EMA Journal • Fall 2024 • Oilheat Update

The following is an excerpt from a recent episode of the In the Loop with NORA podcast, which takes a deeper look at research initiatives, equipment considerations, renewable fuels, carbon reduction and technical education propelling us toward a low-carbon future. To hear the entire podcast or others, go to www.intheloopwithnora.org.

In the Loop with NORA: In The Loop with NORA is pleased have Professor Eddie Curran, the department chair of HVAC and Facilities Management at Manchester Community College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Tell us about your background and what brought you to teaching this as a profession.

Eddie Curran: I graduated high school in 1999, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew what I didn’t want to do, and there were two things. No. 1, rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars for a college education that I wasn’t even sure I was going to use. The other was being in a typical 9-to-5 desk job. My girlfriend’s father at the time owned a plumbing and HVAC company, and he said, “While you’re trying to figure out what you want to do, come work for me, and while you’re working for me, why don’t you go to school?” So, I went to Manchester Community College for the HVAC program. One of the things I noticed while I was learning all the technical stuff was that I really liked the aspect of teaching and learning. I always told myself [that] when I got enough field experience, I would come back and teach at night. About 11 years into the field, I started teaching as an adjunct at night and absolutely loved it. A full-time position opened up in 2010, and I’ve been there ever since.

In the Loop with NORA: We all know HVAC is a high-demand career right now, and regardless of economic conditions, it is one of those recession-proof careers. With your experience in the field, and teaching now for over 14 years full time as a professor, how has education changed in the area of HVAC?

Curran: One thing that has changed drastically is access to information. Now it’s not so much, “You need to memorize all this information, all these facts.” Of course, there are still things that the students need to know right off the top of their head as they’re troubleshooting a problem. However, much of the equipment today is coming out with QR codes on them. Not only do we get a diagnostic light or LED that’s giving information, but there’s also a QR code that will bring up videos, tech support or the installation operation instructions on specifically what to do. The shift has been more toward, “How do they access that information?” I would say NORA is an absolute leader in this innovative path that we’re going [toward].

Not only does NORA provide the textbook for free online, but it also has the audio version as well for different styles of learning, which is huge. On top of that, NORA has short videos, which in the teaching and learning [business] we call “micro lectures.” Essentially, you have about four minutes to grab the attention and that’s it.

The way we’re delivering the material in the classroom now is called the “flipped classroom.” A student will get an assignment for reading and my instructor notes. By the time they come to the classroom, they should have done the reading and entered the notes in their notebooks. Now, they have seen the information once or perhaps listened to NORA’s audio material. We will spend an hour or so going over this material with about two-and-a-half hours total on theory.

Then — this is what really makes it a “flipped classroom” — instead of the old-style classroom where the student wrote their notes in class and went home to try to do the assignment alone, by the time they come in, they [will] have read the assignment and written their notes. In classes, we explain, answer questions and play interactive games to fully understand the material. Now, in the second part of the theory time, they will do their assignments with access to their notes, textbook and all the other resources available to them. The day of closed-books, closed-note, timed quizzes and exams is a thing of the past. Then from there, we jump in the lab for two-and-a-half hours hands-on, where they’re applying the assignments on real equipment.

In the Loop with NORA: Many of your students are currently working in the field, correct?

Curran: Yes, often through apprenticeships. It isn’t new to have apprenticeships, but what is new is that employers are looking to have the students work as many hours as they can. So, we must block it in a five-hour block and go through all the information. Then, the students can go out in the field and work. That’s where the learning is now applicable. Perhaps they are pulling up those videos from NORA or from manufacturers to work on the equipment.

In the Loop with NORA: That is a great overview of that process; it is hands-on, it is interactive and it incorporates real-world experience. It also sounds like an advantage to have the resources that NORA is providing. Many of them can be found at NORA’s learning center at learning.noraweb.org. It sounds like it’s a critical part of your classroom and certainly something you’ve heavily integrated into your curriculum. Is that right?

Curran: Absolutely. Anywhere we can build in an industry credential or a license that is needed in the HVAC industry, we do. One of those classes is our Heating I class, which is the NORA Bronze Technician Certification class. The final exam is the NORA Bronze exam. Those [who] pass are automatically NORA Bronze Certified.

In the Loop with NORA: Let’s pivot just a moment [and] talk a little bit about liquid fuels within your HVAC program. Obviously, renewable, low-carbon liquid fuel transition is a high priority in [the] industry, and it’s a major part of NORA’s impact to help lead that process. How do you use that in the classroom?

Curran: NORA is doing an excellent job because regardless of the state that we’re in or what the current carbon reduction initiative is, NORA recognized that and got ahead of it with its textbook; it’s already addressing the renewable, low-carbon liquid fuel transitions. NORA provides videos, tech sheets and Q&As on low-carbon fuels. It’s already laying out a process to make sure that as this happens, we’re prepared for it. Having NORA’s resources available to us has been huge because we’re integrating this into the classroom. NORA is leading the way with providing us with the information we need to make this happen.

Many manufacturers are also supporting this initiative. We’re getting the B-100 burners delivered to us free of charge to put on our equipment for our students to learn on. [The] industry as a whole is ensuring that we’re ready for low-carbon fuels.

In the Loop with NORA: What do you see is the strongest pull to bring young people in?

Curran: There are a few boxes that any job has to check. It has to be financially rewarding. Good techs are making well over $100,000 a year. It also needs to be challenging. There are no two service calls that are the same. It’s rewarding, not just for the money but because the job that we’re doing is actually helping people. A lot of our students who have changed careers and left other industries will come to us and say, “I just want to feel like I have more of an impact and I’m helping people with what I’m doing.”

We do a lot of outreach to high schools with a three-prong approach. Someone from Manchester Community College will go, an employer will go and a young tech will go — someone who is going through that process and about to finish their apprenticeship. When the young tech starts talking about their experiences and their perspective, the high school students are engaged. They’re not looking at their phones, they’re paying attention. You take all that, plus the fact that it is recession-proof — no matter what’s going down, we’re going to have a job, it can’t be shipped overseas — it is a very attractive career. Of course, we have to continuously fill that pipeline of future technicians.

In the Loop with NORA: The website for Manchester Community College is www.mccnh.edu, and for the resources we’ve talked about today, visit learning.noraweb.org. Is there any other piece of advice for our listeners or things that you would encourage them to check out?

Curran: Well, I would just quickly say that if they are considering Manchester Community College as their educational provider for HVAC, they can take classes during the day, during the night, on weekends, mix and match. We can come up with a customized academic pathway for whatever the technician is looking [for] to achieve for their goals, both academically and career-wise. We also look at life experiences. There are a lot of technicians who have a lot of field experience that we can actually equate to credits. They don’t have to pay anything for us to apply their experiences that they’ve had toward college credits. Even if they never considered getting a college certificate or degree, they might be a lot closer than they think.