How is NexTech Academy organized?
NexTech Academy users can select their trade training track during the sign-up process. We have the following training tracks available:
- Plumbing Technical Training
- Electrical Technical Training
- HVAC Cooling Start (for members that want to start learning the basics of cooling first)
- HVAC Heating Start (for members that want to start learning the basics of heating first)
- HVAC Cooling Only (for members that want to only learn cooling)
When they log in, they will see there training organized into a learning plan that is made up of many courses.
In the learning plan, students will move through four levels of content:
- Fundamentals
- Basic Skills
- Intermediate Skills
- Advanced Skills and Customer Interactions
To pass each level, students must receive an 80% or higher score on their end-of-level test. Each test contains one hundred questions.
What’s In A Course?
NexTech Academy courses blend online technical training components with hands-on skill assessment instruction. Each course contains interactive reading assignments, how-to videos, reflection questions, hands-on skill assessments and course quizzes.
Interactive Reading Assignments: NexTech Academy reading assignments are interactive, which is a lot more engaging than traditional textbook reading. For example, instead of reading about the history of HVAC, students can discover it by exploring an HVAC museum as shown below.
How-To-Videos: NexTech Academy videos break down complex trade tasks and enable students to see the proper and safe way to perform them.
Reflection Questions: It’s important to grasp the bigger picture of working in the trades along with the various technical tasks. Reflection questions challenge the students to understand their role in the greater business and think through how their behavior has an impact on their colleagues and the homeowners they serve.
Skill Assessments: Practice makes perfect and it is the only way to truly understand if a student has retained what they’ve learned. NexTech Academy’s skill assessment activities break down the steps of completing a physical task, explain what equipment a student show practice on and what tools and PPE they need. Training leaders should observe these tasks and sign off on them before a student moves to the next course. See an example below.
Course Quizzes: Similar to the end of level tests, students must receive a passing score of 80% or higher to move on to the next course. Quizzes contain 10 questions.
If you would like to learn more about navigating NexTech Academy, make sure to check out this video, which is part of NexTech’s training resources.
