we are training them to sell themselves to the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI&#8217;m flattered that our program is in demand, but sometimes we have to guard against our own success. I had an employer come in here one day and exclaim, \u2018I&#8217;ll take all you&#8217;ve got.&#8217; It&#8217;s tempting, but, of course, we cannot do that,\u201d Brown emphasized.<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brown&#8217;s open-entry program permits students to enroll any time during the year and begin classes the following Monday. Students have the flexibility to begin study at any time, progress through the course material (of which 20% is bookwork) at their own pace, and end their participation at any time. In order to earn a certificate, students must demonstrate competency when their knowledge and skills have been mastered. The students are evaluated based on written examinations and the demonstration of skills. A 60-hour bricklaying cooperative work experience is included in the Certificate of Proficiency.<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The program&#8217;s employer advisory team influences the whole curriculum, Brown reported. \u201cWe strive to develop marketable graduates. Our advisory team provides the kind of continuous evaluation and feedback that ensures that we are serving the needs of the community by developing entry-level residential and light commercial bricklayers,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\r<\/div><!--nextpage--> <div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to the employer advisory team&#8217;s semi-annual review, the program is formally evaluated every two years by three potential employers. That review considers admission requirements, content, length, objectives, instruction materials, equipment, evaluation methodologies, and competencies.<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each year Brown sends his students to the regional Skills USA competition. They invariably advance to the state level, and very often to the national competition in Kansas City. Brown has been the state chairperson for the Skills USA competition for four years, and believes that it is one of his best teaching tools.<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI require every student to compete on the regional level, regardless of their stage of training,\u201d he said. \u201cI&#8217;ve been amazed at the students who I feel are not picking up the skills, only to have them build a fantastic project in the regionals and move on to the state level.\u201d<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brown also uses preparation for the competition to teach other skills, such as appearance, preparedness, and confidence. Brown requires every student who competes to have a job resume.<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSince we do not offer sports at our college,\u201d Brown stated, \u201cthe Skills USA competition is our \u2018sports&#8217; team, and we take it quite seriously. Every year we have improved our placement at the national competition. Last year we placed 9th. So our spot on the winner&#8217;s stage in Kansas City is just around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the success, recruiting is the greatest challenge of the program. The school&#8217;s marketing department helps, but Brown reports that he spends a lot of time visiting area schools.<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As program advisor, Brown has 30 years of experience in residential, commercial, and industrial bricklaying, including 15 years as owner of his own masonry business. During that time, he took courses at the school in firebox construction and brick sculpturing. He keeps his skills polished by working ten days each year, typically for a member company of his advisory board.<\/p>\r <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I owned my own company, my satisfaction was a paycheck, pat on the back, and the pride of seeing my finished product,\u201d Brown recalled. \u201cI thought I&#8217;d miss that when I became an instructor. I quickly learned that my satisfaction and pride today is seeing my students go off to become a productive member of society.\u201d<\/p>\r<\/div> \r","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cHardly anyone ever graduates from our program,\u201d said masonry instructor Rick Brown, unemotionally. \u201cBut I need to explain that,\u201d he added with more vigor in his voice. \u201cOur students are so much in demand that they are hired before completing the course. In my eight years here, I&#8217;ve only had five students complete the whole [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"scheduledNewsletterDates":[],"_scheduled_newsletter_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"zonda_content_type_url_append":"_o","zonda_dfp_zone":"","zonda_exclude_recommended_contents":false,"zonda_exclude_most_popular":false,"zonda_exclude_tagged_results":false,"zonda_eyebrow":"","zonda_last_newsletter_date":"2099-12-31T23:59:59.999-05:00","zonda_original_url":"","zonda_pdf_version":0,"zonda_print_headline":"Competency-Based Program Proves Its Worth","zonda_promo_abstract":"","zonda_promo_headline":"","zonda_promo_image":0,"zonda_subheadline":""},"tags":[],"news_item_type":[28],"section_10":[15327],"subject":[1119],"organization":[],"award":[],"person":[],"product_type_10":[],"content-group":[135],"event":[],"location":[2121],"state":[1000],"brand":[84326],"jlc-category":[],"year_tax":[],"sponsor":[],"coauthors":[84338],"class_list":["post-92796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","news_item_type-article","section_10-business","subject-brick","content-group-residential","location-manhattan-ks","state-utah","brand-masonry-construction"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Competency-Based Program Proves Its Worth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/business\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/business\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Competency-Based Program Proves Its Worth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cHardly anyone ever graduates from our program,\u201d said masonry instructor Rick Brown, unemotionally. \u201cBut I need to explain that,\u201d he added with more vigor in his voice. \u201cOur students are so much in demand that they are hired before completing the course. In my eight years here, I&#8217;ve only had five students complete the whole [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/business\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Concrete Construction Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-04-04T19:17:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"J. David Holt\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/business\\\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/business\\\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Competency-Based Program Proves Its Worth\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-04-04T19:17:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/business\\\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":716,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/business\\\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/business\\\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\",\"name\":\"Competency-Based Program Proves Its Worth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-04-04T19:17:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/business\\\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/\",\"name\":\"Concrete Construction Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\\\/concrete-construction\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Competency-Based Program Proves Its Worth","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/business\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o","next":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/business\/competency-based-program-proves-its-worth_o\/2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Competency-Based Program Proves Its Worth","og_description":"\u201cHardly anyone ever graduates from our program,\u201d said masonry instructor Rick Brown, unemotionally. \u201cBut I need to explain that,\u201d he added with more vigor in his voice. \u201cOur students are so much in demand that they are hired before completing the course. 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