SENSE

The AWS Membership Department will tack on an extra year to the organization or individual’s membership.

No. SENSE is a blueprint for training that provides standards and guidelines for what to teach. In practical terms, this means you’ll get educational benchmarks, evaluation criteria, and learning activities, along with knowledge-based assessments, workmanship sample procedures, and Performance Qualification Tests—but no calibrated training materials.

CWIs and CWEs are certainly encouraged, but not required.

Workmanship samples and Performance Qualification Tests can be inspected by instructors. For knowledge-based assessments, an Assessment Coordinator is required.

No. When your organization initially agrees to maintain the integrity of the training program in its letter of commitment, we take it at its word. However, should an impropriety arise down the line, your organization will be subject to an audit.

Up to three retests are allowed. If the student fails the test and fails the three repeats, it’s recommended they have remedial training. The administration of the test and the number of retests is left to the discretion of the school.

Of course. Remember, these specifications and guidelines are the minimum foundational skills required to run an academic welding program. We encourage training organizations to go beyond them to meet academic or demographic requirements.

Not at all. The specifications and guidelines were designed as a road map. The actual order and method of instruction are left to instructors and their training organizations.

If you don’t know your password, try these steps:

1. Check your email. An email was sent to the address you provided your instructor. That initial email contains a temporary password link that allows you to log in to the system for the first time. If you haven’t already, click it and create your own password.
2. Recover your password. Go to senseonline.org and select the “Forgotten your username or password?” link. When prompted, enter and confirm your email address. An email containing a temporary password link will be sent to it within a few minutes.
3. Spam. Check your spam folder.
4. Contact AWS. If none of the above work, send an email explaining the problem to sense@aws.org and we’ll help sort it out.

There are four main reasons why an existing user may not be able to log in to their AWS account:

1. Wrong email address. Verify that the email address you’re using is the one your instructor provided to AWS during the registration process.
2. Spam. Check your spam folder and trash — your SENSE Online invitation email may have accidentally wound up there.
3. Wrong password. Double-check the case for the temporary passwords you were sent. Caps Lock being turned on or keying in an incorrect case is frequently the problem.
4. Locked account. More than five unsuccessful attempts to log in to your SENSE Online account in less than 30 minutes leads to a temporary lockout. If this happens, you’ll need to wait another 30 minutes before it unlocks.

Once you complete all the requirements that earn you a SENSE certificate, it’s immediately downloadable. There are two ways to access it:

1. Your user dashboard has a menu box called “Download Certificates.” Every certificate you earn through SENSE can be accessed through this menu box.
2. Scroll to the bottom of your SENSE course. You’ll see links for “SENSE Level 1 Welding Process Certificates” or “SENSE Level 2 Welding Process Certificates.” Select the one that applies to your course, and a panel containing your certificates for that level will open.

There are two options for checking grades on the SENSE Online system:

1. Select the “My Gradebook” link in the “Quick Navigation” box.
2. Under each module, there’s a “Student - Check your grades” link. This link redirects students to their grades.