NRMCA Durability Course Has Successful Online Debut

The NRMCA Durability Course that offers the NRMCA Concrete Technologist Level 4 Certification was successfully offered online using the NRMCA training portal and delivered using GoTo Webinars. There were 38 registrants. The typical 2-day course was administered during the week of June 15-19 in two 2-hour sessions each day. Course content that included presentation slides, class notes, additional reference publications, and review quizzes were posted on the training portal. Recordings of the live sessions were posted on the training portal after each session for those who missed it or those who wished to revisit the presentation. Attendees also participated in a group project case study to use ConcreteWorks software that assists with service life prediction of reinforced concrete related to corrosion and temperature prediction of mass concrete members. Groups of eight interacted separately by meeting online to determine their concrete mixture proposals and presented to the full group at the end of the course.

The course was taught by Mike Thomas, professor at the University of New Brunswick, Kevin Folliard, professor at the University of Texas at Austin and NRMCA's Executive Vice President of Engineering Colin Lobo. The course training portal was efficiently managed by Shawnita Dickens. The 2-hour (open-book) exam was offered on June 22. The attendees were engaged in the course and indicated that the online offering worked well. The results of the exam will be reviewed and disseminated in about a week.

For more information, contact Colin Lobo at clobo@nrmca.org.