Thirty-four Computer Science and Integrated Design students from Dalhousie/NSCAD University worked together in the fall 2016 offering of the “Technology Innovation” course to create a variety of immersive multimedia solutions for the NSCAD Prototype Dome.
Throughout the course, students were exposed to elements of design thinking, project management, and software development to “get their hands dirty” and solve a central design challenge.
The challenge? Create engaging multimedia content for the dome that used public data sets to tell a story that resonated with Nova Scotians.
One such example was the creation of a “Global Cooking Challenge” that used Playstation™ controllers to teach people how to cook a sample dish from a particular country. Students learned through design thinking observations and various insights that:
- International students feel isolated from the greater community
- Typical events for international students are geared toward connecting them with other international students instead of locals
- People of different cultures look to commonalities to form connections
Ultimately, the game served a much more important role: To create stronger connections between international and Canadian students.

The course exemplified the collaborative effectiveness between design and technology students supported by an enthusiastic industry partner. Each solution also modelled the creative potential for dome technologies.
To learn more, please visit the Technology Innovation course page on this website.
