06-16-2008 Project Update

Well we are definitely picking up speed with the project. Most recently I met with the Vp of Operations and the Assistant Operations Director at St. Charles Community College Dr Michael Banks and Dr. Mike Dompierre. I gave them the presentation on our project. I told them about the FESHE Fire Service AAS model and the need for a Fire Science and EMS AAS degree in St. Charles Co.. I then finished up with the newest information from Tandberg and most importantly the Homeland Security Workforce Development grant going on right now. I went over the grant requirements with them and that they would need to apply for this grant. Our rough figures from Tandberg are 1 million for equipment and I am calculating 500K for Curriculum development. I want to put the entire project on a system of servers that we keep at St. Charles Community College. And we are going to need the help of the community college to get the curriculum development moving. The grant is due in October. I will know more if they are going to play in the next two weeks.

Class is kickin my butt. And it is awesome. I am now being pushed hard and I love it. What we learn without Mirth we forget without Regret. Bring it!!! PS 700 level Stats is making me feel like a mathematical moron. But the Capstone project class is sharpening the project focus. The "Question" for the project and my degree is...

"How the use of IT can increase the training hours, number of Industry/State Certifications and AAS Degrees in the St. Charles County Emergency Services Association. While decreasing Out-of-Service (OOS) time for training and meetings."

I am working on types of research and methodology. If you have any suggestions let me know.

Now let my beatings commence.

As always if you want to know more - call me. Robb

FESHE Coenference

I am writing from the NFA. I am at the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE)Conference. I have found incredible people who are just like us. Their lives focus on Fire Service Education and Training. What I have learned this weekend has drastically changed my approach to the Education Project. I found 200 Universities and Colleges that have done much of what we are doing. They have lessons from us to learn from and are doing things that I have not even dreamed of. I have learned how to POD cast and will be posting some video and audio files soon. I have identified the need to link our degree programs with the FESHE model. They have done all of the work for us. Everything is done we just need to adopt it. You should expect the AAS proposal rom me within the next two weeks. I hope to have a meeting with the local community college. I would like all of you to check out the FESHE site as below.

https://www.usfa.dhs.gov/nfa/higher_ed/index.shtm

I have an appointment at the Tandberg main educational campus in Virginia tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. This has been a vertical learning trip. I have so much to write but no time. Just as a note Kim McKenna is the next presenter. That's pretty cool. Go St. Charles Co...

05-28-2008 Project status

We had our meeting with Kevin Zumwalt and the UMFRTI IT Staff. We viewed their set up and watched as they gave a short pseudo presentation over their teleconferencing equipment. I learned a lot and we started to piece together the basis for our system design. We then had lunch with the Tandberg reps and discussed possible design features. We have a meeting scheduled for June 6th at 2pm at SCFD Station # 2 - At that meeting we are going to lay down the exact requirements for the system design and offically begin the design process. (Out of research and into system design.) This is a good thing. Once we have our first design I will present this to the Chief's Association, St. Charles City IT Committee and the Local Emergency Managers group. With their input - we make changes if necessary - once we have their blessingwe and the final system design in hand we will also have our Total project cost. With the money figure in hand we are going to develope the funding picture. How much do we need to come up with localy - what is the amount the end user can come up with in the way of an in - kind controbution. Who are our possible finding sources ect. ect. ect.. And the hunt is on....

Update 05-08-2008

Update:

We had a meeting at SCFD Station # 2 today with the Factory reps from Tandberg. We gave them our presentation and told them that we were going to use their products to implement our solution. They agreed to assist with the system design. This will save us a lot of time and money. If you get a chance check out their site.

http://www.tandberg.com/

We also have made arrangements with Kevin Zumwalt at the University of Missouri to tour their virtual class room in Columbia. The Univ of MO IT staff will be on hand to explain how they are doing their distance learning projects and provide input and suggestions on how we should design our system. The meeting is May 22nd at 09:30 at the UMFRTI Hienkel Building.

In addition I plan to visit the main Tandberg learning facility just outside of Washington DC on May 30th. They are making the arrangements now. I am coordinating this trip with my attendance at the National Fire Service Higher Education Conference May 30-June 2 at the National Fire Academy. After these research trips and with the design assistance from Tandberg I hope to have a working design by the end of June. With a working design and budgetary numbers I hope to make my proposal to the St. Charles County Emergency Services Association at the July meeting. With their approval we should be off to the races for grant opportunities. We move ever closer.

Let me know if you want to attend the Univ of MO trip...

Thanks
Robb

St. Charles CO Training PPT

Technology in use

At MU we have several options available for electronic collaboration. These tools are not limited to a large University, in fact are available to businesses large and small. For example:

• Web based Portal - We use a service that is provided by Microsoft called Share Point Services. This is a user ID and Password secured web portal designed for colleagues to collaborate on projects. This is VERY helpful for our Fire School Command Teams to share documents from anywhere you can access the web.

Think of a multi-station fire department with many members. Instead of a file-server environment where stations have to connect to a central computer system, you can use a standard internet connection to share documents...say time sheets, SOPs, Training Logs, etc. The Portal allows virtually any document to be saved and posted. Even photos, movies, etc. Site Administrator controls what services people can see and access. It also includes a lists (task management and events), discussions, surveys, etc.

• ITV or IP over Video (IPoV)- These are each different, but work similarly. This is like the U Tube videos that have already been posted. The nice thing about IP over Video, is that anyone with a High Speed Internet connection can access the system, where as ITV is limited to only those that have been set up. ITV has better quality, but it also comes with a higher price tag. Central Jackson County FPD has this system in place for their district and uses it for training and even "meeting with he chief." 

• Another service we have access to is a peer to peer computer conferencing system. I will need to research the name and provider. I have not used it, but others in our office have. Essentially, it is a conference call on steroids. It is designed to handle audio and video through an internet connection. Subscribers can view images from the presenter (which can change from computer to computer as assigned), hear audio from all subscribers (if they have a mic and the software on their computer), and even video (again if the user has the hardware and software on their computer).

There are many technology solutions available now days, it depends on what you want to do and how much you want to spend!

Who Are Our Students Today?

This video from a cultural anthropology class at KU reflects how technology impacts students in our classrooms today..... when I was a college student there were no cell phones, no computers, no IPODs, no powerpoint.......(yes I'm old). We can't teach them in the same way we were taught.....(thank goodness). K

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

Cisco - Tele-presence - WOW this rocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrjwKEzRhFI&feature=email

Incredible. Everyone communicates - Everyone learls - Distance does not exist -

Distance Learning - Fire Service

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mRQjYG4u-U&feature=email

This is the video teleconferencing process we were looking at with our last grant app as a county. This is how we keep the engine companies in their stills and in service. The training will be server based and recorded. So if you get a hit then you simply start where you left off...

George Washiungton University

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxV9noPDR7I&feature=email

The is GW Univ - This is the kind of environment that is needed in the St. Louis Metro Area for the Fire and Emergency Services - Public sector

Robb

Tech Education in Classroom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GK8Idf4bBI&feature=email

This is what I am talking about with tech in the class room - Excellent Demo

Robb

Classroom of our future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcXEznPXj8k&feature=email

The fire classroom of the future - Pay attention to the features

Robb

Prudence

Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are naught without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.
Edward Whymper
Scrambles Amongst the Alps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh9q_cQcUE&feature=related

Good video - Apply this to the fire service - Your thoughts?

Training Officers are you addessing - The Current Educational Environment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

Please watch this video. This is the learning environment that we need to deal with NOW much less ten years in the future. I believe that we have tow options. 1.) We can adjust our training process, content and product to incorporate new ideas and training methods. or. 2.) We do nothing - keep on doing the same old thing... act like complete victims and let technology and and a cultural training crisis run right over us.

OK Here is the idea.
1.) We bought a huge file server - Thanks to Chief Rhodes for seeing the benifit to develope Technology based training.
2.) Work with City to create solid network backbone to ensure bandwidth for the training project
3.) Create and store an enermous fire service training base that is accessible 24/7/365. Videos - Programs - Engine Compnay Training Evolutions - Dept wide or county wide evolutions - region wide training. Video classes that you can have access to. That we (Training Officers) create/keep/record/distribute - For free - Why because its the right thing to do.
4.) Work together to push our industry to a better palce. What if you could take a Fire Officer I and II class or a Fire Instructor II Class on the internet. Controled by a group of Training Officers as moderators - Consistant - Very low cost - No travel or lodging expense - The ff's could take while on duty - Study at your own pace - Take it a unit at a time - and keep taking the unit untill you got a 100% or move on after you get a passing score - your choice. I have had it with being out of money - out of time - out of resources - It is time for us to throtle up our efforts - Together

I hope to have the basic design framework published later this week. The contract for the network underway - The server is in the server room - The department has purchased a digital video camera - I have begun taking additional IT classes at UMSL - I will be meeting with Deputy Chief Kim Becker from DFS in the near furutre to discuss creating a video based/web based training program that adresses certifications.

God help us all - The red neck firemen have got a training site...More to follow

Opening Statement

It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. Well my FD is in need. We are in need of things that are hard to come by. Time & Money. We still need to train. Our environment is one of increasing call load and increasing certification requirements. We are struggling to keep up. It is the intention of the St. Charles Fire Department to use technology to help us close the gap.. The gap is not having any time.. Not being able to move our trucks out of position because we do not have enough equipment. Not having enough money to send everyone to the classes we need to.

We will use technology to help span the gap....

Robb