NTCA UNIVERSITY UPDATE ––––––––––––– By Becky Serbin, Training and Education Coordinator Essential reading: TCNA Handbook, NTCA Reference Manual, and ANSI standards As we start another new year and everyone is evaluating their busi- nesses, it’s probably a good idea to take a look at what the NTCA Workshop team learned while on the road in 2018. While the train- ers were in front of a variety of tile installers with different levels of education, they identified a few common areas where attendees needed more education. And before I state those themes, you’re prob- ably wondering what this has to do with NTCA University. Well, many of the identified areas of improve- ment also happen to have courses available on NTCA University. One of the trainers stated that “a strong majority of our attend- ees are self-taught, which is not a problem, but they don’t know the benefit of the TCNA Handbook of Ceramic, Glass and Stone Tile Installation, ANSI standards, or the NTCA Reference Manual.” This same trainer is known to ask every- one at the workshop if they have actually seen the TCNA Handbook or the ANSI books; usually only 10% to 20% of attendees raise their hands. The number is even lower when he asks who OWNS one of these books. Since many workshop attend- ees are unaware of these books, they don’t realize the benefits and protections that these publications can provide them on a job. While the Tile Matters workshops have been presenting overviews of the U N I V E R S I T Y 96 TileLetter | January 2019