34
RIGGINGREVIEW
APRIL 2015
ACT
“The content doesn’t change regardless
of themedium,” he said. “Education is
fun todistribute because it’s intrinsically
valuable. Itmakes people better atwhat
theydo.”
ITI offers theprogram to companies
that range frommembers of the
Fortune
100 tomedium-sized construction
firms toSC&RAmemberswith fewer
than50 employees. To supplement the
program, or as Parnell put it, todistribute
evenmore education, ITI alsoorganizes
monthlywebinars, frequently creates
white papers basedon lessons pulled
out of one of the courses, andputs
together on-site, two-day training events
aimed atmaking the learning evenmore
hands on.
In an email a fewdays later, Parnell
providedmewithdemo credentials to
tryout theprogram formyself.Or as
thewebsite says, “Take theprogram
test drive.”
I logged in, andwas immediately
impressedby the simplicityof it all.
HavingusedBlackboardmyself both
inundergrad and graduate school, it
immediately felt familiar. But even if I’d
of trigonometric functions, which are
usedoften in the rigging community, and
almost never in thewriting community.
Jonathan showedme in great detail, in
very easy-to-understandprofessional
terms, why I’m awriter andnot an
engineer.
Informal, unpretentious
From a layman’s perspective, the
Fundamentals of RiggingEngineering
Program
is anunpretentious, informal
way to learn valuable, career-enhancing
information. You canwork at your
ownpace, taking lessons as your
schedule allows, learning from some of
themostwell-known andwell-respected
professionals in the industry.
“Ourwork is content,”Parnell toldme
asweneared the endof our interview.
Iwould add that the inverse is true as
well. Creating content iswork.Hard
work. But programs like
Fundamentals
of RiggingEngineering
, programs
that challenge bothwhatwe know
andhowwe learn, are essential to
industry growth. For information visit
■
never had any experiencewithonline
learning, I still think itwould seem
relatively easy tonavigate. Thehome
page shows anice, approachable image
of a craneundergoing load testing, and
there are sixnavigationboxes from
which you can choose. In theupper
right hand corner is a smallmenu
symbol, whichdrops down to give you
a fewmore choices.
I clickedon themenu icon, clickedon
“Courses,” opened thedemo, and then
openedup the “Introduction toRigging
Engineering” course. The coursehad
fourmodules, and I opened the “Lecture
Sample 1-1A Introduction” lesson.
Iwas then taken to another screen
where aplaybutton appeared, prompting
me to click it. After a few seconds of
renderingdue to thedoggedly slow
Internet atmyoffice, the videobegan
playing.
The instructorwas JonathanParnell,
P.E., and the video showedbothhis
face as he gave thepresentation from
his office, andhis presentation slides,
whichhewas able todrawon as he
lectured. The lessonbeganwith a review
AREALL
Our operatormadea successful pick. Butwhatmade it successfulwas the team that supportedhim.
Theoilerswhomaintained the craneandkept it ready tooperate.Thedriverswhohauled theequipment
to the site.Thepeople thatworkedon the lift plan. And this team ispart of amuchbigger team,
the
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