Vickie Maris | Online Course Design, Digital Content Strategy and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Be spontaneous in life. It can lead to great experiences!

2016-08-11 by Vickie Maris 26 Comments

Are you spontaneous in life? I have become more spontaneous each year. It must have something to do with the feeling I have of wanting to experience life to its fullest while I still have life to live. Also, as I get more organized and better prepared, there is more freedom for spontaneity.

In this article, I hope you’re reminded of the value of doing things spontaneously. Here is the opportunity I recently encountered.

A Bit of Background

Let me first set the stage. I work at a university. The very university where my dad was called in 1955 to start the Aviation Technology Department. Back in the 1940s, he had started to focus his career when he enlisted in the US Army Air Corps and went on to pilot a Consolidated B-24 Liberator in 30 missions of World War 2.

Like my dad, I’ve been known for following my passions. For me that was communications and agriculture. Later, my career morphed into one focused on design of curriculum and distance learning opportunities for lifelong learners – in both corporate America and higher education.

On the side, I am a musician. A farm girl (Connemara ponies and llamas). A podcaster. An entrepreneur. Forever curious.

My interests and passions led me to the project of capturing my parents’ experiences in World War 2 in a digital way that would allow more people to learn from them. I’ve been editing my dad’s book of memoirs from the war. I’ve interviewed him and my mom for various projects including my podcast and a 2-disc cd set of her stories about their young married life and the war. Most recently, I created a documentary style course in Udemy about their lives during the war.

Now for the spontaneous moment

Monday afternoon I saw a B-24 bomber flying past the Purdue campus and my eyes filled with tears. I didn’t even know any were left that could fly. That was the plane my dad piloted for 30 missions during World War 2. Then I went back to work.

That evening, as I’m walking out to my vehicle, I see a B-17 in the air! Oh my gosh. The curiosity about why they were in our air space was overwhelming! I assumed they were at the Purdue University Airport so that is where I headed. No searches in Safari on my iPhone. No calls to anyone. I just drove to the airport and headed through the terminal where I found four war planes – a B-24 taxiing in from the runway and three beautiful relics on the ramp.

The Collings Foundation had brought the planes to West Lafayette, Indiana as part of its tour. I talked with several of the people representing the foundation including the B-24 pilots, and signed up to take a flight the next morning.

You can see the recording of my Facebook Live stream from the evening before my flight and during takeoff of the B-24 when you visit my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/vjmaris.

I can’t believe I had the opportunity to be in the aircraft in which my dad logged the majority of his flying hours during World War 2. To sit on the floor in the belly of the aircraft while the engines fired up and it charged down the runway has almost left me speechless. At least temporarily. But I know this spur-of-the-moment decision to follow the plane to the airport and to sign up for a ride, will enable me to add first-hand material to my online course about World War 2, and to the talks I give about my dad’s life as a leader, as a pilot and about the war.

Photo collage of B-24 bomber pilot and his wife Lucille Maris. — My mom and dad, Lucille and Jim Maris, with their dog, Blondie. My dad got Blondie in England while fighting in World War 2. Here you see them in Murfreesboro, Tennessee while dad worked as a test pilot on the base in Smyrna in 1945.

Flight in a B-24

During the flight in the B-24, I took pictures and video that will be added to my course in Udemy, Life of a Pilot’s Wife During World War 2. I’m thinking of creating an additional course that focuses more on the aircraft and the experiences of the flight. Honestly, I’m not really sure what is next. But I have to say, that my spontaneous decision to drive to the airport Monday evening instead of heading home, and to make room in my schedule for a flight in a B-24, was life changing and unforgettable for me.

This is the turret in the tail of the B-24 where the tail turret gunner would sit during flight. I took this photo during the flight on the B-24, Witchcraft, which was on tour at Purdue University with the Collings Foundation.

To walk and crawl about the aircraft as it was in flight made me acutely aware of how tight the spaces were in which the crewmen worked. I had tears in my eyes over the dangers they faced with each flight and the causes for which they were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

My advice to you – be spontaneous. Keep learning. For a lifetime.

Vickie Maris is a podcaster, author, instructor, musician, & Lean Six Sigma Black Belt who passionately shares insights on teamwork, leadership, learning & life. In her eclectic life, she plays acoustic guitar and piano accordion, is a singer/songwriter, and performs in the band Scott Greeson and Trouble With Monday. She and her hubby, Scott Greeson, live on a hobby farm in Indiana with llamas, rabbits, a Jack Russell Terrier, Connemara pony and one, in-charge, cat. Vickie also has an Etsy shop in which she sells llama roving, yarn and Angora rabbit fluff.

Commemorating the Anniversary of D-Day | June 6, 1944

2016-06-01 by Vickie Maris Leave a Comment

Photo of the Bad Penny and her crew — James R. Maris, pilot, and his crew of the Bad Penny. They are shown here with the Straight Flush in Topeka, Kansas prior to flying a long-distance fuel consumption test on their way to combat. They eventually flew missions out of a base in England. The crew flew most of their 30 missions in the B-24, the Bad Penny.

The anniversary of D-Day is June 6. My dad, James R. Maris, was a pilot who flew a B-24 in the battle. It was the second combat mission for him and his young crew. Together, those 10 brave men, took off in their plane nicknamed the Bad Penny, in the early morning hours from an airfield in Wendling, England. The Bad Penny was one of approximately 13,000 other aircraft in the air that day for the allied forces.

It has been my honor to help capture both my mom’s and my dad’s stories through the years. As a child and young adult, I was with my dad on many occasions as he spoke to audiences riveted to his every word about the dangers, the fears, the seemingly-impossible feats, the aviation marvels and disasters, the celebrations of victories, and sadness over losses of life.

More recently, I have interviewed my mom, Lucille Maris, telling her stories about being a young bride to this brave pilot and leader. You can learn more about how she dealt with the challenges of those times in the two-disc audio set, Stories of a Stateside Bride, and in the self-study course in Udemy, Life of a Pilot’s Wife During World War 2 (this link will take you to an enrollment page in which you can gain access to the course for just $10).

Please join me today in remembering the men and women who fought in the battle of D-Day or who were somehow associated with the event.

To hear my dad, Jim Maris, tell about his D-Day takeoff in the bomber, the Bad Penny, visit this link or watch the embedded video below.

You can also hear me read a couple of my dad’s stories when you click this link to listen to this episode of the podcast, Heartsong Fit With Vickie Maris. This is a special recording for the 70th anniversary of D-Day. You can also click on the player below.

New Course Videos Created in Response to Student Feedback

2016-05-26 by Vickie Maris Leave a Comment

Providing an instructor with feedback about a course is not only helpful to the instructor, but can benefit you and your fellow students. In a self-study environment like Udemy, the ratings and reviews are very insightful. I also receive feedback from students via my Facebook group and other social media locations.

In one of my courses in Udemy, Learn a Simple Approach to Creating an Online Video Course, I’ve recently added two new course videos for my students. Both of these videos are responses to questions I’ve been asked by students.

Value of Leaving Course Feedback for an Instructor

If you’re already a student in the course, you’ll find the first new video in Section 1. It teaches how to provide a Udemy rating and review, and how to edit feedback or a rating if you’d like to make a change. I also touch on the value of leaving feedback about a course – whether it’s for a course in Udemy or other online platform. (see embedded video below)

The second video is in Section 4 – Bonus Material. I share my decision about using talking head (or direct-to-camera) videos for this particular course.

As you take a course, please consider providing your instructor with feedback, and feel free to ask questions. It not only benefits you and provides opportunity to increase your learning and retention of the content, but it helps the instructor improve in their technique and in the content they provide for all students.

Link to the above, embedded video: https://youtu.be/4XOJMBuZHfI

Creative Inspiration Comes From Attending Road to the Horse

2016-03-23 by Vickie Maris Leave a Comment

Photo of Nick Dowers on Day 1 in the Road to the Horse competition — Nick Dowers, horse trainer and Road to the Horse competitor, with the #7 horse from the Four Sixes Ranch Remuda. Day 1 of the competition. Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.

It is always a good thing to get out and network. For business owners and entrepreneurs, that might take the form of leaving your desk, your social media channels, or your content creation, so that you can attend a seminar, a conference or other live event. For researchers, it might mean getting away from the lab or computer and participating in a conference or volunteering for an outreach activity. Changing your venue on occasion can be so valuable to the creative process.

In March 2016, I took a few days to attend Road to the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. It’s a colt starting event and competition between three internationally-known horse trainers. The competitors in 2016 were: Nick Dowers, winner of the event (check out the video on his home page!), Richard Winters (another home page video worth watching!), and Clinton Anderson.

Photo of Remuda and cowboys at Road to the Horse — Four Sixes Ranch cowboys with the Remuda at Road to the Horse, 2016.

I made a point to meet and shake hands with the trainers, as well as with the youth participants, with other spectators, with vendors, and with the horse breeders from the Four Sixes Ranch which had brought the unhandled, 3-year-old Quarter Horses in for the event. (See the three trainers at work during the competition in the videos on my Facebook page: http://www.fb.com/vjmaris)

Networking | Making Connections

In the process of meeting people at Road to the Horse, I met world-renown trainer, Dan James, from Australia, and found out he shares my love of Connemara ponies. He had been a trainer for my late friend, Sue Clarke, who bred Connemara ponies in Australia. She had been for a visit to my farm in Indiana several years ago. Dan and I reminisced about our favorite Connemaras and the characteristics of the breed.

Photo of Horse Trainer Dan James on Swampy with Vickie Maris — Horse Trainer Dan James on Swampy with Vickie Maris at Road to the Horse

Stepping away from my day-to-day world at Purdue and into this different venue has already provided me with an idea I shared during a strategic planning session in the week following my return, and it inspired a message I delivered from our farm on a Periscope broadcast about attending live events in your niche to get inspired.

The take-away I hope you get from this post is to change your venue every now and then, as well as to interact with your peers and mentors outside of your normal routine. You never know what it might bring to your career or who you could add to your network by making the effort to connect.

If you’d like to see my new friend, Dan, and his business partner, Dan Steers, in their appearance in Australia’s Got Talent (with two of their horses on the stage), check this YouTube video out. They are amazing! https://youtu.be/cWlFFGhmaGM Or you can visit their website to learn more about their horse training: http://doubledanhorsemanship.com/

Vickie Maris is an online course designer, instructor, podcaster, and coach. She is also a university administrator and program designer. In her eclectic life, she plays acoustic guitar and piano accordion, is a singer/songwriter, and performs in the band Scott Greeson and Trouble With Monday. She and her hubby, Scott Greeson, live on a hobby farm in Indiana with llamas, rabbits, a Jack Russell Terrier, Connemara pony and one, in-charge, cat. Vickie also has an Etsy shop in which she sells llama roving, yarn and Angora rabbit fluff.

Do You Procrastinate? Eat That Frog!

2016-02-17 by Vickie Maris Leave a Comment

Mark Twain once said “eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” You will hear this phrase in business, and I often hear it in conversations among entrepreneurs.

If you’re a procrastinator, keep the concept, “eat that frog,” in mind. Start your day by knocking out the toughest project or the one you least want to do.

Another approach is to select your largest project first thing in the morning, and work on a section of that project. Doing this on a daily basis will help you keep your project moving along towards completion.

Resources

If you’d like to see a short (1:29 minutes), Eat That Frog, video, click the link: http://play.simpletruths.com/movie/eat-that-frog/