professional technical educators

To ensure students are exposed to prevailing methods, tools, and the most current safety regulations, NLC has a rigorous recruiting, hiring, and training process for its professional educators.

This process starts with recruiting training specialists who are passionate about educating the next generation of workers, but also extends to support and leadership staff, who design the curriculum and facilities, maintain relationships with the industry, and ensure that NLC’s focus remains on the student.

NLC specially selects trainers from pools of candidates from across the U.S. who have broad trade experience. NLC spent years developing a special screening process that ensures only instructors with the greatest knowledge, skill, and aptitude for training are selected. NLC trainers come from all types of utility and construction companies, enabling students to learn about different career opportunities from those with firsthand experience.

Upon employment, NLC trainers are enrolled in NLC’s internal training program and are certified in a variety of adult- education courses. This highly dedicated group of training professionals are the only members of NLC’s staff who earn the privilege to wear the special maroon shirt, and are commonly referred to as “Maroons.”

NLC is very proud of its staff and the credentials they’ve earned. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Nine training specialists awarded the distinguished NLC Educator of the Year or Outstanding Training Specialist award, for continually innovating and advancing NLC educational offerings.

• Five International Lineman Hall of Fame inductees (current and retired).

• Many military veterans dedicated to continually improving training effectiveness and operations.

• A former elected state representative, serving as NLC’s president.

• Members of the prestigious IEEE and CIGRE organizations.

• Multiple senior leadership members who are certified journeymen electrical lineworkers with years of trade experience.

• Two three-time winners of the prestigious Telly Award for video production.

• Dozens of leadership and staff members carry graduate credentials.

The efforts of all NLC educators, leaders, and staff have led to the creation of educational programs that focus heavily on safety and student success.

NLC curriculum has been specially crafted to maximize student learning. To ensure students are learning, NLC has a curriculum development team that includes technical authors, education professionals, subject-matter experts, graphic designers, and videographers. Materials are well-illustrated, explaining difficult concepts in an easy-tounderstand format. This approach maximizes student learning and retention. Classroom topics are related to lab and field activities as well, reinforcing important concepts. The curriculum is designed to expose students to these concepts in three steps: they read it, hear it, and then practice it. NLC continually evaluates the effectiveness of its curriculum by measuring student performance. Materials that are not well understood are revised, and unclear test questions are rewritten. Courses are sequenced in such a way that fundamental concepts are learned first, followed by topics that require increased technical understanding. Students are also able to expand their understanding of the topics that interest them the most through self-directed learning activities. Every effort is made to ensure the curriculum is a vehicle to student success, rather than a barrier.

Hundreds of power and construction companies use NLC’s curriculum for training purposes. NLC was also specially selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to write curriculum related to the smart grid. Because the industries we serve continually evolve, NLC modernizes its materials on a regular basis.