Microburst Learning, SRSCRO Collaborate to Promote Nuclear Careers
April 18, 2012
COLUMBIA, SC – April 18, 2012 – Microburst Learning announced todaythat it has completed two new MicroCareerBursts™ to promote careers inthe nuclear workforce to middle and high school students. Working incollaboration with the Savannah River Site Community ReuseOrganization’s Nuclear Workforce Initiative (NWI®), the online jobshadowing lessons discuss the daily tasks and training needed to work asa Nuclear Technician and in Nuclear Construction. In addition, two moreMicroCareerBursts are in production to highlight Nuclear Medicine andNuclear Research Technology career paths.
The e-lessons provide students and teachers real-world access via theInternet to enhance the learning experience without the expense,logistics and safety concerns of going onsite for a real job shadowingexperience. “It would be impossible to take the number of studentsinterested in potential nuclear jobs to visit nuclear energy plants,manufacturing operations or research facilities like SRS,” explainedMindy Mets, NWI® Program Manager at SRSCRO. “Not only are safety andsecurity concerns an issue, the expense of transporting students forthose types of field trips would be an undue burden for many schooldistricts. These MicroCareerBursts provide a glimpse into what it’s liketo work in these fast-growing fields and students in South Carolina andGeorgia will have access to the online lessons.”
South Carolina students, parents and educators can access the onlinelessons through the SC Personal Pathways to Success™ web portal (www.scpthways.org) while students and teachers in the Georgia area will be able to view the lessons via the SRSCRO website (www.srscro.org) later this summer once all four lessons are completed.
MicroCareerBursts showcase the typical tasks these jobs require as wellas provide valuable information on wages, benefits, work schedules andadvancement opportunities for the featured careers. They are highlyinteractive educational tools that incorporate animation, music, gamesand video interviews with people working in the career path who sharetheir personal experiences and advice in a way that is informative andfun. Students can experience the careers in the classroom or from home,regardless of their location and in South Carolina, they earn extendedlearning opportunity credits that go toward their electronic IndividualGraduation Plans, a requirement enacted the SC Education and EconomicDevelopment Act of 2005 to encourage career readiness for students andyoung adults.
Microburst Learning has produced 48 MicroCareerBursts for the SCDepartment of Education over the past four years, and this project marksthe first time the lessons will be available to students outside ofSouth Carolina. Microburst also developed a short, animated e-lesson forelementary age students to expose them to the basics of nuclear energyas part of the project. The Nuke News animation was funded through NWI®and can be seen on the organization’s website – www.nwinitiative.org.
“With the expansion of new nuclear capacity coming online as the Vogtleand VC Summer projects have received federal approval and constructionis underway, it is vital that we expose more students and teachers tothis huge career potential in the nuclear industry, one that has beendormant for the past 30 years, in hopes that we can build the skilledworkforce needed to support our region’s nuclear industry,” Mets added.
Microburst Learning is a SC-based firm that offers highly interactiveapproaches for personal and professional development. They providevirtual services to students for career planning, employment seeking,training, and other support functions as well as custom e-learningcontent to meet education and business clients’ training needs.
About the Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization
As the U.S. Department of Energy’s designated Community ReuseOrganization (CRO), the SRSCRO is a 501(C)(3) private non-profitorganization and is governed by a 22-member Board of Directors composedof business, government and academic leaders from Georgia and SouthCarolina. The mission of the SRSCRO is to facilitate economicdevelopment opportunities associated with Savannah River Sitetechnology, capabilities and missions and to serve as an informed,unified community voice for the five-county, two-state region. Thesecounties are Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell in South Carolina andRichmond (Augusta) and Columbia in Georgia.
