An old newbie

I wonder if the ESTA Essential Skills Training program that is currently being developed would fill that need? Where the ETCP Certification program is aimed at skilled and experienced rigging and electrical supervisors, the Essential Skills Program is targeted at people with less experience.

ST
 
I wonder if the ESTA Essential Skills Training program that is currently being developed would fill that need? Where the ETCP Certification program is aimed at skilled and experienced rigging and electrical supervisors, the Essential Skills Program is targeted at people with less experience.
ST

That's an interesting idea. I guess I was thinking more on a grand scale. Its great to take a few students and give them some good training, but the need is much larger than that. In a lot of ways it seems more like a project for USITT because there are members everywhere. So many schools just need one person with some knowledge to donate a few hours a year.

I volunteer at a High school near by and do an annual how to use an ETC Express after school workshop. It's no big deal... a couple hours one afternoon. It was amazing the first time I went in there. They had no idea how to record a cue, how to record a submaster, they weren't even using it as a two scene preset. They were running 48 channels per scene by hand. The kids looked like I had just beamed in from outer space when I showed them how to simply record a submaster... and when I taught them to record cues I became a minor deity.
 
Yeah Charc that's exactly what I'm talking about. The more I think about it the more it sounds like a great job for USITT to just encourage their members... maybe create a way for teachers to easily get in touch with a willing USITT memeber in their city. I bet 90% of the theater techs I know would be happy to donate one afternoon a year to helping a high school out if they knew there was a need and there was a way for someone to contact them for help.

FYI... for anyone reading this who is confused by USITT and ESTA. USITT is the association for techies and focuses on professional development, training, and safety. ESTA is the association of theater equipment dealers and manufacturers and is responsible for things like setting the standard of how the DMX protocol would work so that every DMX product works together today.
 
There's a wiki for USITT we need one for ESTA.

I've worked with high schools before. The biggest problem with training on a HS level is that the people who want to learn are typically the ones getting ready to leave. Seniors and some juniors who've been bitten by the virus we call theatre.

That being said I like working with them.
 
There's a wiki for USITT we need one for ESTA.
I've worked with high schools before. The biggest problem with training on a HS level is that the people who want to learn are typically the ones getting ready to leave. Seniors and some juniors who've been bitten by the virus we call theatre.
That being said I like working with them.

Yeah and for those who missed it I used to be a high school teacher so I have a soft spot for helping them out. Yeah you're right while there are a few who come in from jr.high fascinated by tech, most don't get bit until they are about ready to leave. Which again means there's no continuity in training. Because you get one good tech who works hard to read the manual and learn everything. They train someone else before they go... but by the 2nd or 3rd generation, no one can even find the manual. If you've got me for a teacher it isn't that big of a deal because I can train the new kid. However the majority of drama teachers are English teachers who have been drafted and know nothing about tech. For those programs the level of tech is at the mercy of the winds of time. Training then turns into the "telephone game" and we get to see how much information is altered and lost between generations of technicians taught by other students who don't really know anything either.
 
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From the ESTA Foundation Website:

About ESET

ESET: Essential Skills for the Entertainment Technician

ESET will be an Internet based educational portal that will enable the user to develop a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental knowledge and skills associated with the entertainment technology industry.

The creation of the ESET program was born of the realization that many current entry-level entertainment technicians lack fundamental knowledge and skills related to the industry. The resulting goal of ESET is to provide technicians with the knowledge and skills they will need to function effectively across all fields of the live entertainment industry and a tool to organize and guide their learning.

The user of the ESET program will be able to focus on self-selected topics utilizing a sequential approach to learning drawn from a database of textual and graphical content related to entertainment technology. Further, ESET will provide tools to better assist the user in organizing selected materials in a meaningful fashion, enhancing the learning experience and providing a ready reference to important data.

* For educators, the availability of in-depth materials and the ability to organize them for students will better enable them to assist and engage student learning while providing the student with the most up to date information available.
* Facility managers will be able to collect venue-specific information to better assist in the training of their workforce.
* Employers will have a new and powerful tool to identify employee skills and readiness for work and a mechanism to support further training of their staffs.
* Individuals will have a vast source of technical support materials literally at their fingertips.

ESET will be a new benchmark of excellence in the entertainment industry and will serve as the principal gateway to knowledge essential for a successful career. Offering educators, managers, employers and individuals the definitive tool by which they can teach, learn and prosper within the industry.

ESET: Ready for today, prepared for tomorrow.


ST
 
Wow Steve that sounds great. I'll have to do some looking into it.
 

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