Fiber Optic Fanout Kit
Photo of the day #85
May 8, 2020, 11:05 AM
Random photo from my collection.
Even before the pandemic and shutdowns, the fiber optic company that I worked for wanted to convert its hands-on fiber optic installer training course into a 100% online remote course. They regularly received requests from students around the world, some in locations where it would be very difficult or impossible to fill a class due to logistics fees.
When the pandemic was in full swing, in-person training was shut down for months. Now, the idea we tossed around prior to COVID-19 became a top priority. There were many challenges in taking an instructor-guided, hands-on course and making it a self-paced, remote online training.
Challenge number one was recording the instructor-guided hands-on demonstrations in a way that a student could watch, follow along, and be able to perform the lab with the provided materials just as they would in a classroom. I used three cameras to get different angles and overcame various technical video and audio technical difficulties. Students would upload photos or videos of their own finished labs to the training portal for the instructor to review and grade.
Challenge number two was creating the platform to house the online training. In addition to the lab video production, I also created the flow of the online training portal labs, quizzes, and student lab submissions. I think the online course was possibly the first of its kind in the industry. It was well-received by both companies and students. The final result was a fully online hands-on certification course that The Fiber School is still using today.
This particular photo contains parts to build one of the labs called a fiber optic fanout kit. The lab demonstration videos are available for viewing to current students only, but here are some smaller how-to videos that I produced to accompany the lab videos. For not having very much experience at the time, I was, and am still, quite proud of the results. Take a look at some of the videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwLRRCsz0zSYttdxHIAUNKC6TAzFHioup
A promo video I produced to advertise the online course we named Remote Certification Training (RCT): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2q7bDfvDaY
The webpage I created to promote RCT: https://thefiberschool.com/training-solutions/instructor-led-rct-remote-certification-training/