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

Museum Scanning Project

The IDIA Seminar’s current project focuses on virtually recreating the original settings of various sculptures found throughout the Ball State University Museum of Art. The project focused on scanning five different sculptures using a 3D laser scanner. This project has allowed Ball State students to get involved with 3D scanning by learning the method, techniques […]

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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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Microsoft Surface Museum Collection Portal

The IDIA has assembled an interdisciplinary group of students, faculty and industry experts in a significant interactive information portal for the Ball State University Museum of Art (BSUMA).  The IDIA team is developing an innovative touch-based interface to navigate the collection, employing and integrating Microsoft Surface with the Museum’s database.  The Surface will afford Museum […]

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MMFX/IMA Interactive Project

IDIA is creating a media rich interactive digital kiosk for the Digital Fabrication Institute’s MMFX Exhibit hosted by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Students participating in the IDIA Immersion Seminar in Virtual Worlds are developing the interactive interface, which will act as a station within the exhibit where viewers can attain additional biographical and portfolio […]

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Research

Old Planetarium + Cutting Edge Studio

OLD PLANETARIUM REVAMPED INTO CUTTING-EDGE STUDIO Months after the opening of the Charles W. Brown Planetarium, Ball State has found a new use for its almost 50-year-old predecessor. The dome-shaped room in the basement of the Cooper Science Complex has become a production facility dedicated to developing new shows for planetariums nationwide. “This is an […]

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NATIONAL AWARD: VIRTUAL ESCAPE ROOM

The BSU College of Health and CAP’s IDIA Lab were honored with a national award for their collaborative virtual escape room project. The  serious game, “The Case of the Kidnapped Healthcare Professionals: Virtual Escape Room” was selected to receive the 2023 Creativity in Practice and Education Award from the National Academies of Practice (NAP). BSU’s […]

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Newton’s Cenotaph in VR

Appeared in Engadget, Variety and Motherboard Linden Lab lifted the veil on Sansar, the long awaited followup to Second Life, allowing the general public to explore VR environments that beta-testers have been creating for the platform. Among the usual suspects of ritzy nightclubs and elven cities is something unexpected. Over the summer, a group of […]

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GIS PAPER: DEEP MAPPING

BSU’s James Connolly, Director, Center for Middletown Studies and John Fillwalk, Director, IDIA Lab presented their joint paper at the 30th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems in Seattle, WA. This paper explored innovations in visualizing data in immersive 3D environments associated with the newly launched Deep Mapping Middletown project. Lead […]

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