Written on: March 5, 2024 by ICM
NORA is pleased to recognize the trainers who completed the second NORA Accredited Instructor Program (AIP). Jeff Rozga and Alan Wornham, RW Beckett Corp; Michael Warn, Carlin Combustion; and Charlie Burnham, MTEC (MEMA Technical Education Center) at NORA’s Research & Education center in Plainview, NY, on February 1, under the tutelage of professional education trainer Brenda Huber.
L to R: Michael Devine, NORA President; Charlie Burnham; Alan Wornham; Brenda Huber; Bob O’Brien; Jeff Rozga & Michael Warn.
The NORA Accredited Instructor program was developed to help ensure service professionals trained in NORA schools, unions, and by companies in the liquid heating fuels industry have been provided with an education that positions them, their customers, and their companies for success.
According to AIP graduate Michael Warn, “I worked in the field for 40 years but had no professional training on presenting and instead, taught based on my experiences. I felt like I was missing an unknown, integral piece to instructing. I feel that the NORA Accredited Instructor course was extremely beneficial; the three-day workshop is worthwhile and anyone with a passion for teaching should take advantage of it.”
The service professionals in the liquid heating fuels industry are the first and most important contacts with customers. They are responsible not only for ensuring the heating system is operating at maximum efficiency, with safety and reliability, but also with how customers perceive their liquid fuel heating, their adoption of renewable fuels and how comfortable they are with staying with their liquid fuel heating system.
The program began with a prepared presentation by each of the participants. These were critiqued by the instructor as well as others in the class to establish a baseline. From there, the instructor took the participants through the teaching process to elevate their lessons from simply conveying facts to creating a meaningful total-learning experience for the students. The NORA Accredited Instructor program’s emphasis is to present the curriculum in such a way that students “own” the information and not just hear it.
Bob O’Brien, NORA Director of Education, summed up the NORA’s AIP with, “NORA would like to thank the newly accredited instructors and their employers for recognizing the value in improving their classroom skills. Training the next generation of technicians is crucial to the future of the industry, particularly as the transition to renewable fuels accelerates.”
If you are a learning institution or trainer and are interested participating in NORA’s Accredited Instructor program, please contact NORA’s Director of Education, Bob O’Brien at robrien@noraweb.org.
