Tag: Immersive Learning Projects

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Whitely Community Safety Committee Focus Groups

The Whitely Community Council Public Safety Committee has been discussing the national dialogue regarding police and community tensions and how those feelings may be reflected in Muncie Delaware County.  This project team conducted interviews and focus groups with Muncie Delaware County residents and police about their perceptions of local police-community relations.  This data will help the Public Safety Committee design programming with the objective of improving communication, understanding, and safety.

Faculty Mentor:  Melinda Messineo
Department:  Sociology
Community Partner:  Whitley Community Safety Committee
Students: Nathan Ayers, Denasiha Christian, Brett Donley, Asia Flemings, Autumn Huse, Alicia Klingerman, Patrick Kluger, Savanna Paddock, Erin Phelps, Lara Schneider, Matthias Tankersley

 

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Muncie’s Sports Tourism Potential: Strategies to Make the SportsPlex Serve the Community Better

This project involved students taking the lead in a research project to learn about how the Muncie SportsPlex could be made to be financially viable and serve the Muncie community better.  Students gathered data and wrote a report that gave Mayor Tyler actionable business intelligence to assist in improving the product, services and financial viability of Muncie SportsPlex.

Faculty Mentor:  Craig Webster
Department:  Family and Consumer Sciences
Community Partner:  City of Muncie
Students: Cheria Averitte, Leah Beebe, Nicole Box, Cade Carter, Jeshua Drown, Alex Hurt, Anna Johnson, Kyle Jones, Bailey Kelley, Colleen Kinninger, Sarah Kniesly, Ed Landreth, Taylor Lipinski, Michael Lorenzano, Maddie McMurray, Mike Melton: Graduate Assistant, Kim Scott, Jessica Stanton, Taylor Stiffler, Katherine Sutton, Brandi Tuzinski, Alexandria Vaden, Sarah Von Raesfeld, Ciara Whitaker

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Louis E. Ingelhart Scholars and Facing Cancer

Ball State University students combined their effort and energy to produce the next iteration of The Facing Project, a local initiative which aims to connect people through stories to strengthen communities. Each iteration reveals people in our community who face certain circumstances and wish to share their stories. The students chose to concentrate on Facing Cancer in East Central Indiana. All stories have been published in a free book and distributed at a community debut as well as to those who may have direct influence toward those who face depression — such as doctors, counselors, therapists, teachers, coaches, parents, and friends. The goal of The Facing Project is to inform and educate about under-reported and sometimes misunderstood topics.

Faculty Mentor:  Adam Kuban
Department:  Journalism
Community Partner: Cancer Services of East Central Indiana — Little Red Door
Students: Tyson Bird, Patrick Calvert, Phylisia Donaldson, Nicole Dowd, Ryan Flanery, Alaina Halsey, Lauren Hansen,
Asa McCormick, Kaylie McKee, Edward Metzger, Trenton Scroggins, Rose Skelly, Jacob Turpin, Dagny Zupin

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Sustainability Park at Heath Farm Conceptual Plan

Education in Sustainability across a range of levels from elementary school through college has never been more important than at this time of climate change, habitat loss and other environmental impacts. Sustainability education is extremely effective when techniques are demonstrated in the field and the learning is hands-on. This project proposes to develop an underutilized Ball State owned parcel as a community resource and national model in sustainability education. The partners and beneficiaries for this project include Ball State students, public school students, and the general public.

Faculty Mentor:  Dave Ferguson
Department:  Landscape Architecture
Community Partner:  Red-tail Land Conservancy
Students: Drew Bailey, Denise Blankenberger, Courtney Castleman, Tatiana Cox, Olivia Davis, Zachary Herring, Sammy Iskrzycki, Katlyn (Faye) Lichtsinn, Payton Smiley, Cassidy Smith, Chelsea Smith

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Families for Forward Thinking: Partnering with Parents in the 21st Century

This immersive project involved partnering with Wee Wisdom Nursery School and Child Care Facility in Muncie.  Students enrolled in EDEL 231 worked collaboratively to create, design and launch a new program entitled, Families for Forward Thinking (FFT).  Alongside Wee Wisdom staff and families, students distinguished parental needs regarding positive home structures.  Participating students explored research proven and practical strategies that parents and families could implement at home to best provide a positive environment.  These strategies incorporated within a student-created FFT online source.  This dynamic resource was linked to the collaborating partner’s website at the end of the semester.  Through the site, parents have access to video vignettes of students/teachers working with children, relevant articles, and pragmatic resources on meaningful topics that enhance their child’s academic and social success.  In addition, Ball State students identified specific areas of parental interest and provided two parent education workshops/events.  Students also organized and planned an in-service session for Wee Wisdom staff to support their ongoing work with parents.

Faculty Mentor:  Stacey Allred
Department:  Elementary Education
Community Partner:  Wee Wisdom Nursery School and Child Care Facility
Students: Hunter Eineman, Christina Koehl, Bridget Millar, Shana Miller, Monique Moore, Daniel Skora, Eva Wehrle, Hannah Wiley

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ecoREHAB Studio: Thomas Park Avondale House Rehab

The Thomas Park/Avondale neighborhood has suffered since the closings of multiple important employers over recent years.  To help combat neighborhood decay ecoREHAB hopes to help stabilize the area by improving the housing stock. To initiate this endeavor, ecoREHAB identified an ideal property located 1 block from the Ross Community Center.  In 2014, the house was tagged by Muncie’s Unsafe Building Hearing Authority. Without costly remediation the house cannot be occupied and in its current state it could quickly fall into disrepair and become unsalvageable, leaving a hole in the urban fabric of the neighborhood that may never be mended. Working with Ball State University architecture students, ecoREHAB will rehabilitate this house turning it into a home that is affordable to operate and act as a catalyst for neighborhood improvement. LEARN MORE

Faculty Mentor:  Jonathan Spodek
Department:  Architecture
Community Partners:  Ball Brothers Foundation; ecoREHAB of Muncie, Inc.
Students: Craig Adams, Allison Berry, Brian Bracht, Hunter Crews, Alex DeKemper, Jordan Duke, Ana Karen Garcia, Jacob Hurt, Molly Schultz, Taylor Sheppard