Monday, April 15, 2002
Take a campus walk on the Web
By Enquirer contributor
By Michele Day Enquirer contributor
You don't need a plane ticket to explore the aisles of the campus store at the University of California Los Angeles or peer into classrooms and dormitories at the University of Florida.
The schools are among a growing number that use technology to transport potential students to their campuses.
Virtual tours allow schools to show off their ivy-covered halls, introduce their faculty and provide a sample of their social life to potential students around the world. A 2001 survey by the National Association of College Admissions Counselors found 53 percent of the institutions surveyed offer online campus tours.
The tours range from basic to extensive.
Basic tours, such as the Miami University's virtual walking tour, are collections of still photographs with accompanying text. Miami's tour follows the same path that real-life visitors to campus take from the Shriver Center student center to Schiewetz Fine Arts Plaza. Virtual visitors can navigate the tour with an interactive map, and each stop provides text about the landmark and its history.
Miami's Web site (www.miami.muohio.edu/About_Miami/Virtual_Tour/index.cfm) also offers a more high-tech panoramic tour, which combines several photographs of campus landmarks to create the illusion of a 360-degree panoramic image. The site even has a “Sounds of Miami” section, where visitors can hear the marching band perform the university fight song and the Beta Bells ring over Oxford.
Xavier University's Web site (www.xu.edu/virtual_tour) also features a panoramic tour that allows viewers to explore all angles of Bellarmine Chapel, the Husman Hall Green and other campus highlights by dragging a mouse across the images.
Panoramic views of 16 sites on the University of Cincinnati campus are available on the university Web site (www.uc.edu/virtualtour). Officials eventually hope to improve the site by updating images of areas where the university has completed construction and adding more interactive features, such as "fly through" effects that simulate the feeling of moving around campus, said Mary Watkins, assistant director of public relations. The newest, most sophisticated tours use a mix of media, from flash animation and panoramic photographs to video clips and interactive maps, to create tours that are the closest experience possible to an actual walk across campus.
Of course, high school counselors, college admissions officials and even virtual tour providers advise students that a virtual tour is no substitute for the real thing.
“When you visit a campus in person, you get that gut feeling that tells you whether the personality of the college matches your needs,” said Sandy Farris, counselor at Indian Hill High School. “You're rubbing elbows with students. You've got the feeling of what the campus is like physically — the buildings, the trees, the surrounding area.”
But the new technology can play a valuable role in university marketing plans, said Andrew Lingo, marketing manager for Hobsons, a college search company with U.S. headquarters in Blue Ash.
“The combination of audio, video and text provides a compelling experience,” Mr. Lingo said. Virtual tours give institutions a competitive advantage in reaching students.
“It would be hard for institutions to compete effectively in trying to attract highly desirable international students or out-of-state students without a virtual tour,” Mr. Lingo said. “It's a very important aspect in crossing any geographic boundaries.”
Hobsons produces CollegeView, (www.collegeview.com), an online publication that provides information on 3,500 two- and four-year institutions in the United States. In addition, about 400 institutions, including Northern Kentucky University and Cincinnati State Technical College, pay a fee to provide more extensive admissions information, including virtual tours.
College admissions officials say virtual tours are part of a broad range of Internet-based services they are using to more effectively reach students.
“The World Wide Web is a wonderful tool,” says James D. Williams, director of enrollment services at the University of Cincinnati. “Students can learn so much, whereas just 10 years or even five years ago, they were left to writing letters and looking at various catalogs.
“Students can not only learn about the university, but apply online, register online, seek financial aid online. There's just a wealth of good information that they can gain.”
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Take a campus walk on the Web
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