So, for those of you who know me well, you can attest that my efforts continued forth in my quest of Instructional Design and Technology even though this blog was put on hold for a year. For those of you who don't know, here's a brief recap of the past year.

I achieved that long awaited doctoral degree last year, moved with the whole family to Tampa, Florida, and immersed myself into the University of Tampa ID&T Graduate program, the BEAUTIFUL University (campus and people) from which both of my children graduated. For the part of the story you may not know... Several years ago I decided to pursue my doctoral degree once I saw that my children were nearing the end of their four-year degree. Of course, I intended on using it to support myself and any family members who might still need my support no matter how old or young they were (especially since the family tends to live into our hundreds); but, my primary intent, spoken or not, was for a greater good. Prior to entering the program, I wrote down my purpose in life. It was to "Make a difference. Better a life." People say how "lucky" my children and I are to be residing in the same location we aimed to be, with jobs we chose. Certainly, luck does have something to do with it, but we also created the opportunities with intentionality, determination, hard work, persistence, care and authenticity in all that we did and all that we do. Of course, I am also daily on my knees in gratitude and continued prayer as I know the plan was clearly laid out for us. It was just up to us to keep getting up and moving forward, no matter how tired we were. 

Thus, I write this for you, dear students, for my loved ones, family, friends, and anyone exasperated by the workload and worry on the plate today. I had a former professor who shared something to the effect on day one of our doctoral program that it was going to be hard; but, if it were easy, everyone would do it.  My Chair, who I now refer to as my academic mother, promised it would be worth it. I didn't think too much of those words then. I just wanted the degree so as not be a burden to anyone as I aged, and I wanted the title to make a difference in others' lives. At the time, I didn't understand why research was so important or why I had to do eight zillion annotations and lit reviews. 

What I can tell you now only through experiential learning is that pushing yourself further than you ever imagined produces rewards beyond the human language. Consider it like articulating love. Only after I held my first born in my hand could I look into the eyes of my parents to communicate my understanding of the unconditional love I had been given but now new. Likewise, only after all the sleepless nights and years of consistent focus went into achieving the terminal degree am I able to look at my peers and nod in understanding that we've all done it for a greater good. 

Keep going to become the best version of you in mind, body and soul, dear students, family, friends, and anyone exasperated by what today brings.

I promise it's worth it. 

So, Gelb (2009) hails “Da Vinci’s life was an expression of the ancient classical ideal of ‘mens sana in corpore sano,’ a sound mind in a sound body.

Do I think it’s applicable? Gelb offers an activity to measure one’s investment into the body called Corporaltia. I enjoyed checking off all the elements. Is this a surprise? Let’s see… Yesterday I posted: Focus on “Mind, body & soul… & Lovin’ life!” on Instagram after running the paths of Kentucky, spending a day of knowledge consumption as a doctoral candidate and engaging the rest of my waking hours with an amazing MSU cohort  playing and praying. In the middle of my Master’s program, I ran my first marathon. When tragedy struck, my family went to Haiti to pay-it-forward and during the middle of my doctoral program I ran my second marathon… faster and stronger.
 
But, it’s not enough to reap the benefits alone. As an educator I brought students and teachers on board with DOE grant purchased Fitbits. This Get Fit to Persist design initiative was with the intention of  improving our students’ bodies and souls, increasing their retention to improve their minds in our program.  Pay it forward. Introduce it at your school to the concept and try it yourself!

‘Mens sana in corpore sano!' -Da Vinci’s
 
 
Gelb, M. J. (2009). How to think like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven steps to genius every day. (Kindle Locations 2635-2636). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

So, Michael Gelb (2009) offers us some cool assessments in his How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day. His Sensazione test for each of our senses makes us consider just how much we use each of our senses.  Have you seen the movie Limitless? A pill isn't the only thing that will help us fully utilize our brain. Some simple questions can make us realize if we're using our full potential or not also.

Because I'm the A Type personality, I had to take all the Sensazione tests. With a strong passion for design, from fashion to instructional to educational, I, of course assumed I would have a high aptitude towards visual design. Contrary to this believe, I found it to be my least used sense. I'm not 100% certain I know all my friends' eye colors, I don't look out into the horizon each day and I'm not a big fan of doodling or drawing. I'm a techie though, perhaps this isn't the only assessment that works in today's day and age (the book IS from seven years ago.) Does doodling on a computer count? Or scrolling through apps? Appears to me in this digital age, that's the visual question that needs to be asked in this era.

My hearing, smell, touch and synthesia score was above average though. Make sense to me.
A hum from a plugged in air freshener will drive me crazy;
the candle aroma has to be right depending upon my mood;
I don't want anything on my skin unless it's soft;
and, I can tell you what dot, dot, dot; foosah; and zip visually look like. 

So, perhaps our spirit of design or lack of design is not solely based upon one sense. Seems to me we can work to make use of all our senses to design the most aesthetically pleasing version of our world. The Limitless pill may just lie within our minds already.

Time to tap into it.

So as promised, let's talk about the benefits of how fitness and health relate to students’ academic performance and student persistence. We've captured data through wearable technologies!  
Here's how:

1. Research supports a direct correlation with fitness and improved grades (see results from Purdue University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijWW8kgXDD0). Therefore, we hypothesized that if students could monitor their health with wearable technologies, they might just improve their health and increase student persistence in the classroom also. 
   
2. We began by having interested teachers explore various wearable technologies. The winner was the Flex Fitbit due to cost and functionality. 
3. We secured grant funding adding: "Innovative technology to support physical activity to promote increased retention and completion" to the budget.
4. Teachers experimented with their usage and were immediately excited about the possibilities. 
5. We introduced the concept to students during their regular orientation.  Those who were interested and applied became part of our pilot group of students. 
6. An orientation and weekly checkpoints discussing the tips of the trade and the science involved in fitness kept the buzz going.  Students impressively shared unexpected results of how they were drinking more water and monitoring their rest along with walking and exercising more to achieve their health and wellness goals. 
7. Specific results reported students having to say this about their experience:
   • "It helped me realize how inactive I was and that I need to do more exercise."
   • "I learned that science is improving our daily lives,and that we as a society will live longer and healthier if we maintain common sense also run,walk, sleep, and eat healthy."
8. But, the learning didn't stop when they left the classroom.  In fact, they shared it with their families, friends, and classmates.
9. Nine out of the original 11 (91%) completed until the end of term.  To date, seven of the current students completed the survey attesting to the following.  One graduated and is working on enrolling into college level courses.  Two passed some parts of the GED® exam with a few others scheduled to take the exam now.
10. Want to see more?  Take a look.  Make certain to scroll to the bottom to see our shining stars!  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uDnSNEixfH7lHFjHBGGDwn2KeKKd5MsWtIPKbtfPUuo/present#slide=id.p4