What do an RV cookbook author, an emergency declaration and an RV training school have in common? A new hybrid RV maintenance training program being offered by the Athens, Texas-based National RV Training Academy (NRVTA).
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Henderson County Commissioners Court issued emergency orders this month limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people and temporarily shuttering all schools in the state. NRVTA had to restructure its RV technical training classes taught at the Big Red School House in Athens.
“On the surface, these restrictions in response to the COVID-19 virus were going to be paralyzing to the academy and its upcoming classes,” NRVTA President Terry Cooper said. “However, many times adversity creates new opportunities that we might never attempt if we were not pushed to seek other methods.”
By the time restrictions were announced, the academy had already sold out registrations for scheduled classes. However, many students could no longer get out of their communities to attend training, nor could the academy offer classes under the government’s orders.
Evada Cooper, the author of RV Centennial Cookbook and host of My RV Kitchen, as well as one of the owners of the Texan RV Park and NRVTA, went into cooking mode.
“If you are working on a recipe and are missing some ingredients, then you have to become creative in substituting some of the missing items,” she said.
She noted NRVTA had an inventory of:
- Sold out technical classes.
- Instructors that needed and wanted to train people.
- An existing training curriculum called the Home Study Program which had already been recorded and placed on flash drives, or could be downloaded to any computer or cell phone.
- Printed books and handouts.
- A fiber-optic high-speed internet connection.
- Video cameras that can stream material into a classroom or onto the internet.
The key missing ingredient was the ability to open classrooms for large numbers of students to utilize. So, during a recent staff meeting, Evada Cooper challenged the staff to develop creative alternatives. The team came up with a hybrid plan to take content found in the home-study version of the NRVTA Basic RV Maintenance Program and schedule a series of live video feeds. That way an instructor can deliver training and answer questions students may have pertaining to the material or prescribed assignments.
The home-study option involves viewing prerecorded modules that run eight to 15 minutes in length and utilizing the same books or handouts used in live classes.
“This format is just like college courses where students read and review material before coming to class, then listen as the instructor reviews key points and answers questions related to that day’s material,” Evada Cooper explained.
The online lectures are reinforced by having an instructor capture on-the-job examples of testing and repair procedures conducted in one of the academy’s three service bays or at the adjacent Texan RV Park. For example, if the instructor were demonstrating how to perform a timed pressure drop test on a propane system or a hot skin electrical test, students would have the opportunity to observe close-up how the procedure is done and ask questions about any aspect of the operation.
Students who are unable to participate in the live online training can review a recording of the lesson at a later time. Students who participate in the hybrid course will have the opportunity to attend a live version of the same class at NRVTA within a year at no additional cost.
If the emergency declarations remain in place for an extended period of time, then the same hybrid-class format will be developed for the NRVTA Advanced RV Inspector Level II course as well as for each of the four advanced technical classes pertaining to air conditioners, RV absorption refrigerators, water heaters/furnaces and exterior systems, like slide-outs, leveling systems, roofs and running gear.
“As people of faith, the owners of the National RV Training Academy believe, as our forefathers did, that we can have divine inspiration and attain creative ideas if we just pray and ask for direction from our Heavenly Father,” Terry Cooper said.
“Utilizing this type of hybrid instruction may allow NRVTA to train many more students remotely and just as effectively had they traveled to Athens for a live class,” he added.
“Nothing will really replace participating in a live class where students can take advantage of hands-on labs and form personal relationships with instructors or other members of the class,” he said. “However, we are encouraged by this development and think it will be a real game-changer in how RV technicians are trained in the new economy.”
For more information on the hybrid class, visit the NRVTA website, email [email protected] or call 903-386-0444.
