|
Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts, has developed a thorough virtual campus tour to illustrate the institution to prospective students, parents and visitors. The Tufts virtual tour utilizes animation, panoramic campus scenes, video, photographs and text descriptions to give potential applicants some perspective on the school's facilities and student life.
Tufts utilizes panoramic images to showcase the classrooms, hang out spots, facilities and tree-lined pathways that make up daily life at this small liberal arts college. Each tour stop depicts a panoramic scene, and the current viewing angle provided by the panorama is tracked on a campus map window to the right, ensuring that visitors do not lose track of what they are viewing. Panoramic images have long been a standard part of virtual college tours, but only recently have panoramas begun to really blossom with the additions of tour guide narration and dynamic map perspective tracking that supplement the panoramas. Universities have long used panoramic images to help visitors visualize the campus in a way that is impossible from still photographs, but schools are now learning that over reliance on panoramic views actually reduces the effectiveness of online tours. Panoramic views alone do not convey much useful university information, and panoramas that are devoid of audio narration or supplementary materials give visitors a very poor tour experience. The Tufts tour does a good job of enhancing the visual perspectives provided by their panoramic images with spatial cues (map), additional photographs and a location-specific video or spotlight feature.
A Tufts Video or a Tufts Spotlight appears on each tour stop, and they do a tremendous job of linking the facilities depicted in the panorama, map and photographs with information about what actually happens on the Tufts campus. All to often, virtual tours merely seek to document the physical attributes of the campus, with little or no effort made to expose the daily activities, discussions, lectures, events, and experiences that are the heart of a college education. On an actual tour of the Tufts campus, prospective students and their parents are led around the institution by a student tour guide who does not simply point out the buildings, but offers commentary on how those facilities are used in average student lives, and provides perspectives on the style of education and character of the student body. As virtual tours evolve, they are beginning to augment rich visual elements with tools and commentary that attempt to replicate this type of thorough discussion.
Several of the Tufts virtual tour stops depict the insides of buildings, giving prospective students an idea of the size of actual dormitory rooms, campus dining halls, and athletic facilities. CampusTours often conducts student focus groups on virtual campus tours, and we've heard from many students who decry the emphasis university tours put on the exteriors of buildings; as one student put it "all I see in these panoramic tours are the outsides of buildings - I want to know what goes on inside those ivy covered walls!"
The Tufts University virtual tour is a compelling presentation that gives visitors a comprehensive overview of the University. The CampusTours Awards Committee found this to be an excellent online expedition, worthy of the CampusTours Four-Star Virtual Tour Award!
|
