Funds from the provincial government’s Skills Strategy Equipment Enhancement Fund (SSEEF) mean students in Garden Valley Collegiate’s automotive technology program are learning the ins and outs of brake servicing on the latest piece of training technology.
The Winkler high school received a brake trainer at the tail end of the last school year and were able to start using it this fall.
“The cool thing about this is that fits in the classroom,” says teacher Robin Mondor of the mobile training unit, then pointing to one of cars they have up on lifts in the school’s garage. “Those don’t. So if we’re demonstrating in the classroom, it’s much easier just to have this in there, and it allows students to do tests on it.”
“And we can fit 16 students around it easily,” adds fellow automotive teacher Zane Strydom. “Whereas on one wheel well, you might only get three or four heads in there.”
The unit is a Consulab four-wheel Honda ABS trainer that allows instructors to demonstrate the functionality of an ABS braking system as it operates on a real vehicle. It can also be programmed to show various mechanical faults that students can diagnose while performing a brake inspection.
“We can test the ABS sensors, we can actually see how the pump cycles on. It has all these pressure gauges so we can actually see what happens when the ABS cycles on,” Strydom explains.
“We can get them to actually dismantle brakes on here, and also adjust the parking brakes, making brake lines,” he continues. “It covers a whole bunch of stuff for us, which is really nice.”
Mondor, who has been with the GVC program for 20 years, notes they have had similar training modules in the past, but they’re much tougher to move around and have rapidly become outdated.
“This is for a modern vehicle, a Honda,” he says, noting it means they’re able to more easily order original parts from the manufacturer as needed.
The device has been on the automotive team’s wishlist for a couple of years now. Their annual application for SSEEF funding always includes two or three potential items they’d love to have for their students to learn on.
“And then the government picks one of them,” Mondor says, noting GVC has been very successful in securing funding. Over the past decade or so they’ve been able to purchase numerous training units, including several that allow students to explore and troubleshoot a vehicle’s electrical systems in-depth and even an entire mobile engine system.
“This is a running car,” Strydom explains of the unit. “This basically is an ‘09 Cobalt and we can start it, we can run the air conditioner on it, do heating and cooling, and we can bug it for diagnostics.”
Like the brake trainer, the engine can be easily moved into the classroom for a large number of students to crowd around while doing things like checking the oil or dismantling a particular part of the system.
“Underneath the hood of a car is hard when you can’t have many students there,” Strydom says. “Here, everyone can see, everyone can understand how it’s done.”
“We’re pretty fortunate” to have access to so many of these different training devices, observes Mondor. “I know some schools, they don’t get anything, especially in Winnipeg where there’s so many schools applying. The pot is only so big. In a rural area, we have a little better chance.”
The units give students the invaluable opportunity to get their feet wet before diving into the innards of an actual car.
“When you’re starting out learning wires, electrical, that can be intimidating,” notes Strydom. With the training units students can “start by one wire at a time, so the buy-in from students to learn is a lot higher. It’s not so scary.
“And the modules that come with it, they start at the base, the most basic level,” says Mondor. “And they tell you step by step where to put the wires. So they learn as they go.”
GVC’s automotive technology program has been a part of the school for decades, ensuring generations of Winklerites know the ins and outs of car maintenance and helping more than a few local mechanics get a headstart on their careers.
“We support a lot of the local businesses in Morden and Winkler,” Strydom says. “We have agreements with a lot of the shops, good relationships, and we send students there every semester, and a couple of them get hired once they’re done their hours for work experience.”
“But not every student wants to be a mechanic,” adds Mondor. “Some just want a better understanding of their vehicle … it’s a lifelong skill that they’ll use forever. If you can do stuff with your hands, it’s transferable anywhere.”
