How to Use the My Experience Journal in Be Connected
The My Experience Journal is your personal journal of your Ball State experience that prepares you for a fulfilling career and meaningful life - a space to memorialize your reflections on everything you’ve done outside the classroom (extra-curricular and co-curricular), in academic courses, and intercollegiate athletics at Ball State University that enabled you to acquire the 8 NACE competencies and explore your purpose.
Journaling is encouraged throughout your time at the university, and your reflections should build off one another. The goal of this journal is to help you create a narrative about your development and growth while at Ball State. Through your reflection and journaling, you will create a record that will be helpful with cover letters, interviews, graduate school applications, scholarship applications, lifelong career management and exploring your purpose.
You may be introduced to My Experience Journal through courses taught by faculty who use the Career Ready program. Participation in the Career Ready program provides you with opportunities to develop skills as part of course assignments and through engagement in professional development programming.
But, you do not need to wait to be introduced to My Experience Journal through a course. Just jump into Be Connected and start your reflection journals. It is that simple!
The My Experience Journal becomes is your way to memorialize your most meaningful learning experiences and gives you the language to talk about the holistic impact of your Ball State experience.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Click My Involvement from the Toolbar on the left-hand side of the screen.
- From the drop-down menu, select "My Co-Curricular Transcript."
- There you will find your "My Experience Journal."
- At the top of the page, find the “Share” section.
- Click the toggle switch next to “Share” to open edit mode.
This unlocks options to customize your journal content.
Customize What's Visible
Once in Edit Mode, you can choose which sections to display:
- Groups & Organizations Highlight any student orgs or leadership positions you're part of.
- Events Attended Show off workshops, programs, or events you’ve participated in through Be Connected.
- Badges Earned Feature any engagement or leadership badges you've collected by using Be Connected.
- Service Hours Include your verified community service or volunteer hours.
For each of these sections, you will click edit and then be prompted with checkboxes to select which items you would like to be visible. See image below for example:
Competency Reflections
- Reflect on how your experiences tie into the NACE Career Competencies such as:
- Leadership
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- You can write reflections on experiences from students organizations you're a part of or from collaborations with other groups.
- To add a reflection, click "Edit" next to the NACE Competency Reflections section.
- Select Add Experience
- You will then be prompted to Select a Group you are a part of OR be able to fill in an organization’s name if you are not a member. It is required to fill out one of these two sections.
- Title: Name of your Reflection (Required)
- Role: What role did you play within the organization?
- Description: Describe what you did and how it relates to the competency or Service Opportunity.
- Experience Type: Select the Competency you are reflecting on OR that you are reflecting on a Service Event (Required)
- Start Date: The date that you started the role/position or completed the event/service. (Required)
- End Date: The date you ended the role/position or completed the event/service.
- Paid: You must select if the opportunity is paid or not. (Required)
- Your journal auto-saves as you edit.
- Once you're happy with it:
- Share it with a QR code
- Generate a sharable link
- Or download it as a PDF
Why Use the My Experience Journal?
- Track your involvement in real time
- Reflect on your leadership and growth
- Use it to build resumes and prepare for interviews
- Support grad school applications
- Tell your Ball State story, your way