PLC Courseware and Reference Material Update

Greg Greiner August 12, 2019 No Comments

Sometimes, in the world of electricity, no matter how hard you try, something causes the imaginary smoke to be let out of what you are working on and you have to regroup…

Recently, unexpectedly, and unfortunately the electrical training ALLIANCE was informed that the current PLC textbook Programmable Logic Controllers (S597) will become no longer available once the publisher’s existing inventory is depleted, and subsequently (nearly simultaneously) our requisition of those books depleted their inventory.  Therefore, our orders exceeded the anticipated availability.  As an interim solution, we have built a course based around ATP’s textbook Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers (S531).  In fact several of you, have already received this new textbook.   This interim course was listed as part of the upcoming catalog release, and will be used until a complete new training course and system is completed. (More info below)

It is anticipated that the interim replacement LMS course Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers (J162LM) will be ready in mid-August and at that time, we will be scheduling webinars to review the material and review any changes and questions that you may have.   This course will replace the current, Programmable Logic Controllers, Level I (J237LM.J1) and Programmable Logic Controllers, Level II A (J237LM.J2A) training, and will utilize existing Allen-Bradley/ Rockwell Automation SLC 500 processors.  These would be the suitcase style PLC trainers and also include many of the processors on your instrumentation trainers, in fact some have asked previously, “How can we use these trainers we still have?”   Well this may just be the perfect opportunity.

Additionally, it was anticipated that the select programs which participate in the Programmable Logic Controllers, Level II T (J237LM.J2T) course, would continue to be able to be supported with textbooks and LMS courseware.   Unfortunately, this does not appear to now be possible.   We sincerely apologize for this unfortunate circumstance.  Should you have a critical need to support your tag-based system training please contact Jason Lunardini to discuss a solution.

The bright side to this unfortunate situation is, the electrical training ALLIANCE had already begun investigating and planning the process of updating the overall PLC training course in advance of this issue.   The new course is going to based on a newer Allen Bradley product, the Micro 800 series controller, and we believe this will offer a flexible and very cost effective training solution to provide introductory PLC training, as well as grow into more advanced motion control topics.  This system will be a wholesale change of not only textbooks and LMS courseware, but also hardware, and offer free software support, all being done in a hands-on lab based format.  Look for more information on this in late 2019 and early 2020.

 

Should you have purchased the existing textbook Programmable Logic Controllers (S597) and companion LMS courses Programmable Logic Controllers, Level I (J237LM.J1), Programmable Logic Controllers, Level II A (J237LM.J2A), Programmable Logic Controllers, Level II T (J237LM.J2T), and would prefer to utilize the interim single course textbook Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers (S531) and LMS course Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers (J162LM) please contact Steve Strickland (sstrickland@electricaltrainingalliance.org).  Should you have technical questions regarding the interim and future courseware, existing trainers, new ideas or what the weather is like in Pittsburgh, please contact Jason Lunardini (jlunardini@electricaltrainingalliance.org)

 

Thanks for Reading!

Introducing the New Mobile Application for use at NTI

Greg Greiner July 22, 2019 No Comments

NECA and the IBEW, with collaboration from the electrical training ALLIANCE are excited to announce the deployment of our new ProTech Skills Institute mobile application.  As mentioned in our previous announcement, IBEW and NECA created the ProTech Skills Institute to offer new tools and resources to serve your needs.  Streamlined services and tools with high functionality have been requested by you and this new mobile application was designed to do just that.


We are launching this now in time for NTI.  On it you will find all NTI tools for a great experience in Ann Arbor including maps, the event guide, your personal schedule, communications and much more.  Beyond NTI, this mobile application will be a central location for accessing upcoming and future service tools and resources without need of downloading new apps each time.  This newly architected solution will become a single-stop location to access all of the many resources you have requested of NECA and the IBEW to support you with.

Please take a moment and watch the video announcement above of this new application, where to access and download it and how it will be a primary tool for use at our 30th Annual NTI.

 

Download the app from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store or from the https://protechskillsinstitute.org website.

 

 

Introducing the ProTech Skills Institute

Greg Greiner July 8, 2019 No Comments

It is the mission of the electrical training ALLIANCE to develop and standardize training to educate the members of the IBEW and NECA contractors to insure and provide the most highly trained and highly skilled workforce possible.  To be effective and competitive in the electrical industry, ​we must constantly improve ​our processes and enhance our services ​for you. You have told NECA and the IBEW the areas that need focus and you have been heard.  Please take a moment and view this exciting announcement of how NECA and the IBEW have created the new ProTech Skills Institute.

 

 

July 2nd internet outage impacting TMS and LMS systems

william orick July 2, 2019 No Comments

On July 2nd users accessing the TMS and LMS systems experienced connectivity issues. A major internet outage impacted many users nationwide from 9:44am to 10:14am ET.  The outage impacted many websites and services across the country, including Amazon, Google, and the electrical training ALLIANCE systems.  We are continuing to monitor all systems and will post again if anything new arises.  At this time the internet has stabilized.

In the event of service interruptions ETA will place notices on the login pages for https://blendedlearning.njatc.org and https://manage.electricaltraining.org. when those are accessible.

You can also check www.onlinesystemstatus.org for current system status of the TMS and LMS sites.

TMS and LMS connectivity issues on June 24th

william orick June 25, 2019 No Comments

On June 24th users accessing the TMS and LMS systems experienced regional connectivity issues. One of the internet backbone connections that link different parts of the country together experienced intermittent issues from 6:23am till 8:33am ET. This outage prevented some of our users from reaching the TMS and LMS systems.

  • The outage impacted many websites across the country including the LMS and TMS systems.
  • Not all users were impacted. The outages were regional in nature.
  • The TMS and LMS systems themselves were functional during the outage.
  • Outage notices were posted on the TMS and LMS login pages during the outage.
  • The Electrical Training Alliance will continue to employ and add best practices to notify our users of any service interruptions.

In the event of service interruptions ETA will place notices on the login pages for https://blendedlearning.njatc.org and https://manage.electricaltraining.org.

You can also check www.onlinesystemstatus.org for current system status of the TMS and LMS sites.

Mentoring Playbook

Marty Riesberg May 22, 2019 No Comments

Over the course of many years programs have expressed interest in beginning a mentoring program in their JATC, but many have not done so due to the initial inertia required to get a program started. For this reason, as a service to the local JATCs, the electrical training ALLIANCE has created a Mentoring Playbook.

This Playbook is intended to assist you in creating and implementing a mentoring program in your JATC without the need to re-create the wheel. The resources in each “lesson” are intended to serve as a starting point for things such as a program announcement, mentor applications, and project timelines that may be modified to fit your local needs.

The idea of the Playbook came from an NTI “C” Group session in 2018. Since then the Playbook has been created and a number of pilot programs have already begun at JATCs. To hear more about the Playbook and how these pilot programs have fared, plan to attend another “C” Group session this NTI (time and location still TBD).

LinkedIn Learning removes Lynda.com name and how it may affect you

Greg Greiner May 21, 2019 No Comments

As you may know, LinkedIn purchased Lynda.com. This is not new or fake news..really its rather dated news… But, great things are happening there! Due to that purchase a few years ago, LinkedIn created a subsidiary called LinkedIn Learning. Up until this week they carried the Lynda.com name with them as a part of their learning platform. Change is and has been coming and it’s been pretty seamless so far. One thing you will note over the next few weeks will be the Lynda.com course titles in the LMS & TMS will be updated. Courses previously identified as Lynda.com courses will now utilize the LinkedIn Learning identifier in the title.

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New Online Test Generator Active – Webinar Video Available

Greg Greiner May 14, 2019 No Comments

There were over 128 participants on the New Test Generator (TG) GoToWebinar that took place on Friday May 3rd.  The webinar discussed most of the features with a live demonstration of creating, administrating, and reviewing the test with live students.  The new TG is live for all Inside JATC Training Centers and awaiting for the Training Director to activate the system.

The recording was post-edited (47 mins) with additional comments and is now available to watch.

The programmers will be adding this video to the Orange Help block on the TG home page in the near future.

Be sure to ask questions if you have any issues.  Keep in touch!

BBall@ElectricalTrainingAlliance.org