Projects/Achievements
United HealthCare/OptumCare Mountain West
TouchWorks v15 to v17 upgrade
In 2017 Southwest Medical was on schedule for a hardware upgrade for their clinical EHR environment, Touchworks. At this time it was also presented with the opportunity of upgrade of the major platform version which not only was a major software rewrite but also required an upgrade to internet explorer from 10 to 11 (finally) across the over 30 clinics and business sites in Las Vegas, NV. During a 6 month period we not only revised the architecture from partially virtual to fully virtual, going from a 10 to 14 node web cluster, and coordination efforts with the rest of the team to ensure a successful implementation over a single weekend. Ultimately timelines were reached and overall the implementation went mostly smoothly with limited issues from the providers and business teams.
Production Support Optimization
When first arriving in 2016 to the team at United HealthCare the first thing I noticed was their ticket volume was rather high. Not only that but their method of each day having someone assigned to handle tickets was causing difficulty for the team to function. One of the first things I worked towards was implementation of a Sharepoint website to track all applications, documentation, and common issues. From there I was able to have two of the team be dedicated specifically to tickets each day while balancing the load on the development team to provide more level 3 support (issues not solved by simple service restarts or reboots). In addition, efforts were made to improve monitoring through PowerShell scripts and windows monitoring tools to correct issues before they made it to the users. Over time this resulted in a 50% reduction in major tickets and improved quality on delivery across the board. Despite running one of the most diverse environments, with 40+ vendors, my team has had the least Priority 1/2 incidents in the IT department since these efforts came to pass.
UNLV
Chair for VPAA Committee on Data
The VPAA retreat in October 2013 identified a number of key initiatives to look into, and one of the first areas to come together was around data at UNLV. Data covers a number of issues - from access to information by VPAA offices to do their daily jobs to improving instructional practice and enhanced RPC through instructional analytics. The VPAA Data Committee was formed and goals were set to: identify key departments on campus involved in data, rate our interactions with those groups, provide clear examples of how they play a role and what they have done to advance or impede operations, and provide solutions that UNLV and the Office of the VPAA can take to improve and move forward. The VPAA Data Committee found that there are several key data management-related issues that are highly problematic at the university and the report was brought forward to the VPAA.
Blackboard Migration
In Spring 2013 Online Education was faced with migrating from a WebCT 3.8 system to the newer Blackboard Learn 9.1. This was a massive undertaking to convert 300 courses during a 4 month period and then another 200 2 months after that. Working with instructional designers and student workers we devised processes and a workflow that enabled this transition to happen. I acted as an assistant to the Blackboard Administrator creating sections, enrolling course members, and providing solutions to functionality that was missing and identifying how it could best be resolved.
IT Manager
In 2013 I approached the Vice Provost of Educational Outreach with the idea of a virtualized server environment that could be used to serve the entire Division and further the mission of Online Education. This including overtaking IT operations across the Divisions from OIT to allow us to focus on endeavors that the university did not have the capacity to build or implement at the time. After hiring a server administrator we setup a robust VMWare based server environment hosting a variety of linux and Windows based servers hosting files, databases, and web based projects including websites for all division departments and offices utilizing the Drupal CMS platform. Working with OIT we implemented single sign on to many of the Divisions applications and implemented active directory based permissions and policies throughout.
CRJ104
This is just one of many courses I've spent time developing at UNLV but this one stands out for the engagements by the instructor and results. Working with the instructor we identified and conceptualized a variety of learning objects for this intro to Criminal Justice course. Customized programming and working with others we developed a learning object for each one of their 16 modules for the course. This drastically improved student retention and feedback was so great that later iterations of the course incorporated even more learning objects along with implementing LTI technology to provide feedback to the grade book.
DoDEA
Working with the US Department of Defense Education Activity program developed the modules that would later become part of a Virtual High School. This endeavor was a massive undertaking and I ended up producing over 140 learning objects in a 6 month time span. These learning objects were at varying levels of blooms taxonomy, from simple knowledge based learning objects to full physics simulations that allowed the students to create materials that could be used in the course.
Exam3
Exam3 was a proof of concept written to examine the potential of a method to assess a person's knowledge of a subject area. Working in conjunction with Jay Tashiro we developed the logic and delivery system to be introduced to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. The proof was there and the product did well to not only assess student's knowledge but give them better insight into where they were at in the subject material they were learning about. The product not only provided a quizzing and feedback engine but a backend system to create the taxonomy system by which questions were delivered.
Virtual Patient Encounters/Virtual Medical Office (2003-2007)
These two projects were taken on with Wolfsong Informatics working with the publisher Elsevier. Virtual Medical Office took students into a doctors clinic seeing patients with a variety of symptoms. As a medical assist your role was to work through the necessary steps to complete the patient's visit and properly assist others in the office. I provided the programming and backend data entry systems to ensure this program worked, but worked with subject matter experts, instructional designers, artists and other programmers to bring this product to fruition.
Virtual Patient Encounters immerses the student into the world of a paramedic, taking them into realistic scenarios and letting them work through to get the patient successfully to the hospital. Working with in the field ER doctors I developed a regression logic system from which treatments such as medications could be given an vital signs would adapt to the scenario. I worked with experts in the field to ensure everything operated properly and protocols were followed. Artists and additional programmers were brought in to bring the product to fruition. My dedication to this product went so far I even played the role of a gunshot victim.
SAFE MEDS (2002-2005)
A virtual hospital experience and medication administration practice simulation rolled into one. Developed by Wolfsong Informatics in conjunction with Elsevier this product was my first major foray into application development for the publishing environment.
NAU (1999-2003)
At the Center for Technology Enhanced Learning (CTEL) at Northern Arizona university I developed a variety of applications for in class experiences. Working with Instructional Designers, project managers, and a team of artists we worked together to create a variety of learning objects. From a tree database for forestry classes to an entire classroom simulation with Jabulani Elementary I developed dynamic activities that could be used to engage students.