Sarah Smith-Robbins, Director of Learning Technologies
Mark W. Bell, Web Developer
Kelley School of Business
You could say Kelley School employees Sarah Smith-Robbins and Mark Bell are kind of into Halloween. Every year, the couple goes all out to decorate their home for the spooky season.
They choose a new theme annually: past years have included "Night of the Living Candy" (when the candy turns the tables and attacks the trick or treaters); "Carnevil" (evil clowns); and "Night of the Candy Snatchers" (sinister aliens and robots). Apart from an occasional store-bought skeleton, Smith-Robbins makes every decoration by hand. Bell oversees lighting, fog machines, and daily maintenance (like ghosts caught in branches or evil witches toppling in the night.). This year’s theme, "Goblins and Goodies," is based on creatures from Dungeons and Dragons.
A sampling of decorations from Halloween 2022: "Goblin and Goodies," on display at 2513 E. Rechter Road in Bloomington. Mark and Sarah suggest coming by after dark for the spookiest view. Lights go out at 10 p.m. every night.
At the Kelley School, Smith-Robbins is a marketing faculty member and director of learning technologies, and Bell is a web developer. The two met at Ball State when Smith-Robbins was earning her Ph.D. in rhetoric and a Master of Arts in digital storytelling. Smith-Robbins' other degrees are a Master of Arts in literature from University of Indianapolis and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Franklin College. Bell also has a Bachelor of Arts in English from University of Waterloo and a Master of Arts in telecommunications from IU Bloomington.
They have lived in Bloomington for 15 years, and 2022 marks the 10th year of their over-the-top Halloween house decorations. "Regardless of the theme, we never include anything gory," Smith-Robbins said. "We believe that something can be plenty creepy without being violent."
Q: Sarah, how did your career path lead you to IU? What do you like most about your work at Kelley?
A: We moved to Bloomington while I was working on my dissertation so Mark could start his degree in telecommunications. My research centers around how people learn in virtual environments, and it just so happened that the executive education group at Kelley was investigating using virtual environments for corporate training at the same time. They asked me to consult on a project, then hired me, and I’ve been here ever since. Six years ago, I moved from my position within executive education to be the director of learning technology for the whole school, as well as teaching Creativity and Communication in the marketing department. The best thing about my job is that I get to learn every day. I get to try new things, experiment with my team, and help faculty implement innovations in their own courses. It’s an adventure every day with great people.
Q: Mark, same question—you were the digital media arts teacher and educational technology coordinator at Harmony School. What inspired you to return to higher ed?
A: I have always felt very at home in higher ed. Harmony School was a great experience, but when our kids graduated, I felt like it was time for a change. The job at Kelley came along just as I was ready to do something different.
Q: Sarah, you’ve written dozens of journal articles and conducted numerous presentations throughout the U.S., as well as workshops on campus and in the community. Where do you see topics trending as we look ahead to 2023 compared with, say, 10 years ago?
A: If you’d asked me that question a few years ago, prior to Covid, my answer would have been completely different. The pandemic forced us all to be apart from one another and made us appreciate how much we value real connections. Technologies that allow us to be genuine with one another, that become almost invisible in our interactions, are the future. Given my research, I’m sure a lot of people expect me to say that the Metaverse is going to be huge, especially with companies like Facebook being so invested. But those of us who have studied prior waves of virtual reality popularity have seen it all before. We know that, in the end, we don’t want bulky devices and artificial virtual selves mediating our relationships with other people. That’s not to say there aren’t situations in which virtual spaces are the right tool for the job. Those situations just aren’t ubiquitous.
Q: Mark, you’ve written books and journal articles on technology and produced movies—any creative projects in the works?
A: Along with helping with the Halloween decorations, I have a couple of creative projects on the go. For the past three years, Sarah and I have hosted the weekly "Mystery Maniacs" podcast. We have over half a million downloads and have listeners all over the world. In addition, I run a comic book company that publishes two comics, S.P.I.R.I.T. and ZED. This includes running Kickstarters, attending conventions, and working with artists. I also like to write and record music in my home studio.
Q: Sarah, what do you want people to know about your work at Kelley that they might not know?
A: No matter how many awesome fun technologies we have to use, it’s always pedagogy first, technology second. The learner should always be our focus, no matter how tempting a new tool is.
Q: Mark, same question.
A: Not only is Kelley’s site one of the largest Indiana University websites, but it is also one of the most technically innovative. Because of the hard work of the web team, Kelley’s site is seen as a leader in web technologies at IU. Plus, because of my job, I may know more about the school than people would think. I’ve made tweaks to every program, institute, center, and degree page. It’s interesting to see the wide variety of work going on within one school.
Q: Sarah, can you share why you love Halloween? Can you remember your first Halloweens as a child?
A: I love Halloween because it’s the one holiday of the year that encourages everyone to be creative. Even the most strait-laced person can enjoy coming up with a fun costume and being someone else for a day. When I was a kid, dressing up was my favorite part, and my mom was always happy to help. When our kids were little, dressing them up was the best part. When the kids got a bit older, I turned my attention to our house instead. I’m a maker at heart. I collect hobbies, and Halloween gives me a way to apply them. Each year, I challenge myself to learn something new as I make the decorations. In the past 10 years, I’ve learned all kinds of carpentry skills, plus how to sculpt, make molds, airbrush, solder, repurpose old motors to make Halloween props move … lots of things. Rather than having an endless number of projects on the go in every room of the house, I aim it all at making Halloween decorations that I get to share with anyone who comes by our house.
Q: Mark, which one of you was the Halloween superfan first—or did your mutual love for the holiday help bring you together?
A: Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, from "It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" to today’s horror movies. I have always loved spooky, eerie stories. Halloween is a holiday that celebrates these things, and the chance to dress up and challenge norms is always fun. It’s never been scary, but a celebration of freedom.
Decorations from the "movie monsters" themed year.
Q: Sarah, any tips on making your own costumes? What have been some of your favorite decorations in the past, and what are you making this year?
A: Believe it or not, I don’t really dress up for Halloween. Rather than dress myself, I dress the entire front of our 4,000+ square foot house from mailbox to gutter. We start from scratch every year with a new theme, so I try to recycle the materials from the year before as much as possible. For example, last year’s theme was Ghostbusters, and I made a 6-foot-tall inflatable Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from plastic tablecloths that were part of the gown for a 10-foot-tall Bride of Frankenstein the year before. I also use a ton of pink and blue foam insulation board that we get from a company in Spencer that recycles it from old warehouses. I carve it into everything, from dragons to pirate ships, using some rather big knives and electrified hot wires.
This year’s theme, Goblins and Goodies, is all based around creatures from Dungeons and Dragons. We have goblins up to various forms of mischief around the yard, a man-eating treasure chest, and of course, a fog-breathing dragon. Plus lots more that you’ll just have to come by to see.
Q: Mark, what happens to the decorations each year after Halloween?
A: First, we don’t put everything out at once. Over the early part of October, we put a little bit out each day. We have lots of people who stop by every couple of days to see what's new. The traffic increases over the month until the week of Halloween when we have everything out and have scores of visitors. Though more of our neighborhood joins in every year, we know that all the traffic we create has an effect on our neighbors, so I take down the decorations the day after Halloween. We store most of the best decorations and then work hard to recycle as much as possible for next year.
