The Ontario General Contractors Association has inked a deal with e-learning company Vubiz Ltd. to provide online courses to its members, says president Clive Thurston.
Continuing Education
The Ontario General Contractors Association has inked a deal with an Oakville-based e-learning company to provide online training courses to its members.
OGCA president Clive Thurston said some 100 courses initially will be made available on a one-year trial basis with Vubiz Ltd.
Courses will cover a broad range of topics, from health and safety to improving management supervisory skills. Some of the safety courses were developed jointly by Vubiz and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.
“We picked the courses that we felt were most applicable to our industry,” said Thurston, who pointed out that the venture will enable OGCA to provide “a much broader range” of courses to its members as well at a distance.
Courses will be available in both English and French.
Part of the association’s mandate is to provide education, training and distance learning programs for its members.
OGCA already offers Gold Seal programs in partnership with community colleges and associations across the province. It recently signed a contract with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to deliver building code courses.
The association has installed a video-conferencing system, which will allow OGCA to broadcast seminars and courses from its Mississauga office “in real time” to its members in distant locations.
The Vubiz online courses will be available Sept. 1.
Contractors interested in online learning can go to the OGCA website and click on a link which will take them to a co-branded landing page on the Vubiz training site. Users will then register, pay online, obtain a password and start a course.
“It’s a very simple system,” Thurston said. “A couple of clicks and you’re in.”
Contractors will have 12 months to complete courses. They will be required to write exams. Certificates will bear both the OGCA and Vubiz logos.
The OGCA deal is the first such with a construction association, said Norm Vokey, vice-president of sales at 12-year-old Vubiz. Other clients include the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and engineering/construction giant SNC-Lavalin.
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