Circa 1994 - Houston Fire Department
CANDIDATE STATEMENT
"All I can say is I was a lot more discreet as a candidate than I was in real life. Can I say that? Maybe it's indiscreet to talk about discretion"
~ Elizabeth Warren
As a former Houston firefighter I have realized the importance of an education and leadership. I decided to pursue an academic career In the industrial technology field. In the industrial technology field, I was able to develop the required learning and skillset and apply it to my career. I had completed an associate's degree in fire science & safety that I acquired at Houston Community College, in Houston, TX. I transferred that degree to Sam Houston State University and it became the major for my bachelor's degree through an academic plan known as a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS). I was determined to apply for graduate school, post bachelor's, and then obtain the Master of Arts degree in Industrial Technology at Sam Houston State University. I then became interested in the Instructional Systems Design and Technology (ISDT) doctoral program at Sam Houston State University. This involved an educational format of predominately remote learning. Although I was not accustomed to this format of learning initially, I gradually gained a tolerance and ability to adapt to this type of learning. I then became excessively (and still am) interested in this type of learning and have many thoughts and ideas of how to apply it to my current business in the entertainment industry. My education and knowledge base has undoubtedly increased. Thanks to the Instructional Systems Design & Technology program, at Sam Houston State University, I now have an abundant amount of creativity, goals, ideas, and instructional design tool familiarity to pursue success. I have dedicated myself to individual, as well as group learning, and am familiar of how to apply what I have learned, whether it be an in-person or remote learning experience. I have retained these educational values, and have made effective use of application of them. I am currently a proud professional musician and business owner in the entertainment industry.
Activity within the confines of my business involves much in-person production with clientele. I am not sacrificing this in anyway, however, I am gathering ideas of how the ISDT program at Sam Houston State University has equipped me with the education, knowledge and tool base, and the determination to use instructional design remotely with many of my clients and contractors. An example of this would be me creating a new event playbook (in PDF format), along with other instructional tutorial videos, and other products, that i had distributed to a large amount of contractors for store grand opening events. I conducted all of this activity in the ISDT 7385, Doctoral Internship, course in the ISDT doctoral program. The instruction product creation and distribution was a widespread success and it has made me more determined to utilize it extensively in the entertainment industry.
This is not all, however, that the ISDT program has done for me. I have also been awarded services certificates in some number. I received the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) certificate. In ISDT 7388 I received the Digital Literacy certificate from the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE). In that same course I also received a certificate from LinkedIn for Project Management for Designers.
Scholarship allows me to further apply what I have learned in the ISDT program to what I do in real time. It will allow me to apply everything that I have learned in the ISDT program to my business. I have an alignment of goals which consist of everything from using what I have learned to have a successful research proposal in place, advancing the layout, format, and clientele base to a broader level, and speaking professionally at more conferences and events. First, and foremost, I want my research proposal to involve the use of effective of instructional products, at specific events, involving specific people, helping them achieve a successful event execution. This may include conducting a study of the use of the event playbook that I have developed for upcoming identical store grand opening events. The research proposal, along with the distribution of effective instructional products to event contractors, will undoubtedly expand my clientele base and business service area. This is a primary focus area of mine and will allow my business to have sustained success. I am very excited about that.
I am also a professional speaker and have spoken, or emceed (MC'd) at many corporate events. In the past I have spoken at events that include brands such as, Bass Pro Shops, Budweiser, CMA Fest, Perrier, Texas Angler Magazine, and many more. I have also spoken at conferences such as the American Federation of Musicians, Local 433, National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA), andI would like to maintain this speaker bureau of mine that I have in place, and utilize the knowledge and tolls that I have learned from the iSDT program to have many more speaking engagements and presentations.
GOALS
- Have a successful research proposal
- Complete the ISDT doctoral program at Sam Houston State University
- Broaden region of my business service area (it is currently nationwide…wanting to go global)
- Broaden business clientele base
- Conduct more professional speaking at events and conferences
FOCUS AREA
- Apply all ethical considerations to conducting scholarly and business activities
- Educate contractors in event time management, conflict resolution, and execution
- Update and maintain an instructional product platform
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE
My knowledge and expertise of instruction design stems from me, as a young man, supervising construction crews. This supervisory practice evolved into reading, and the manufacturing of, design and development construction plans and documents for structures. In the Houston Fire Department, however, I was responsible for knowing, and drawing from memory, my “still alarm” territory and hydrant location. Still alarm territory refers to a meets and bounds of territory, encompassing all streets and popular structure locations within that territory. The still alarm territory boundary was assigned to my fire station by the City of Houston. I not only had to memorize all the street and popular structure names, but also block numbers, the order of the streets (backwards and forwards) from the departure of my fire station), and hydrant locations. I also had to educate fellow firefighters of this same exact knowledge because they were responsible for possessing the identical knowledge base as I was. I then worked for a private ambulance company for many years and was responsible for designing instructional products for medic on duty use. My instructional product design and use has evolved into designing products and distributing them to thousands of contractors nationwide to ensure successful execution of thousands of events every year. My instructional product design and use has also given me the opportunity to educate, as well as supervise, thousands of contractors nationwide.
I began my education at Sam Houston State University in 1992. I had also attended Houston Community College in 1994 and had shortly after earned an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Fire Science and Safety. I received a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) in 2008 and a Master of Arts in Industrial Technology in 2011 (both degrees earned at Sam Houston State University). I then applied, and was accepted, to the Industrial Systems Design and Technology doctoral program at Sam Houston State University in 2020.
Over the years, especially while in the ISDT program at Sam Houston State University, I have acquired a proficiency in instructional tool use, as well as software and educational platform utilization: Autodesk, Adobe Creative Cloud, Blackboard, Camtasia, Canva, Canvas, Chief Architect, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Office 365, Moodle, Snagit, Solidworks, Zoom, and many others.
Along with an early onset, as well as a continued use of, instructional technology, I am determined to expand my knowledge base and use of it even further and evolve it into something bigger. The sky is the limit.
"Obviously a candidate has to be held responsible for the words that come out of his mouth, regardless of where they came from."
~ Roger Stone