Tag: Immersive Learning Projects

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Planet Muncie: Survey of Environmental Organizations in Muncie and Delaware County

In 2014,the Muncie Action Plan (MAP) sponsored an immersive learning project that investigated how communities similar to Muncie are coordinating community-wide sustainability initiatives. One outcome of that project was the development of a template for a “Sustainable Muncie” website that identified the sustainability related organizations and resources throughout Muncie and Delaware County. MAP approached Ball State expressing a desire to revisit those outcomes. The project team was tasked with identifying the organizations and resources currently available in Muncie and organizing that information into a directory for dissemination. The collection of this information will serve two purposes. The first is to aid the MAP in identification of service gaps that are not currently being addressed in the community. This information, in turn, would provide an agenda for future efforts of MAP. The second purpose for identifying these community resources is to develop a single, publicly accessible clearing house where community members, organization leaders, and local decision-makers could find out about all of the community’s environmentally related organizations and resources.

Faculty Mentor: David Hua
Department: Social Work
Community Partner: Muncie Action Plan
Students: Emily Dewig, Austin Fleming, Lindsey Stamper, Quintin Thompson

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Storytelling and Social Justice

With one third of children currently living below the poverty line, poverty is perhaps the most pressing issue facing Delaware County. The students in “Storytelling and Social Justice” are addressed this issue head-on by partnering with Circles of Delaware County/Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana to share stories about the challenges that individuals living in poverty face. Specifically, “Storytelling and Social Justice” students worked with members of the Circles/Second Harvest community to create both a polyvocal memoir (a compilation of many first-person narratives) and several YouTube videos featuring stories of poverty and empowerment. We circulated the memoir and YouTube videos to the Muncie community and beyond. Circles and Second Harvest Food Bank will also be able to use these materials to both raise awareness and galvanize community support.

Faculty Mentor: Emily Ruth Rutter
Department: English
Community Partner: Circles of Delaware County/Second Harvest Food Bank
Students: Adore Davis, Meredith Dickerson, Hunter Garrison, Britney Kendrick, Malikah McMillan, Dillon O’Nail, Ciara Smith, Zoe Taylor, Levi Todd

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Provider Survey for Second Harvest Food Bank

Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana, our community partner, is a non-profit food distribution organization that serves an eight-county area: Blackford, Delaware, Grant, Henry, Jay, Madison, Randolph, and Wabash. We were asked to gather data from the partner agencies (food distribution sites such as church food pantries and community centers) for the purpose of program improvement. Second Harvest was interested in knowing how their partner agencies make decisions about what food/products to acquire from the food bank,whether the services that they provide are currently meeting the needs of their client populations, what additional services/products are needed by their client populations, what agency services they currently use (e.g., volunteer training, food storage training, etc.), and what additional agency services they would use if available. The students designed and distributed the survey, analyzed the results, and created a report and presentation.

Faculty Mentor: Lisa Pellerin
Department: Sociology
Community Partner: Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana
Students: David Current, Elisabeth Gates, Sunni Matters, Kaitlin Purdy, Staci Quire, Madison Ream, Amber Sheets, Erica Somerson

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Professional Development, Differentiated and Digitized (PD3): Muncie Community Schools Learning Management System Adoption and Implementation

The Professional Development, Differentiated, and Digitized (PD3) immersive learning project has the primary goal of assisting Muncie Community Schools (MCS) develop teachers who adopt and integrate different technologies within their instructional practices.This was done in several ways. First, PD3 students focused on assisting the district in the adoption and implementation of a new Learning Management System (LMS) Schoology. Students created professional development opportunities, helped teachers create digital curriculum and assessments, and promoted use of the LMS. These included creation of a Schoology professional development course within the LMS, individual technology mentoring between BSU students and MCS teachers, and a district wide professional development session. Second, students designed, developed, and implemented a four-week Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math (STEM) unit on electricity for kindergarten through third grade students at a MCS after school program. BSU students modeled effective pedagogical practices and meaningful technology integration as they implemented the unit with teachers and for K3 students. In the Fall 2017, students have continued working with Muncie community school teachers and are developing content within the Schoology LMS. They are also developing the initial stages of the Professional Learning Program (PLP) for teacher education candidates, faculty, and community partners. The PLP will focus on the National Technology Standards for Educators and is intended to aid educators at all levels to learn more about meaningful technology integration for learning and teaching.

Faculty Mentor: Jon Clausen
Department: Educational Studies
Community Partner: Muncie Community Schools
Students: Karen Huey, Demi Novinger, Katlyn Redman, Sarah Schlosser, Jeremy Svoboda, Carli Vose, Sam Walden, Jordan Wallace

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NAMI Delaware County – Reaching Out to Persons with Severe Mental Illness in Local Criminal Justice Contexts

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the primary advocacy organization for persons with mental illness and their families in the United States. Over the past few years, the local NAMI chapter in Delaware County has established innovative programs for persons with mental illness and their families, including support groups, suicide hotlines, and education for law enforcement on crisis intervention. In this immersive project, students met with the NAMI Delaware County Executive Board to discuss how the organization supports these programs. Students then formed teams to plan and carry out activities for NAMI DC, including two fundraisers at local restaurants to support Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) for law enforcement officers, and donation and distribution of flyers educating the community about mental health resources.

Faculty Mentor: Monte Staton
Department: Criminal Justice and Criminology
Community Partner: National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
Students: Abdul Aldhiroy, Hussam Alghamdi, Abdulrahman Alhasani, Nader Alluoh, Faris Alruthia, Will Boston, Martin Dyrcz, Christy Garke, Caleb Gramman, Conner Hobbs, Shauntanyse James, Kyla Kettell, Katie Kunzman, Justin Lewis, Justin Miti, Dametrea Mixon, Destini Pugh, Dakota Schaefer, William Stone, Nicholas Wise

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Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab

Fall 2018: Students from the IU School of Medicine complete a “clerkship” by working for 4-6 weeks in a medical establishment in one of several locations in Indiana. The Ball Brothers Foundation would like more medical students to complete their clerkship in the Muncie area, with the ultimate goal that these future doctors will return to Muncie to live and work upon graduation. Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab is a collaborative arrangement between Ball State University, IU School of Medicine – Muncie, and the Ball Brothers Foundation to provide short-term housing for these medical students. Residential Property Management (RPM) students researched ways to improve Maplewood Mansion as housing for these medical students and how to offer an outstanding Muncie experience that will attract and retain these future doctors. RPM students will share their recommendations for improvements to the physical site, management of the site, and ways to connect the residents to the area.

Fall 2017: Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab (MMLL) opened in Fall 2017 and had no policies or procedures for operations, nor did they have a promotional campaign. The Residential Property Management students (seniors and a graduate student) created all of this for MMLL. They are assisting with the operations of Maplewood Mansion as short-term rental housing for the IU Med School students doing their “clerkship” at IU Ball Memorial Hospital. They are in the process of completing internal policies and documents (emergency plan, move-in/move-out checklist and form, resident handbook, guest satisfaction survey, etc.) as well as products related to external relations (logo, career apparel, Muncie visitor information, vision/mission statement, website, Facebook page, etc.). Specific course objectives include evaluate an apartment community’s policies and procedures for marketing, management, and maintenance; make recommendations for alternative solutions; and apply professional skills to the development of a final report/presentation of project results.

Fall 2018

Faculty Mentors: Carla Earhart
Departments: Management
Community Partners: Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab, Ball Brothers Foundation, IU School of Medicine-Muncie
Students: Michael Dickens, Madison Egold, Dustin Geise, Jacob Greer, Colin Harrison, Andreas Hji-Avgoustis, Akeem Hutchinson, Mason Knox, Hayden Olszyk,Jordan Sherman, Rachael Sloan, Paige Snyder, Morgan Truhan, Cihai (Charles) Zhang

Fall 2017

Faculty Mentor: Carla Earhart & David Martin
Department: Management
Community Partners: IU School of Medicine – Muncie Campus
Students: Alex Byerly, Rachel Cox, Ronald Harrington, Amy Herron, MacKenzi Roe