ACC Uses Solar Expertise to Train Instructors Statewide

The Austin Community College District is now sharing its expertise in solar panel installation training with instructors from around the state.

This summer the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) awarded ACC a $74,000 grant to develop courses that will educate other community college and technical school faculty in entry-level solar panel installation teaching methods.

This month, ACC Continuing Education launched the pilot portion of the “Train-the-Trainer” program. Instructors participating in the pilot are assisting the ACC project team in fine-tuning the course content so it may be finalized and offered on a regular basis starting in 2010. Ten instructors in the pilot program are spending four days at ACC learning the teaching methods of entry-level solar panel installer training. They also go through an online component of the course.

“Interest in the training has been so strong, ACC now has a waiting list of over 20 additional faculty planning to take the Solar Train-the-Trainer in 2010,” says Kirk White, interim executive dean for Continuing Education. “As the demand for more solar panel installers increases, so too does the need for knowledgeable faculty at the colleges that will train the installers of the future.”  

ACC offered its first solar panel installation courses in 2006, with the assistance of SECO.

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