All AC/C TECH programs have an externship component linked to its courses. Those include all seven Technical Certificate programs and the AAS Degree. Students are required to document 15 hours of OJT (On-Job-Training) assignments for each course, which represent 0.33 semester credits. The OJT assignment must align with the course lessons, and the OJT documentation must be submitted to AC/C TECH within 6-months, after conclusion of the didactic portion of the interactive distance lessons. For example, while a student learns about electric furnace maintenance, he/she could assist in repairing or cleaning a furnace. While a student learns about interior building maintenance, he/she could assist in restoring a vacant apartment unit to a market ready condition for leasing. This experience is truly meaningful because it represents 15 hours of training/learning experience, and more importantly, it can identify how well students are completing assignments which leads to fulltime job placements.
If you recall, part of our mission is to recruit students according to job demands of employers, and once recruited, the student will be assigned to an apartment community to complete lab and OJT assignments. This partnership gives students an opportunity to gain practical experience, learn employer expectations, and showcase their skills. Once more, completion of OJT assignments gives students a great chance to secure a job.
Self-employed students, and those who may not qualify to work at apartment communities, may do OJT assignments at their jobsite or another location. This alternative was incorporated with the intent of accommodating all student’s educational desires and job expectations.
Externship/Internship Training Objectives
Maintaining standards is paramount important at AC/C TECH because it will assure that our students/graduates can do the work expected by the employer. Therefore, much in the same way the instructional staff evaluates students academically, maintenance supervisors monitor and evaluate the student’s OJT performance and report outcomes to AC/C TECH. This process allows maintenance supervisors to point out deficiencies and it helps students build knowledge, skills, and competencies.
The primary objectives include but are not limited to the following:
Work Orders
Students may be evaluated on how effectively they completed assignments, e.g.: did the student understand and respond to the work order correctly? Did the student demonstrate good diagnostic and repair techniques? Did the student adjust the equipment for optimum efficiency after making the repair? Was the work completed in a timely manner?
Technical Skills
Students may be evaluated on following diagnostic and repair procedures, understanding the equipment's sequence of operation, applying a systematic approach towards isolating electro-mechanical problems, use of reference materials, and proving his/her diagnosis.
Special Projects
Students may be evaluated on how well they completed a special project.
Safety Skills
Students may be evaluated on safety procedures such as use of tools and testing meters, maintaining a clean and safe work environment, or protecting the resident and/or property. A student will be stopped and receive a zero score if he/she makes a Gross Safety Violation. Note: A Gross Safety Violation is anything that the student does or fails to do that significantly jeopardizes his/her safety or the resident’s safety, e.g.: leaving energized equipment unattended, or releasing hazardous chemicals inside a facility, or causing gas or water leaks.
Customer Relation Skills
Students may be evaluated on professionalism. For example, how an introduction was made? Did the student interact with the resident? Was customer satisfaction achieved at the end of the service call?
Documentation Skills
Students may be evaluated on how thorough, accurate, and legible workorders are completed. Specifically, the workorder must include what was observed, diagnosed, repaired, and reflect what the resident was told?
As secondary objectives, students may be evaluated on the following:
Planned Maintenance
Planned Maintenance is routine work that needs to be done in order to preserve the life of equipment and/or property. A well-established planned maintenance program will allow you to control the workload, the budget, and personnel. Plus, it will help minimize emergency work that results in costly repairs, and it will reduce work-orders stemming from breakdown maintenance. Planned Maintenance should be top priority and scored the highest; and therefore, students must clearly demonstrate a true ability to do planned maintenance assignments successfully and without supervision.
Breakdown Maintenance
When Breakdown Maintenance occurs, it is imperative that all students approach the job systematically and follow diagnostic and repair procedures. This will reduce misdiagnosing and replacing parts until the equipment works. This unnecessary expense affects the property’s net operating income. As the minimum passing standard, students must demonstrate an ability to follow diagnostic and repair procedures.
Job Task Standards
Job Task Standards measures a worker’s performance based on the amount of time and quality of work produced. As one example, the estimated time to diagnose and repair a defective blower motor inside an electric furnace is 40 minutes. Anyone exceeding that time may require additional training, better tools, and/or precise supervision. As the minimum passing standard, students must complete 70% of all OJT assignments within the allocated time.
Restoring Vacated Apartment Units
Restoring Vacated Apartment Units to a market ready condition involves repairing ceilings, walls, floors, stairs, doors, cabinets, trim, and baseboards. It also involves cleaning, repairing, and inspecting appliances, HVAC equipment, plumbing fixtures, and the electrical system for safety and functionality. As the minimum passing standard, students must demonstrate an ability to restore vacated apartment units to a market ready condition without supervision.
Uniform Physical Inspections
Emphasis is placed on helping apartment communities achieve a 90-100% REAC score. This objective can be achieved by getting everyone involved, which should be a company-wide concern, not just a maintenance concern. Our strategy includes inspections by Maintenance Personnel, Property managers, Risk Facility Service Manager, and Residents. This team approach will have the greatest impact towards helping communities achieve the highest score possible. In fact, we recommend that inspections be conducted quarterly.
As additional information, the OJT requirements are communicated to students at the beginning of each course/program; and reinforced in the course syllabus. Also, the OJT requirements are communicated to maintenance supervisors verbally by AC/C TECH staff, and via apartment managers through our subscriber license agreements.
Please reference Forms and Documents to obtain a copy of the OJT Documentation Form and Grading Policy.