Academic

The IDIA offers curriculum in partnership with the Department of Art and the School of Music in the College of Fine Arts; and the Department of Architecture in the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University. IDIA immersive learning and emerging media experiences attract students from all disciplines to design and produce a host of interactive digital projects. Undergraduate and graduate curriculum in new media are available in Art, Music and Architecture. Several new programs are also in development.

Curriculum and Facilities

The IDIA Immersive Seminar that involves students from across campus to work on innovative projects. Check out our recent news for descriptions of current and ongoing projects.

Immersion Projects

Smithsonian and National Park Service Presentations

Vice-President of Information Technology, Phil Repp and IDIA Lab Director, John Fillwalk traveled to Washington, D.C. to present Ball State projects in electronic field trips, virtual worlds and hybrid design to several federal organizations. Meetings included a presentation at the Smithsonian Institution Building on the National Mall to representatives from all the Smithsonian Museums and […]

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VIRTUAL COURTROOM SIMULATOR

IDIA is collaborating with BSU’s Brandy and Greg Rocheleau from the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology on the production of a Virtual Courtroom. The project, funded by BSU’s Women of Beneficence, is a program designed to allow students in designated criminal justice classrooms to participate in courtroom simulations through the use of avatars to […]

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Virtual Escape Room

IDIA Lab is working on a Virtual Escape Room project for Ball State University College of Health. Project will launch in the fall semester. In this collaboration we are developing a virtual multi-user escape room. Escape rooms employ innovative learning strategies such as problem-based, immersive learning, role play, and game principles to improve teamwork, communication and […]

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EVAC+ Virtual Disaster Simulator

IDIA Lab partnered with physicians at the Seattle Children’s Hospital to develop a virtual simulator to train staff in the case of various disasters. The EVAC+ Virtual Disaster Simulator leverages virtual reality to train health care providers to react quickly and effectively to unexpected events that threaten patient safety. It was developed after pilot live simulations, user […]

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Research

Las Americas Virtual Design Studio

The Las Americas Virtual Design Studio is made possible through a collaboration between IDIA, the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University, the Las Americas Network, with the professional firm of BSA LifeStructures. The project linked 11 international Departments of Architecture, over 100 students and 11 faculty in this immersive collaboration environment. The students worked […]

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NURSING INTERVIEW SIMULATOR

IDIA, in partnership with the BSU School of Nursing, developed and launched a new Nursing Interview Simulator in the virtual world of Blue Mars. Blue Mars is a next generation and high fidelity virtual world that uses the CryEngine game engine. Student nurses practice interviews via role-playing – using avatars with predefined health histories. http://bit.ly/riEpFb

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Virtual Middletown Living Museum in Blue Mars

The Virtual Middletown Living Museum project in Blue Mars is a simulation of the Ball Glass factory from early 20th century Muncie, Indiana. Life and conditions in the factory were one of the key elements of the Middletown Studies by Robert S. and Helen Merrell Lynd in their landmark studies Middletown (1929) and Middletown in Transition (1937). These in-depth accounts […]

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IDIA Lab Simulations in Blue Mars

Ball State University’s Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts (IDIA) in Blue Mars is a large scale virtual simulation that showcases re-creations of artifacts and artworks in their original historical contexts, including sculptures at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco and a centuries-old Buddha at a Japanese temple. Through the use of such emerging […]

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