Canadian College Launches ‘Classroom on Wheels'

September 24, 2008 • Selkirk College is launching the first Industrial Mobile Training program in West Kootenay, British Columbia, thanks to a $74,000 contribution from Columbia Basin Trust.

The program will consist of a unique educational plan where equipment and instructors travel to communities to offer specialized industrial training. The “classroom on wheels” will travel throughout the local region on a 40-foot flat-bed trailer and truck tractor.

 

The new mobile training program will be implemented in two phases. The first, which is taking place this year, will see participants being able to take provincially licensed certification in general areas such as forklift, air brakes, industrial rigging and scaffolding. Phase two will launch in fall 2009, and will see a more specialized curriculum identified after further discussion with industry employers about which additional skills are most needed.

 

The mobile classroom is a new way of tackling concerns about employers' needs in the industrial sectors, as well as a means to supply additional education in industry to students from communities across the Basin.

 

Vi Kalesnikoff, dean of community, corporate and international development at Selkirk College, said Selkirk is excited about the program. “Selkirk is a community college, and we feel that it is part of our responsibility to respond to the needs of our community,” said Kalesnikoff. “We've known about a need for more training in the industrial field for the last five years, and with the funding from CBT, this program provides an opportunity for us to move in a direction that responds to our region's needs.”

 

For more information, contact Vi Kalesnikoff.