While the disruption to the world of education from pre-kindergarten through college has been well-reported throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact to training for businesses has flown relatively under the radar. Since the very beginning stages of the pandemic in March 2020, WDI has seen firsthand the enormous impact to the training world; as businesses went remote, so did training institutions. Previously scheduled in-person programs were moved to online platforms, and in spite of the initial difficulties resulting from sudden change, innovation followed. Some programs that were initially scheduled to run for six months or more were condensed by half, opening up the opportunity for more businesses to pursue skill development and certification training to help their businesses and their employees.
In turn, a comfort level was established with online learning, which has led more business owners to pursue training licenses that will enable employees to use online training platforms for a year or more. WDI has seen one such platform, Tooling U, in demand particularly among manufacturers in rural areas. We recently funded projects for two such manufacturers – Potsdam Specialty Paper in St. Lawrence county and Huhtamaki, a producer of shaped paperboard products, in Oswego county. Both organizations came to WDI with a need for specialized training for junior industrial maintenance mechanics and industrial technicians. In-person training in these areas was hard to come by (and risky given the pandemic), however Tooling U offers the opportunity for employees to pursue needed skills training online as time and schedules allow. Moreover, a year’s subscription to the platform allows for subscribers to take as many courses as they wish, enabling training dollars to go further than they might with an in-person program.
While we do not anticipate online training programs to take the place of in-person programs, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need and usefulness for a broad range of training options from providers.
