Author: Jes Beals

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Developing Healthy Neighborhoods

Many neighborhoods throughout Muncie are working to make the places they live great. With a little support and guidance, their efforts can also contribute toward making the places they live a little healthier. In this immersive learning project, students helped community members develop a Healthy Neighborhood designation program to promote better overall health and wellness in Muncie neighborhoods.

Materials: Play everywhere card pack | Play everywhere card pack# | Neighborhood Designation and Award Structure

Faculty Mentors: Jane Ellery
Departments: Kinesiology
Community Partner: Building Better Neighborhoods
Students: Alexandra Dremonas, Nicole Dubicki, Kylie Hagarty, Julia Price, Ashley Syferd

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Spring 2019 Ball State Immersive Learning Projects

Ball State faculty, students, and community partners worked together this spring on a number of immersive learning projects in and around Muncie.

Bringing in and Branching out: Recruiting Employees and Building Community Connections (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Peggy Fisher, Department of Communication Studies
Community Partner:  Open Door Health Services

The Children Facing Challenges Literature Project
Faculty Mentor:  Carolyn Hitchens, Department of Elementary Education
Community Partner:  Wes Del Elementary

Cultural Identities and Community Engagement
Faculty Mentor:  Ruby Cain, Department of Educational Studies
Community Partners: Human Library Fort Wayne, Muncie Public Library, Purdue University Fort Wayne, It is Well With My Soul, Whitely Community Council, Industry Neighborhood, Fort Wayne Urban League

DANCE! Muncie After School (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Melanie Swihart, Department of Theatre and Dance
Community Partner:  Muncie Community Schools

Developing Healthy Neighborhoods
Faculty Mentor: Jane Ellery, Department of Kinesiology
Community Partner:  Building Better Neighborhoods

Energy Assessment for Small Commercial Buildings in Muncie
Faculty Mentor:  Sherif Attallah, Department of Construction Management
Community Partner:  Muncie Chamber of Commerce

Healthy Moms, Healthy Communities:  Understanding Perceptions and Evaluating Maternal Opiod Treatment in Muncie
Faculty Mentor:  Caitlyn Leonardson-Placek, Department of Anthropology
Community Partner:  Suzanne Gresham Center

Immersive Learning Video Project (Second Harvest Food Bank)
Faculty Mentor:  Tim Pollard, Department of Telecommunications; Suzanne Plesha, Office of Immersive Learning
Community Partner:  Second Harvest Food Bank

Making Housing Advocates with the 8-12 Coalition
Faculty Mentor:  John West, Department of Urban Planning
Community Partner:  Building Better Neighborhoods, Habitat for Humanity

Muncie Neighborhood Visual Identity Design (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Shantanu Suman, School of Art
Community Partners:  Building Better Neighborhoods, Muncie Action Plan

Partnering with the Whitely Community to Establish an Understanding of Community and Police Interactions
Faculty Mentor:  Kiesha Warren-Gordon, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Community Partners:  The Facing Project, Whitely Community Council

Philosophy for High School Students (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Sarah Vitale, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Community Partner:  Muncie Central High School

Purple Cow: Moving from Ordinary to Extraordinary Care for Children (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Stacey Allred, Department of Elementary Education
Community Partner:  Kidz Korner Child Care Center

Second Harvest School Pantries Study
Faculty Mentor: Melinda Messineo, Department of Sociology
Community Partner: Second Harvest Food Bank

Serious Game Design with Minnetrista (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Paul Gestwicki, Department of Computer Science
Community Partner:  Minnetrista Cultural Center

Tips and Tactics on Prevention of Human Trafficking
Faculty Mentor:  Ronald Dolon, Department of Social Work
Community Partner:  A Better Way

Unmasked: Recovery and Redemption
Faculty Mentor: Juli Metzger, Department of Journalism
Community Partner: Ball Brothers Foundation

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2019 IDEA Conference Resources

2019 IDEA Conference Resources

Take a look at some of the great presentations and materials from this year’s conference:

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School Safety, Data-Driven Evidence- Based Findings, and Recommendations

The project was three-pronged and involved conducting school security audits, mentoring at-risk students, and the observation of the work of School Resource Officers (SROs). Students generated items for an audit instrument, planned and carried out their mentoring activities, and provided observational analyses of their SRO time. The product for this project was a formal presentation to the community partners.

Faculty Mentors: Bryan Byers
Departments: Criminal Justice and Criminology
Community Partners: Muncie Community Schools, Burris Laboratory School
Students: TJ Brown, Elizabeth Cassady, Andrew Chapman, Joel Donovan, Paige Eacret, Daniel Etchison, Samantha Kridler, Lindsey Rainbolt, Mario Rodriguez

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Serious Game Design with Minnetrista

Student working on game design at a laptop

Spring 2019: A multidisciplinary team of undergraduates has worked with Minnetrista to develop an original, interactive, educational video game about food preservation. We have tied our research and development process into Minnetrista’s revision of Oakhurst, the historic home where the original Ball Blue Book canning recipes were developed. The team worked together to create a game for families who visit the museum, to get them working together in an exciting simulation of canning.

Fall 2018: The students in this semester’s Honors Colloquium on Serious Game Design worked with Minnetrista to create original games that explore regional history, culture, and themes. The students began the semester by studying fundamentals of game design with an emphasis on transformative and educational games. This included a formal analysis of Minnetrista Fairy Trails, a game created by an immersive learning course in Spring 2018. In the second half of the semester, each student identified a particular theme to explore through iterative game design and produced the playable prototypes that are presented at the showcase. Between semesters, faculty and staff from Ball State and Minnetrista will evaluate what was learned this semester to choose a project for production in a Spring game software production studio course.

Spring 2019

Faculty Mentors: Paul Gestwicki
Departments: Computer Science
Community Partners: Minnetrista Cultural Center
Students: Jawad Al Mamoon, Lauren Binnewies, Chris Bucker, Gabrielle Hogan, Makayla Hughes, Nick Manis, Lindsey Murphy, Eli Sokeland, Tanner Stanley, Austin Tinkel, Hunter Wallace, Julie Xiao

Fall 2018

Faculty Mentors: Paul Gestwicki
Departments: Computer Science
Community Partners: Minnetrista Cultural Center
Students: Ryland Babusiak, Lexi Benakovich, Katie Grieze, Nathan Hahn, Zachary Hughes, Sarah Humphrey, Kyle Jones, Ariel Meece, Mathias Miles, Eve Miller, Alex Ross, Samantha Stapleton, Christopher Zurisk

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Scenery in Space

In this project, a diverse group of students partnered with Muncie Civic Theatre to assist in the development of stock scenery. This scenery will be used within their regular production season and will be a significant upgrade in safety and efficiency over their current stock.

Faculty Mentors: Kerry Chipman, Mickie Marie
Departments: Theatre and Dance
Community Partners: Muncie Civic Theatre
Students: Sam Buchholz, Kathryn Burke, Chrstine Gordon, Jade Grady, Madeleine Hollinger, Jay Jeffcoat, Kali Marquart, Nicholas Maurer, Carlee Miller, Logan Niccum, Amanda Pecora, Laura Pierson, Amber Riggle, Mitch Smolek, Valerie Stoffer, Ashley Talcott