School Curriculum

FOA School Curriculum FOA sets requirements for school curriculum but does not require the use of a standard curriculum. The school may use any curriculum that adequately prepares students for FOA certification exams. Many schools use curriculum they have developed themselves, but the FOA offers free curriculum materials for those schools who do not already have nor want to develop their own curriculum. If your school is just getting started with a fiber optic or premises cabling program, The FOA believes it is important for you to have certain books and other reference materials available for your instructors and students. These reference materials will help you understand the FOA certification requirements and develop your curriculum. In addition, the FOA has free curriculum available for FOA Approved schools teaching programs for FOA certification. Your training should use the book and websites on which the FOA CFOT and other certification exams are based as a reference and your students should have access to the FOA printed or online references. The FOA has new textbooks, one for each of the three 1st Level certifications, (see below) as well as the website FOA Online Fiber Optic Reference Guide for use as the references for the FOA certification exams. If you are an instructor who plans to teach the class at an FOA Approved school but does not already have a curriculum, the FOA offers a training curriculum for you. The curriculum comes with a complete set of annotated PowerPoint presentation slides (a total of over 1,000 slides are included in the curriculum), instructors' guides, student lab manuals, etc. All FOA curriculum materials are provided in editable file formats (mostly DOC and PPT) so the instructor can modify the materials as needed to suit thier particular class objectives. By using these programs, you can save considerable time researching technical materials and creating training programs and PowerPoint presentations yourself. We should emphasize that we provide information on how to use these curriculum materials in various courses but the actual course development is left to the school and instructor to create as they want themselves. FOA Curriculum is available for downloading from the FOA school/instructor download site. Included with the curriculum packages are a full library of materials including ~1,000 annotated PowerPoint slides, instructors' guides, lab manuals and information on teaching hands-on labs for developing student skills. If you do not already have a curriculum developed, we strongly recommend you consider using one of these programs. All FOA curriculum materials are available free to FOA Approved schools. Download them from the FOA school/instructor's download page. FOA Curriculum Topics covered (Approximate number of PowerPoint slides) CFOT Basics (140 PPT slides) Overview of fiber optics, applications, components, installation and test. CPCT Premises Cabling (300 in six PPTs): Fiber, Copper and Wireless for Premises Applications CFOS/O OSP Fiber Optics (180 in 2 presentations) Basics of fiber as used in the outside plant. Cable (60) Types of fiber optic cables, choosing appropriate types, installation, handling and preparation for splicing or termination. CFOS/C Termination (235) All about connectors, termination types: adhesive/polish (epoxy, anaerobic, HotMelt), prepolished splice, singlemode polishing. CFOS/S Splicing (125) Splicing tpes, mechanical, fusion, ribbon fusion. CFOS/S Testing (111) Overview of testing requirements and standards, visual inspection, power, loss, OTDR, bandwidth. CFOS/S OTDRs (50) How OTDRs work and how to interpret traces. CFOS/D Design (95) How to design a fiber optic network. CFOS/H Fiber to the Home (FTTH), (45) Overview of FTTH applications and technology, PON types. All PPTs are may be edited to fit the course being given for incorporation into the school programs. FOA PPTs are all fully annotated for the instructor and student OTDR Simulator The FOA provides a unique OTDR simulator for teaching OTDR theory and practice. This program shows how OTDRs work, how set up parameters affect measurements and includes >40 traces for student evaluation. Schools may allow each student to install the program on their computers for labs or homework. The FOA OTDR Simulator allows projecting for classroom use. Additional Materials FOA provides additional materials that instructors can use in developing and teaching classes. These files are available on the school download site. What Is The FOA? (PPT, 21 slides) An overview of the FOA and its programs. Introduction To Fiber Optics (PPT, 26 slides) An introduction to fiber optic technology and available jobs. About The NECA/FOA 301 Fiber Optic Installation Standard (PPT, 22 slides) What is the NECA/FOA installation standard and how to use it. Guides To The Reference Textbooks. What is in the textbooks and what is important in each chapter, answers to chapter questions. Study Guide For CFOT Certification Exam. How to prepare for the CFOT exam. Instructor Training For CFOS/I Certification (PPT, ~74 slides) Tutorial for instructors to use for studying for the FOA instructor certification exam. All FOA curriculum materials are available free to FOA Approved schools. Download them from the FOA school/instructor's download page. FOA Curriculum Curriculum Kits are only available to FOA Approved Schools. Others should look at these sources: VDV Academy, TreeTop Products (which also sells tools and test equipment for fiber optic training).

More References for Classroom Use

Fiber U, the FOA Online Learning website, uses the FOA Online Reference Guide to create self-study programs. These programs are designed to introduce students to fiber optics and communications cabling, a prefect introduction to the subject and preparation for taking a certification course. We HIGHLY recomment you have students go through a self-study program before attending your classes as they will be much better prepared to learn in class. You can also use Fiber U for homework. FOA Online Fiber Optic Reference Guide, The Internet's most comprehensive and trustworthy source of information on fiber optics. It is an alternative reference for FOA CFOT® and other certifications training and a FREE up-to-date reference on fiber optic applications for the contractor, installer, designer and user. See the special Instructor's Guide to using this web site as part of your training. The FOA Reference Guide To Fiber Optics, A new textbook reference for FOA CFOT® and other certifications training and an up-to-date reference on fiber optic applications for the contractor, installer, designer and user. A guide to the book including answers to chapter questions is on the FOA school/instructor's download page. Schools can purchase this FOA textbook online at 40% discount (~$15). The FOA Reference Guide to Outside Plant Fiber Optics, A new textbook for FOA CFospT certification training. A guide to the book including answers to chapter questions is on the FOA school/instructor's download page. Schools can purchase this FOA textbook online at 40% discount (~$16.75). The FOA Reference Guide to Outside Plant Fiber Optics, A new textbook for FOA CPCT certification training. A guide to the book including answers to chapter questions is on the FOA school/instructor's download page. Schools can purchase this FOA textbook online at 40% discount (~$12). Lennie Lightwave's Guide To Fiber Optics has been the starting point of many careers in fiber optics! Lennie, the mascot of the original Fiber U, has been around for almost 20 years, helping novices get started in fiber optics. Uncle Ted's Guide to Cabling offers the same type of introduction to premises cabling. 4

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Fiber U, the FOA Online Learning website, uses the FOA Online Reference Guide to create self-study programs. These programs are designed to introduce students to fiber optics and communications cabling, a prefect introduction to the subject and preparation for taking a certification course. We HIGHLY recomment you have students go through a self-study program before attending your classes as they will be much better prepared to learn in class. You can also use Fiber U for homework.
FOA Online Fiber Optic Reference Guide, The Internet's most comprehensive and trustworthy source of information on fiber optics. It is an alternative reference for FOA CFOT® and other certifications training and a FREE up-to-date reference on fiber optic applications for the contractor, installer, designer and user. See the special Instructor's Guide to using this web site as part of your training.
The FOA Reference Guide To Fiber Optics, A new textbook reference for FOA CFOT® and other certifications training and an up-to-date reference on fiber optic applications for the contractor, installer, designer and user. A guide to the book including answers to chapter questions is on the FOA school/instructor's download page. Schools can purchase this FOA textbook online at 40% discount (~$15).
The FOA Reference Guide to Outside Plant Fiber Optics, A new textbook for FOA CFospT certification training. A guide to the book including answers to chapter questions is on the FOA school/instructor's download page. Schools can purchase this FOA textbook online at 40% discount (~$16.75).
The FOA Reference Guide to Outside Plant Fiber Optics, A new textbook for FOA CPCT certification training. A guide to the book including answers to chapter questions is on the FOA school/instructor's download page. Schools can purchase this FOA textbook online at 40% discount (~$12).
Lennie Lightwave's Guide To Fiber Optics has been the starting point of many careers in fiber optics! Lennie, the mascot of the original Fiber U, has been around for almost 20 years, helping novices get started in fiber optics. Uncle Ted's Guide to Cabling offers the same type of introduction to premises cabling.