Do all courses include hands-on exercises?
The FOA approves classes for CFOT certifications based on many different types of fiber optic applications, e.g. outside plant, premises, manufacturing, military, etc. so all courses must have appropriate hands-on labs. The FOA assumes that each CFOT student has been taught skills, as a minimum, how to terminate and test fiber optic cables. Many classes also include splicing, but covering it in class is adequate for meeting FOA standards. Likewise insertion loss testing is expected but hands-on OTDRs are optional, as long as the basics of when and how to use them are covered in class. Advanced and specialist classes must also have application-specific hands-on, e.g. CFOS/S courses teach splicing, CFOS/D has classroom exercises in designing hypothetical fiber optic networks.
