{"id":2976,"date":"2013-05-31T11:20:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T15:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bsuenglish.wordpress.com\/?p=2976"},"modified":"2022-02-16T15:38:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T20:38:26","slug":"recent-graduate-emily-reed-on-immersive-learning-and-graduate-school-in-information-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/english\/blog\/2013\/05\/31\/recent-graduate-emily-reed-on-immersive-learning-and-graduate-school-in-information-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Emily Reed on Immersive Learning and Graduate School in Information Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"*Photo<\/a>

*Photo provided by Emily Reed<\/p><\/div>\n

We heard from Emily in 2013, and since then she’s become the Digital Records Archivist at the Mercy Heritage Center<\/a> for the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas in North Carolina. She’s also a past president of Archivists for Congregations of Women Religious (ACWR). You can connect with her on LinkedIn.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I have\u2014like I\u2019m sure many Ball State English department students have\u2014dabbled in more financially reliable and business-oriented classes. I tried to count the bones in the human body and follow supply and demand analysis, but the thought of expanding economic and science courses into a major quickly became mind-numbing for me. \u201cI just want to go back to my books,\u201d I remember sulking. I was forced to realize that a struggling liberal arts major was what I was destined to be. Perhaps I would be homeless and live in a cardboard box, but I knew I\u2019d be the best critically thinking hobo there ever was.\u00a0 However, I\u2019ve just graduated, and I\u2019m pleasantly surprised about the number of opportunities opening to me\u2014life in squalor might have to wait.<\/p>\n

My path in English Literature as a student, while different than the one I could have expected outside the Department of English,\u00a0was still made with a lot of hard work. My professors expected a high level of critical thinking and writing, good analysis, teamwork, and communication skills from me. I enjoyed learning these skills that were attributes I could take and apply to a number of career paths, not just things that were specifically \u201ctest-taught.\u201d<\/p>\n

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George Rogers Clark project<\/span><\/h3>\n

In addition to class work, I\u2019ve also been proactive in finding projects that take my skills from school and apply them to real-life career situations. Thankfully Ball State\u2019s stance on immersive learning has made this process a relatively easy one. I was able to first work with Professors Morris and Ingram in the History Department on their project with Building Better Communities: \u2018Old Stories Made New\u2014The Life of George Rogers Clark.\u2019 \u00a0<\/span>The goal of that project was to create a new historiography that updated out of date views and that provided further context and viewpoints on George Rogers Clark\u2019s infamous Vincennes Campaign.\u00a0 The project was designed for educational purposes and elementary schools state wide. This project gave me the opportunity to work with technologies that I was unfamiliar with as I assisted in the creation of a film. As well, I researched and wrote scripts representing multiple groups of people (Native Americans, women, etc) whose viewpoints are historically underrepresented in history projects of this nature.<\/p>\n

Kurt Vonnegut project<\/span><\/h3>\n

I found with that particular immersive learning project that I really enjoyed blending together my English skills with historical narrative. I also was surprisingly proud to work on a subject that featured a prominent Indiana state figure. So later when I found out about Professors Rai Peterson and Russ Wahler\u2019s internship through Ball State for the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, I knew it was something I had to do.( I\u2019m sorry Michael Jackson, but Kurt Vonnegut has to be the coolest famous Hoosier I know.)<\/p>\n

This project was probably the most intense thing I\u2019ve ever worked on during my career as a student.<\/p>\n

It was a two-semester commitment and even asked that we give up most of our summer, but it was beyond worth it. Our work for the KVML comprised of a multifaceted project that increased the institute\u2019s offerings in an attempt to make the story and works of Kurt Vonnegut more accessible and popular to the wider public.<\/p>\n

The other interns and I worked on:<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n