Abstract
The New Jersey Safe Schools Program (NJSS) offers courses required for secondary school vocational-career-technical education teachers to become school-sponsored structured learning experience supervisors. The "Federal Wage and Hour and Child Labor Laws, Regulations and Hazardous Order Course" (FWH) was originally conducted in-person by U.S. Department of Labor-Wage and Hour Division from 2005 to Summer 2013, and then NJSS began conducting this course in-person (October 2013-April 2015). Staring in March 2015, this course was conducted online; beta-/pilot tests were conducted in Winter 2014-2015. Starting in May 2015, this course was offered exclusively online. This paper analyzes data from the in-person and online versions of the FWH, including overall course evaluation data comparing two versions with similar questions/constructs. The New Jersey Safe Schools Program modifications to FWH included adding information regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act's Section 14(c) and supplemental case studies. The online version included information/resources provided during the in-person training plus assessments to supplement each module; the online version was split into modules to allow participants scheduling flexibility. Participants were given multiple possible attempts to achieve a minimum passing grade of 70%, excluding two ungraded activities (crossword puzzles simply completed). Descriptive statistics evaluated user satisfaction online compared to the in-person version of FWH and performance on aforementioned online assessments replacing in-person discussions/interactions. Between October 2013 and April 2015, 160 participants completed the training in person; 156 had complete data. Between April and November 2015, 78 participants completed the training online; 74 participants had complete data. Other enrolled participants were in progress (not done as of 12/23/2015). Overall satisfaction was similarly high for in-person and online versions of FWH; over 95% of responding participants recommended this course to colleagues. Course evaluations for in-person participants indicated 83% felt the course objectives were completely met, whereas 95% of the responding online cohort felt course objectives were completely met. Further analyses examined performance of online assessments regarding number of attempts and scores achieved and performance on highlighted questions in certain module lessons. Data suggested the online format as a viable alternative to an in-person version of this training and provided NJSS and agency partners with ideas on how modifications/improvements can be made.
Highlights
There are currently 507 secondary schools in the State of New Jersey (NJ) where high school students are able to participate in vocational-career-technical CTE programs across 16 different career clusters [1]
New Jersey Safe Schools Program used an updated PowerPoint, based on a set of four approved U.S Department of Labor (USDOL) PowerPoint files, new NJ Safe Schools Program (NJSS) case studies created for the in-person training, and other components to create an online version of the in-person training
New teachers who will be tasked with supervising school- sponsored structure learning experiences across career clusters and program pathways and who have not yet completed the NJ Department of Education (NJDOE)/NJSS structured learning experience (SLE) supervisor curriculum will continue to take the online version of this specific NJ SLE training in the future, starting again in February, 2016
Summary
There are currently 507 secondary schools in the State of New Jersey (NJ) where high school students are able to participate in vocational-career-technical CTE programs across 16 different career clusters [1]. Training for teachers in secondary schools includes safety and health (S&H), federal and state child labor, wage and hour laws, as well as hazardous occupations orders (HOs) in the United States (U.S.) Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and is conducted by the NJ Safe Schools Program (NJSS) in collaboration with an alliance of federal and state agencies in the U.S Region II [2]. Online virtual, multi-dimensional (2-D to 3-D) environments have been used with adult workers for specific S&H training purposes, e.g., use of machines and power tools to simulate in-person hands-on demonstrations and practice sessions [5]. The New Jersey Safe Schools Program (NJSS) offers courses required for secondary school vocational–career–technical education teachers to become school-sponsored structured learning experience supervisors. This paper analyzes data from the in-person and online versions of the FWH, including overall course evaluation data comparing two versions with similar questions/constructs
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