SENTIALS OF FIRE FIGHTING® AND RESCUE CTURAL FIRE FIGHTING: INITIAL RESPONSE STRATEGY AND TACTICS
PUMPING AND AERIAL APPARATUS DRIVER/OPERATOR HANDBOOK
CHIEF OFFICER OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH, AND WELLNESS FIRE INSPECTION AND CODE ENFORCEMENT
VE FIRE INSTRUCTOR
The first venture into this market occurred in 1999 when the first versions of CD/ROM study guides were developed. In those days, CD/ROMs were the primary source of transferring information digitally. The CD/ ROM study guide versions exactly matched the questions that were on the print versions of the study guides. The only features of these early ones were that they told if you answered correctly, and if you answered incorrectly, where to go in the manual to see where the correct answer could be found. They quickly became popular with customers. The initial production of the CD/ROMs were done by a contracted company. In 2000, FPP started the process of trying to produce our own CD/ROM study guides. FPP purchased the authoring software and tasked a staff member with the project. It had limited success due to lack of ability to support and maintain the program once products were being sold. Later versions of this product were retitled as “Exam Preps”. In 2007, FPP Curriculum Manager Dr. Bill Robinson was appointed as leader of the new eProducts group. In 2008, Margie Cooper was charged with developing a learning management system (LMS) to support the IFSTA product line. The South Carolina Fire Academy was enlisted to test the product. In 2010, the Wyoming State Fire Academy would become involved in the development process, as well. In an effort to reach new markets, FPP launched their own YouTube channel on January 27, 2009. This channel was used to provide customer access to one free skills video from the Essentials of Fire Fighting manual each Monday. It was both a service and an advertisement hoping that customers would go on to purchase more of them. Later on, skill sheets from other manuals were used as well. In 2012, Robinson and IT Manager David Eller set out on a search to find a firm that could develop apps for FPP. The demand for this type of learning tool was growing quickly. A developer was chosen and the first app was completed later that year. It was a very basic app that contained flashcard questions based on the Essentials (5 th edition) manual. A second app based on the Fire and Emergency Services Instructor manual was released in 2013. The interest and sales of the new apps made it clear that there was a market for these for most of the IFSTA manuals. Thus, FPP started developing apps based on the study guides/exam preps for both current edition IFSTA manuals that had already been released and new manuals moving forward. The vendor that helped FPP develop the second round of apps was the Western Fire Chiefs. They found a developer and FPP created an agreement with them in which they developed the apps for FPP and FPP marketed and sold them. The apps were later developed in partnership with a company called NickleFox. At the time this document was develop, FPP had nine (9) apps for purchase. They were available on both Apple and Android platforms.
FPP started working on a proprietary learning management system as early as 2008. However, it was not decided until 2012 to go ahead and make it an actual product. That is when it was named ResourceOne (R1) (Figure 21) . Originally, it was
Figure 21
composed of FPP R1 assets combined with e-Learn assets that were acquired in FPP’s purchase of e-World. Later on, only FPP assets were used. R1 was an online fire service training solution based on IFSTA manuals and curricula. It was designed to help instructors meet the training needs of their departments for in- classroom, blended, and online training. Some of the features included: • It provided IFSTA curriculum materials at no cost to the agency. • It allowed delivery of the content of a course in a “virtual classroom” environment. • It supported both face-to-face training and online instruction. • It allowed instructors to focus in-person classroom time on skills-based training rather than cognitive content presentations. • All tests and quizzes were automatically auto-graded. • It provided students with course materials, such as syllabuses, quizzes, homework, skills sheets, and standard operating procedures online.
28 IFSTA /FPP: THE FIRST 90 YEARS
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