Florida Building Commission

October Education POC Meeting Minutes
 

Telephone Conference Call Number 1-888-808-6959, Access Code:  1967168
In Person Attendance: Room 250L, 2555 Shumard Oak Boulevard, Tallahassee, Florida


October 5, 2010

Time 10:00 a.m. ET

 

POC Members Present: Dick Browdy (Chair), Jon Hamrick, Jeff Stone, Scott Mollan

POC Member(s) Absent: Ken Gregory, Drew Smith, Herminio Gonzalez

Meeting Attendees Identified:

 

Cam Fentriss                      Michael Clark                                              

Med Kopczynski                 Jim Richmond         

Ila Jones                              Mo Madani

Sharon Mignardi   

                                 

Meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. ET, October 5, 2010

 

1. Review and approval of the October 2010 Agenda

 

Motion: To approve as submitted

Motion: Jon Hamrick

Second:  Scott Mollan

Approved Unanimously

 

2. Review and approval of August 2010 Minutes

 

Motion: To approve as submitted

Motion: Jon Hamrick

Second:  Scott Mollan

Approved Unanimously

 

3. Review pending advanced accredited courses for recommendation to the Commission

 

Course: Advanced Wind Requirements for Residential Construction - Online

Provider: Infinity LC

Accreditor: BCIC LLC

BCIS Course Number: 444.0

Motion: Course approved based on the FBC accreditation process that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building Code related content.

Motion: Jon Hamrick

Second: Scott Mollan

Approved Unanimously

 

 

 

4. Review administratively approved updated advanced courses for recommendation to Commission

 

The Chair asked for a Consent Motion for the administratively approved course listed below.

 

Course: Advanced Code: Building Structural (Internet)

Provider: Nodorah Training Institute

Accreditor: JC Code and Construction Consultants, Inc.

BCIS Course Number: 194.1

 

Consent Motion: Course approved based on the FBC accreditation process that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building Code related content.

Motion: Scott Mollan

Second: Jon Hamrick

Approved Unanimously

 

5. Review pending accreditor applications for recommendation to the Commission

 

(None pending)

 

6.  Discuss and decide on the process of developing, posting, and implementing an online comment/evaluation form to be completed by participants after attending a Florida Building Commission approved/accredited course


The Chair asked if the current rule 9B-70.002 language would have to be modified if such a form were developed by the FBC.

 

Jim Richmond stated that if we develop a form and require usage, then it must be described and adopted by rule.

 

The Chair then asked if most providers use an evaluation form of some sort? He further asked if we (the FBC) could actually review providers course evaluation results, as collected from their completed evaluation forms.

 

Med Kopczynski stated that as an accreditor, he is starting to ask providers to submit an evaluation form as part of the training course materials being reviewed (by him) for accreditation.

 

Sharon Mignardi stated that according to the current 9B-70 language, a provider does not have to provide an actual evaluation form as part of the course materials being considered for accreditation. Rather, they are only required to state how they will evaluate the course. Sharon also stated that the DBPR boards do not require the submittal of an evaluation form as part of a typical course application.

 

The Chair asked how aggressive can we be regarding this issue without changing the current rule language. He further stated that his major interest is to determine how effective our current process is regarding course accreditation and ultimately course effectiveness because the current course audit process is very limited.

 

Jim Richmond stated that we can ask providers for anything (such as to review their completed evaluation forms), but we can’t mandate, force, or impose a penalty for non-compliance unless it is stated in rule.

 

Cam Fentriss stated that she felt that most providers would be fine with giving the POC their evaluation forms as samples to review.

 

The Chair asked if it were ok to review samples of provider evaluation forms that were actually filled out by participants after attending an actual course.

 

Med Kopczynski stated that in his experience, most evaluation forms do not ask for much information regarding the quality of the content or how much of the content was actually learned.

 

Commissioner Hamrick stated that the evaluations he was familiar with did ask about the quality of the content, the effectiveness of the instructor/instruction, the physical facility, the materials used, etc.

 

Cam Fentriss and Michael Clark both reinforced what Commissioner Hamrick said, stating that evaluation forms they were familiar with did ask for information regarding all aspects of a training session, including the quality of the content.

 

The Chair asked if we could ask providers to submit to the POC samples of the evaluation forms they use (providers) to evaluate their courses.

 

Commissioner Mollan stated that he thought this would be a good idea to determine how helpful providers might be regarding this issue.

 

Cam Fentriss stated that we could send an email to providers to ask if they would submit some sample evaluation forms for the POC to review.

 

The Chair agreed and asked Cam if she would ask providers for sample forms to review.

 

Michael Clark stated that there exists a way to post a course evaluation form on the internet, collect and analyze inputted information on the form, report that information to the POC, and archive that information---for no cost to the Commission.

 

Commissioner Hamrick stated that he would be happy to provide some sample forms to the POC.

 

Med Kopczynski asked if it is now part of an accreditor’s job to collect completed evaluation forms from providers. He also stated that some providers do not use evaluation forms but instead use tests to evaluate a course’s effectiveness.

 

The Chair responded to Med K. stating that at this time it is not part of an accreditor’s job to collect completed evaluation forms.

 

No further action was required.

 

7.  Review and discuss the scope of an accreditor’s review of training course materials, contained in rule 9B-70.002(4), Florida Administrative Code

 

The Chair asked if everyone reviewed the relevant rule language regarding the scope of an accreditor’s review of training course materials. The Chair then stated that in light of the previous discussion regarding course evaluations, he felt that accreditors should ask for all materials related to a specific training course, including any evaluative type materials such as tests, quizzes, or evaluation forms.

 

Commissioner Hamrick stated that he agrees with the Chair regarding this issue.

 

The Chair asked Cam Fentriss to send a reminder message to all providers and accreditors to both encourage and remind providers when sending training materials for review, to send all materials related to the course---including tests, quizzes, and evaluation forms.

 

No further action was required.

 

8. Review and discuss the deletion of the rule language related to the Building Code Core Education requirement, contained in rule 9B-70.001, Florida Administrative Code

 

The Chair asked if there was any discussion regarding the repeal of 9B-70.001.

 

No comments were offered by anyone.

 

Jim Richmond stated that a motion to repeal the language was needed for the full Commission to vote on. The Chair provided that motion.

 

Motion: To repeal the language related to the Building Code Core Education Requirement, contained in Rule 9B-70.001, Florida Administrative Code

Motion: Jon Hamrick

Second:  Scott Mollan

Approved Unanimously

 

9.  Education Administrator activity report

 

The Education Administrator’s report is as follows:

 

A. Provided administrative support for FBC Education POC August 4, 2010 meeting

B. Drafted minutes for FBC Education POC August 4, 2010 meeting

C. Prepared agenda for FBC Education POC meeting on October 5, 2010

D. Inquiries from the public July 29, 2010 to September 23, 2010 as follows:

10 inquiries: 1 telephone and email; 4 telephone only; 5 email only

Category of inquirers:

3 Architect 6 Provider 1 Consumer

Types of Inquiries:

1 Core 3 Advanced Core 5 Course Accreditation

1 Construction Lien Law

E. Potential BCIS Projects Report

Based on the prioritization by the Education POC Members and technical needs, here are the things that will be done under the current contract allocation ($11,250):

- Add effective date to the self-affirmation form (technical)

- System display of a course survey/evaluation/comment form (see item F below)

- System display of training components on course development (download)

- Posting of tutorials at various points of course application

- Automatic e-mail to provider and staff when no action by accreditor (technical)

- Ability for staff to archive courses or course applications no longer active

- Revision of names for course status categories

- Add feature to allow any person to obtain a list of courses in Excel format (download)

F. For cost reasons, recommend the survey/evaluation/comment mechanism be handled by education administrator through the use of Survey Monkey (or similar), rather than develop this function as part of BCIS. This saves money and avoids specific continuing expense.

 

Discussion

The Chair asked if we currently collect information on how many take an accredited course, which he felt was important because of the POC’s oversight function.

 

Cam Fentriss stated that currently we do not formally collect any type of course completion information.

 

The Chair stated that he thought that we should know at a minimum (and report to the Commission) how many accredited courses are taken over a specific period of time, and how many participants attend those courses. The Chair further stated that we know how many active accreditors we have, but don’t know the ultimate impact of the accreditation process.

 

Cam Fentriss stated that we should be able to retrieve some of this information from DBPR.

 

Sharon Mignardi suggested that we could approximate the number of attendees by looking up how many contractors had their licenses renewed over a period of time because they had to take at least one advanced course.

 

The Chair stated that those same contractors could take other elective courses, which would skew the number.

 

Cam Fentriss suggested that she could obtain this information by working with the Bureau of Testing at DBPR, and asking for the number of attendees by a specific course number.

 

The Chair agreed and asked Cam to pursue this information.

 

No further action was required.

 

10. Identify future POC member discussion items

 

No items were identified.

 

11. General public comment

 

No public comments were offered.

 

12. Summary and review of meeting work products/action items, assignments, and next steps

 

The Chair issued no additional assignments.

 

Adjourn (Adjourned at 10:42 am.)

Motion: To adjourn

Motion: Scott Mollan

Second: Jon Hamrick

Approved Unanimously

Recommended Commission Actions

The Education POC considered and recommends the following:

 

The following new course is recommended for approval:

 

Course: Advanced Wind Requirements for Residential Construction - Online

Provider: Infinity LC

Accreditor: BCIC LLC

BCIS Course Number: 444.0

Motion: Course approved based on the FBC accreditation process that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building Code related content.

Motion: Jon Hamrick

Second: Scott Mollan

Approved Unanimously

 

The following course is recommended for administrative approval:

 

Course: Advanced Code: Building Structural (Internet)

Provider: Nodorah Training Institute

Accreditor: JC Code and Construction Consultants, Inc.

BCIS Course Number: 194.1

 

Consent Motion: Course approved based on the FBC accreditation process that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building Code related content.

Motion: Scott Mollan

Second: Jon Hamrick

Approved Unanimously

 

Other Actions

 

Motion Related to Agenda Item Number 8

Motion: To repeal the language related to the Building Code Core Education Requirement, contained in Rule 9B-70.001, Florida Administrative Code

Motion: Jon Hamrick

Second:  Scott Mollan

Approved Unanimously

 

 

Note: This document is available in alternate formats upon request to the Department of Community Affairs, Codes and Standards, 255 Shumard Oak Blvd., Tallahassee, Fl. 32399, (850) 487-1824.