Instructional Design – Page 3

Happy Halloween!

You might not be aware but for October, I continued my consistency challenge. I paid homage to the great Chinese philosopher Lau Tzu by consistently NOT posting on my blog for a whole month.

Sometimes the best action is to not take action and I must say, a break was nice, after a month of posting every day for my pushup challenge and posting as frequently as I could for a biking challenge.

Some pumpkins I carved with my kids. and some pictures of them moving in a slow shutter speed shot to look like “Ghosts.” Fun stuff as we prepare for Halloween!

What’s Next for Me!?

I will say that I have not shaved for the end of October and I will continue that for no shave in November. So I will be consistently NOT shaving the hair off my face for November. I want to share my inspiration. (Please read my response to this initial FaceBook post.

So you can see below that I have gotten a bit of a head start. My social media is not flattering. I am very transparent about how amazing my life is not. Here I have tagged myself #iswalking. I walk a lot and it is my most frequent tag on Facebook:

Here I am at the checkout at the local “Schnucks- the friendliest stores in town” They are inexpensive and their produce is sometimes OK. I am back on not drinking alcohol, so this is a very special #iswalking selfie.

I think I should be consistent in this #iswalking. I did not do that when I started, but I think I might. Well, I should, just to be consistent.

That Will Not Be All

So, as you might have guessed, October was the month of consistently not doing. I will continue to not do something in November by not shaving, but I will continue to start writing again. I am thinking about how I did 16 days of learning to design in 3D and then I completed the training modules and worked on an art piece, had trouble exporting to other Adobe applications, and then just stopped. Well, I was feeling tapped out. I was feeling very vulnerable for not knowing how to export and I didn’t want to force any creative ideas. However, now I have some ideas I would like to pursue in that space so I plan to return to that 30-day challenge and even though it is not 30 days back to back I can at least still follow through and be consistent in completing the challenge.

Thanks for Reading

I love you!

When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
Lau Tzu [Tao Te Ching chapter 48]

Exercise is a Good Way to Generate Creative Ideas

Cycling through the woods is relaxing and enjoyable

The Cycling Oddysey Continues

So even though this was on October 10^th, and my Cycling More Consistently in September Oddesy is over, I still recorded some video footage. In this episode, I make a recording while riding and then nearly flip my bike into a hole in the ground. I comment on how I need to get a better setup if I want to keep recording rides.

Then I turn onto the street, drive down a hill flip my bike and bust open my lip. I was holding the camera with my right hand so the sun would be on my face, and my left hand was on the bike and controlling only the front brakes. I noticed I was going a bit too fast down a hill and so I squeezed the brakes on my new bike. I have disc brakes now, not the old caliper brakes with the pads. These disc brakes are way, more responsive, and I knew that, but I wasn’t aware I was just slamming the front brake.

At any rate, this was a good lesson to learn. I need to focus on my safety and I am glad I only busted open my lip out in an open space and didn’t break a bone somewhere in the woods.

There is a biking school that has been marketing to me on Facebook and the advertisements are good. I have looked into attending classes but I can’t justify spending money on learning this when I am a learning and development professional. I plan to locate some good learning content on YouTube and double-check my LMS at work. As a long-term goal, I plan to volunteer at NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association). This program offers me an opportunity to become a coach in training in a local team of student learners, then when I graduate I can lead a pack of cyclist students and perhaps include my kids in the team if they are game.

Home

Video Evidence of the Ride

Check out the video to see me bust open my lip and make video footage in a state of shock! LOL!

Getting There

This was easy. The bootlegger’s trail is a quick 5-minute ride from my house. Easily the second-ranked off-road trail in the Saint Louis area and is right next to my house. That’s lucky!

Where Was I?

The Bootlegger’s Run is a 4.7-mile trail through the woods of the upper level of Creve Coeur Park. All Trails has a lot of comments that it is not the best trail for hiking because there are a lot of Mountain Bikers. When I ran there the bikes didn’t bother me but I guess I am a walker and a rider.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/missouri/bootleggers-run

Ideas From the Ride

One thing I have liked about these solo rides is they give my subconscious mind time to speak up. I have gotten several ideas while on these rides. Many of them are about the Blog or my day job as an Instructional Designer. One that popped up during this ride is especially interesting. It pulls on my background as an actor and an English as a Second Language teacher. I did a lot of theater in high school and received my BA in Theater Arts. While getting that degree I also studied Japanese using a curriculum called Japanese, the Spoken Language (Authors: Eleanor Jorden, Mari Noda) developed by the US government for spies and the like. It was a great language learning platform because it systematically used simple dialogues to reinforce crucial grammatical structures. You relearned how to think and build thoughts according to the Japanese grammar system. (*I used this concept a lot when I worked in Thailand for 7 lucky years teaching English as a Second language ESL.)

In this JSL curriculum, the learner looks a small clumps of very useful conversations and memorizes them one line at a time. These are backed up with well-written explanations of the grammar being introduced. Then you listen to recordings of native speakers saying these lines. After that you work in class and the teacher sets up given circumstances that support the same language (notice the teacher term I used there?) Once the scene is set the students take turns acting out the dialogue with the teacher. The benefit is you get to hear the dialogue multiple times in class and you get to participate. My basic conversational Japanese is not bad to this day, if I had pursued it I would have been set up for success. Instead, I decided to start over and learn Thai from scratch while living and working in Thailand.

So, my idea would work at this point in the curriculum. I came up with the concept to call “Play Right”. At this point in the language learning the students would take the simple sentences that we learned in class and each week, create a video of them speaking the dialogue with themselves or other students in a real setting. Throughout the class, the students could build a video scene of their achievements. This could even become an online resume of sorts the showcase their language skills. Very useful in a country like Thailand where tourism is a large part of the national income. With English being the universal language, That is one of the most useful languages to support tourists.

Another thought that I had that brought more of the theater into the idea was using simple plays as the dialogue. Like a fun play by David Ives. This part may maybe more of a useless pipe dream, but I think it could open the door to more creative results. The Tourist application would be more useful for a resume, but using actual plays would be more valuable for artistic or aesthetic reasons, which is what I am more interested in.

Music

Polo & Pan – Ani Kuni (CC)

Music by To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco, Free Music Archive (CC)

CYCLING ODYSSEY – DAY 31 of 30

The Final Ride of the Cycling Oddysey

So even though this was on October 1^st, I will consider this the final ride of my Cycling More Consistently in September Odyssey. We drove over an hour and a half total for a 1-hour ride along the Katy Trail just North of New Haven, MO.

That being said, this might be the last official tour of the challenge but I have already recorded the next installment of Improvement Dave cycling. It is in the woods, it is mountain biking and there will be blood (literally). So, yeah, I am not going to stop cycling or making cycling videos anytime soon.

Video Evidence of the Ride

This Video Highlights the Content Below

Getting There is Half the Fun

Google Maps recommends a route that is just over an hour.

We took the scenic route for 41 minutes.

My daughter threw up right around Balducci’s winery, which was one of our favorite wineries and pizza spots until it was bought by a large conglomerate and they ruined it. Sorry, not going to pay top dollar for frozen pizza. Now the only thing useful at Balducci’s is the dumpster.

We stopped at Quick Trip to get coffee and slushies. (The slushy and the crazy backwood roads are probably what caused my daughter to “blow chunks”.) …at any rate, I was so very excited to see that the bill was exactly $5.55 after tax. I explained to my family that 5 is my lucky number.

Why is #5 My Lucky Number

In the United States (and most of the West) 7 is lucky. In China, Thailand, and most of the East 9 is lucky. So I figure I can like any number I damn well, please.

The number of men is “5”. (6 being the number of the Satan, and GOD is 7 in traditional Judeo-Christian thought.)
The number I swam for as captain on the J.V. water polo team in high school, was “5”.
Our numerical system is based on repeating 10s so “5” is the center, to me this represents the “middle path” or the “straight and narrow”.
I spent 7 lucky years in Thailand and saying #5 in the Thai language is “Ha”. So “555” is synonymous with laughter or happiness.
I don’t really have a 5th reason, but I want a list of 5 reasons for why I like “5”. So, I imagine being 5 years old probably is one of the best ages to be. Self-aware, but you still have that “Child’s Mind.”

Where Were We?

Well, on my Google Maps, I dropped a pin long ago and named it “Riverside Jamz“. More specifically, we were north of New Haven, MO, due west of St. Louis, MO. Just south of a little town called Pinckney, MO. If you have never heard of Pinckney, that’s because it is in the middle of nowhere. Neither Google nor Wikipedia have a single picture or even a population count. Google Maps does not go through Pinckney and the best picture I could find online was this. (below)

Setting Up

When we arrived I started by getting all the bikes set up.

There was only one picnic table in the shade and the table top was not level. I didn’t get a good picture of the table before I started to level it with the pile of limestone rocks nearby, but trust me it was not useable. I then leveled out the benches as well. We threw a quilt over the table and had a nice lunch of spring rolls, salad, and melon.

While we ate a few families drove by the road on little buggies, and then a family drove up in a truck pulling a pontoon boat. This made the trip feel like a short vacation away from our normal routine.

The Ride

After we ate we packed up our picnic stuff and got on the bikes. For a 41-minute drive one way we did a nice 1 hour ride on our bikes. So, that was a lot of driving for a 1-hour bike ride, but we just really liked this spot because of the old bridge right on the river. We have stopped at this little spot on the side of the road 3 or 4 times now.

The only issue we had on the ride was that a chain fell off the gear so we had a fun time working on getting that put back on as a team.

We found it one time while driving home from my uncle’s farm out in Osage County, MO. This is also known as the middle of nowhere, MO.

It was another perfect day. Living life to the fullest, sucking the sweet marrow out of life, and making great memories.

Music

Polo & Pan – Ani Kuni (CC)
Polo & Pan – Feel Good (CC)
John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music (CC)
To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco Free Music Archive (CC)

Consistently Cycling More Often in September 2023 – Day 30

This was the final day of the cycling more often in the September challenge.
Getting out and riding around the park right next to our house was sublime.

Video Evidence of the Ride

Enjoy the Little Things

This challenge has taught me that the process is more important than the destination. I never really rode to any specific place while riding as much as I could in September. Spending more time with my family, getting some exercise, and seeing places I never would have seen otherwise. These were the benefits of cycling more frequently in September. Being grateful for the simple pleasures in life and recognizing them as the moments that make up our life, is the secret to happiness.

Some Pictures of the Ride

…

Music

John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music

Polo & Pan – Ani Kuni

Music by To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco, Free Music Archive (CC)

Wandering in the Woods

In this video, I share my experience as a father. As a member of a family where we all have aspirations and we all have goals. Everyone in our family unit has their perspective and their set of objectives when I get out of any given situation. This post is a continuation (Day 25) of my September Cycling Challenge.

Consistently Cycling More Often in September 2023 – Day 25

Yesterday’s Bike Ride Was a Crash

In the video, I focus on how we chose to walk through the woods on this day because the day before I planned a bike ride in my mind where my daughter would not ride as the third wheel behind my bike. That is a format that we call the copilot in which my daughter’s bike only has one wheel and is attached to my seat post. my mind it would be great if we could go out on a bike ride and she could ride her bike by herself. This was a large leap that I made on my own because she’s really only written on her bike a few times and her confidence is still low. We can add that, but it was late in the day she hadn’t had a nap, maybe not eaten the most healthy food and she wasn’t in her best form. More importantly, I packed the car without consulting anyone and when we got to the bike ride, that’s when she realized that she would not be riding with me but she would be riding on her own. This was met with unhappiness, tears frustration, and of course, I ignored all of that, because this was going to be the best thing ever.

Inclusive Decision-Making Wins

In this post on my Vlog, I resolve to better include my family in decisions, that impact outcomes that they will be a part of. I will attempt to pause and plan with everybody included. This idea of mine, to have my daughter ride her own bike, which was not malicious, or in any way an act of me wanting to negatively impact her experience; doesn’t change the fact that it did negatively affect her experience. It was hot and sunny in the only empty parking lot we could find, and she fell numerous times. She was angry, frustrated, thirsty, tired, and she cried; and then, of course, I was frustrated and angry at myself because I didn’t get to ride my bike at all or exercise.

What I learned
Don't make big decisions in a silo.
Include the whole team/family
Be open to possibilities you didn't expect

Ideas From the Group

We didn’t cycle the following day. My wife had a great idea to lower the bar and just go run through the woods. This turned out very well because everyone in our family is good at running in the woods.

Stepping down off the bike also enabled us to talk more, and I realized that maybe my children would like to be more of a part of my video creation. You can see in the video that the kids are interested in being involved so I started including them more.

Wondering About Consent Whilst Wandering Through the Woods

In the video, I talk quite a bit about wanting to have consent from my kids. While also not asking them to speak, or asking them to do something for the benefit of my videos.

Consent Matters

Consent is something that came up while I was on a business trip last week. We were all at a table, eating and drinking and I started recording my colleague.

I had no ill intent in this act, I just really liked what was being discussed at that time and the designer in me had an impulse that I should record the conversation.

The second time I hit record on my phone the recording app stayed on the screen and I laid the phone on the table. My colleague noticed I was doing that, and he politely said, “You need to ask before you start recording me” he was 100% accurate, especially in a business setting. I will add that we have discussed the idea of starting a podcast together, so this is a person that I know rather well, but that doesn’t change the fact that I need consent and can’t just start recording without sharing what I am doing.

I will say that I had already had a few cocktails and did not make a good choice at that moment. The next day I felt very guilty about my behavior. I apologized and he said that he was kidding, which felt good but didn’t change the fact that had a good point. Moving forward I will commit to always asking for consent before, including anyone and one of my recordings.

Music

Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep

Music by John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music

Polo & Pan – Ani Kuni

Music by To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco, Free Music Archive (CC)

Day 37 – Push-Ups for St. Jude

My goal WAS to do 50 pushups every day for August 2023. It has been one week since I completed this challenge. I have done at least 50 pushups a day past the 31-day challenge. On day 36 (yesterday) I did 100 pushups! Then I took a hot bath and had to ice up my arm.

Comparing Day 1 to Day 31

Today I compare what my 1^st day of pushups looked like up against my 31^st day.

Here are the main points I make in this video:

(I am sorry they are not composed as learning objectives! HAHA!)

In the video, I fail to mention that this 50 pushups a day challenge not only made me commit to holding myself accountable but I was also motivated me to build other skills.

For example, I wanted a logo for my blog but have not been very active in developing it. The energy generated from this project motivated me to sketch out my logo, scan it in, and then design a PNG file in Adobe Illustrator with a transparent background. I actually recorded my screen while designing my logo and plan to release that video next week. Once I got the ball rolling on the pushups, other projects didn’t seem as daunting as they did before. The first step is the most difficult.

Not Too Late to Give to the Children!

I did more than 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!

https://www.facebook.com/donate/1690575421423292/?fundraiser_source=external_url

Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep

Music by John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music

Day 27 – Push-Ups for St. Jude

Today again was a very rough day of doing 50 push-ups a day for Saint Jude. I make a good point in this video that you know if I was just healthier and if I had been doing this since I was young, this would be easy. I then get on my soapbox and preach how it’s never too late to start.

I’m going to be honest my cheat day has turned sort of into a cheat weekend. Saturday night, I had a couple beers, and a glass of wine and didn’t eat very well (Pizza, ice cream, Peach cocktails, etc.).

Normally, this really wouldn’t affect push-ups the next day, but since I am old, and I have been eating, very healthily and not drinking alcohol, I can really tell the difference when I do add these things back into my routine. You will notice that in the second set, my kids come down to help in my first set. You can hear them screaming upstairs in the bathtub, but please don’t worry my wife was watching them.

I did a 5-minute breath work session between the two sets, which is available to view after the two sets of pushups. In this video, I do the basic 4-count in, 4-count hold, and 4-count exhale. Then when that feels comfortable I up it to 8-counts for all three. Normally I would do a 4 or 8-count hold after the exhale but having just done pushups and preparing to do more pushups I do not tend to hold on the exhale. In this video, I didn’t do the full 5-minute breathwork because I was very pressed for time.

I am doing 50 pushups a day for August 2023. I am now including all my breathwork in these daily video updates and owning the fact that this is a form of meditation. I am sharing my experience with the practice and the benefits I receive from it.

I’m Doing more than 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!

https://www.facebook.com/donate/1690575421423292/?fundraiser_source=external_url

Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep

Music by John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music

Music by To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco, Free Music Archive (CC)

Music by Khruangbin Live at Boulder Theater on 2019-05-08
https://archive.org/details/Khruangbin20190508017/Khruangbin2019-05-08-008.flac

30-Day 3D Model Challenge 17/30

Day 17 – Creating a Wheel

Learning From Failed Goals

In this video, I discuss how I am refining my approach to being consistent. I am no longer focused on consistently posting on my blog daily but instead consistently minding my priorities and waiting until I have time to create a higher-quality post.

Back to the Basics

I am glad I decided to backpedal from trying to export Adobe Substance Modler files into Adobe Substance Painter and just focus on getting better at Modeler. I like how this more advanced tutorial made use of the boolean functionality, symmetry, and repetition. This video also showed some simple yet creative ways to quickly create dynamic shapes only using the clay and erase tool.

Work Cited

30-Day 3D Model Challenge 16/30

Day 16 – Pause and Pivot

Pause and Pivot

When it feels like you are getting nowhere and are not getting the results you want, you need to look for the things that are working out. You can pause, reevaluate your given circumstances, and tweak your approach.

Over the past three posts, I have been staring at a brick wall. Some Adobe Substance Painter introduction videos caught my eye and I thought I’d like to learn how to work with that application next. However, I have had some issues finding a way to export a file from Adobe Modeler to Adobe Painter. I have read content and watched videos that suggest you should be able to do that, but I just can’t seem to get it to work.

Focus on What is Working

Identify the positive results that you have had and then focus on those.

So, as I was viewing the files that I exported from Adobe Substance Modler (OBJ, FBX) I noticed that those files were associated with Adobe Substance Stager. Sure enough, when I double-clicked on them they opened in Adobe Stager. The Ocean Volcano Diorama I built came up small and that discouraged me. However, I took a breath paused, and stepped away and when I went to bed last night I asked myself what could my next step be. When I woke up the answer was provided by my subconscious. Look at what you can do in Stager because that is where your files are working. In addition to that I had another idea. I have by no means mastered working in Adobe Substance Modeler and I enjoy working in that. So after I look at how things are opening in Stager and get comfortable with how layers carry over, I could go back and do more advanced builds in Adobe Substance Modeler.

I feel like this second option is my path with heart.

Have you ever heard that phrase? Follow the path with heart? It is something my friends at University used to say. It comes from The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge.

I read this series at a formative time in my life and it had a big impact on how I view learning and knowledge in general. There is a very big emphasis in these books on finding the path with heart or choosing the path that will best serve you. In other words, be clear about what you want to accomplish and then give it your all. Yesterday I made fun of Using the Power of Your Subconscious mind because it sounds like a Pseudoscience book that tells you to take drugs and align your Chakras. (I have nothing against the concept of Chakras, I can do a separate post on those if there is any interest in that.) At any rate, my point is that this book (The Don Juan one) IS about Carlos Castenada’s experiences consuming hallucinogenic Peyote cacti in the deserts of Central America. So, as much as I like these books and enjoy the teachings and perspectives they provide, they are not far from new-age pseudoscience.

Now, for the record I never ate Payote, nor have I taken any mescaline, but the author, Carlos Castaneda did. According to the books, he also drove his car to Central America and spent time with the Brujo, Native American Shamans, or Sorcerers. He spent a good deal of time recording their practices. Although many criticize the books for not being true anthropology, they are still a very interesting read and provide colorful insight into the perspectives and traditions of that part of the world.

OK, so back to why I brought that book up at all. A person of knowledge will follow the path with heart. They will pursue what interests them above all other things. A person of knowledge understands that people don’t learn from hearing other people explain something. If you want to learn about something there is no replacement for first-hand experience. Do you see what I did there? I took some crazy new-age hippy novel written by a charming man who was on cactus, mushrooms, and all sorts of trippy datura roots and I made this about learning, I made it about how to improve yourself. Get out there and try something new. I am not recommending drugs, I am recommending experiences. (Not necessarily drug-related experiences.)

-Improvement Dave

David Kolmer

30-Day 3D Model Challenge 15/30

Day 15 – Exporting to Adobe Paint Confusion Continues

Learning is complex and painful, learning is a succession of failures where you do not give up and lose motivation but consistently overcome the setbacks and find ways to improve. I am confident that I will remain consistent in my 30-day 3D modeling challenge and that I will find a way to export 3D models from Adobe Modeler to Adobe Painter.

In today’s video, I share how I have been using the Headway app on my iPhone to listen to condensed versions of books. I have mentioned this app before on this blog. I do not receive any monetary incentives to mention this app and I am not sponsored by them in any way. The app costs around $40 a year and you can purchase a few years for a discount.

I talk about how the app fed me a suggestion to read The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. I like to talk about this book because I like to use the practices it teaches. This sounds like a new-age pseudo-science book that will tell you to take drugs and align your chakras. In fact, it is a book from the 60s that is based on Christian thought and explains how to tap into the power of your subconscious. I am not a huge fan of organized religion, but this book distills what I like about faith-based systems.

The trick is to ask yourself questions about your most pressing conflicts or confusions right before you go to bed. Then when you go to sleep your subconscious mind will attempt to solve the issues for you.

This morning I woke up and thought, wait what about the option that exports as a “Raw Mesh” in Adobe Substance Modler!? Maybe that would create an OBJ file that will open up in Adobe Substance Painter!

You can watch the video to see how I painfully discover that this solution didn’t do the trick. I am still doing something wrong, but this practice did give me something else to try and that was a step in the right direction.

David Kolmer