Due to the coronavirus pandemic causing an uproar across the world many ways of our daily lifestyle has had to adjust to what the world has to do to overcome this pandemic. Everyone is advised to social distance and self quarantine. With this students are not able to go to school of all grade including colleges especially, people are not able to go to work, vacation or do normal things that they usually could do. It is impacting so many people which is crazy to think. Ever since we all started school we knew we would be going to graduate, if that was your path but due to this pandemic seniors of class of 2020, high school and college probably will not have a regular graduation. Also the seniors can not even visit colleges that they are deciding on. Therefore, colleges have began offering virtual tours for their incoming students. In this article it states “On-campus college tours in San Diego have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Though schools decisions to dos are in line with stay-at-home orders, they mean prospective students and incoming freshman are unable to visit their top school choices in person”. This took a toll on many seniors that still have yet to visit or re visit their top schools. Thankfully with this technology they can get a sense of what each school is like.
7 thoughts on “Virtual College Tours”
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COVID-19 has affected basically every part of everyone’s lives. Schools have been hit especially hard not because students are particularly susceptible to the disease, but because they are some of the most crowded and densely populated places outside of major cities. Almost every single school in the country decided to postpone in-person instruction within the span of about two weeks, and not many people questioned that decision. However, researchers from the University College London have concluded that school closures will have little to no effect on stopping the spread of the disease. A leader in this research group said “We know from previous studies that school closures are likely to have the greatest effect if the virus has low transmissibility and attack rates are higher in children. This is the opposite of COVID-19.”
The article goes on to explain that this pandemic has heavily affected schools compared to most other aspects of society, and that “That the public health benefits of school closures were not proportionate to the social and economic costs for affected children and families.” I think this is interesting research because it’s relevant to us, and it points out just how vital schools are to our societies. I highly doubt that any large universities will continue in-person lectures this spring semester, but I think it will be interesting to look at the data that comes out after this is all over to see what mitigations actually helped the spread of the disease versus what was an overreaction.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-schools/school-closures-will-have-little-impact-on-covid-19-control-review-finds-idUSKBN21O32E
The COVID-19 outbreak has drastically changed daily life for almost everyone. I am a sophomore in college and while I am so upset about missing out at being on campus, I can’t imagine what high school and college seniors feel like. Visiting colleges as a senior in high school was a huge make or break for me. I would have never come to Penn State had I never visited, because my on-campus tour was what drew me to Penn State. I think it is great that colleges are offering virtual tours, however I do not think it fully compares to in-person tours. A person can get a totally different feel of the school if they do an on-campus tour. I definitely think that high school seniors are at a loss during this college process, unfortunately.
https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/colleges-begin-offering-virtual-tours-for-incoming-students/
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the virtual college tours are the only way to technically “visit” a college and see it’s true colors. The real issue is that if this pandemic ends, and people go see the school in person, and they don’t like it, they then cannot apply for other schools for the fall of 2020. I do believe though that these colleges are doing everything that they can to show these kids every part of their campus. I remember when I visited Penn State, it was very nice to see the community and everybody walking around and what was happening on campus. In this case, the kids cannot see this for any of their schools and it definitely affects their decision. I remember visiting the University of Delaware and not seeing a single person walking around on campus and it made me not like the school right away. Yes, the outline of the school is important, but the people on campus are very important too. Schools are getting desperate and sending out messages like, “If you’re looking at a virtual tour, dig deeper, keep going. There’s almost endless content on a virtual tour, and if you have questions, ask”(US News). This is a good message to send to students at this time of desperation for colleges.
Source: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2019-07-30/how-to-make-the-most-of-virtual-college-tours
I understand that with the COVID-19 Pandemic, virtual tours are basically the only way high school seniors can tour colleges. However, there is only so much that a zoom conversation or a PowerPoint presentation can do. The biggest flaw I see in virtual tours is how they can be fabricated so that you only see the good of a college. Obviously that is what you are supposed to do as a college, but a PowerPoint presentation does not account for factors such as climate, visual appeal, and the overall feel of being on campus. This is not me bashing it, I know that colleges are doing their best during this crazy time to offer the best image of their school to incoming students. However, it is not without flaws, and I am simply encouraging people to not just believe what they see at face value.
https://www.collegeraptor.com/find-colleges/articles/college-search/pros-cons-virtual-campus-tour/
Although, it is impossible to have a college tour or visit, we have overcome this problem with the help of virtual reality. Obviously this cannot meet all the standards and requirements for students who are deciding which college would fit for their needs, it seems like a reasonable options for them. There were virtual college tour before. It was for people who cannot travel or make time to do so. However, this was not recommended, because going to a college and deciding which one to attend could be lifetime choice for most of people. Therefore, they wanted to experience full package of what universities can provide them. However, unique situations happen, due to COVID-19 everyone is quarantining. Therefore virtual tours for college are uprising currently. I still believe that this is not the best for people however it is best option available for them right now. Hopefully universities can upgrade and provide people with more information and different events so they can experience what they needed.
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-03-18-as-coronavirus-closes-colleges-the-campus-tour-goes-virtual
Due to this COVID-19, a virtual tour has become one of the best options for students to visit college they want to apply. However, it is hard to fully experience the virtual tour. However, for a substitute, there is a machine that can support students with more realistic experiences. It is a virtual reality device. virtual reality device allows interacting with the surroundings with smoother movements and grants more freedom. Since everyone is admired to social distance and self-quarantine, technology using virtual reality devices will be more preferred and developed due to this pandemic crisis.
https://360visibletour.com/difference-between-360-virtual-tour-and-virtual-reality/
Due to this COVID-19, a virtual tour has become one of the best options for students to visit college they want to apply. However, it is hard to fully experience with the virtual tour. However, for a substitute, there is a machine that can support students with more realistic experiences. It is a virtual reality device. virtual reality device allows interacting with the surroundings with smoother movements and grants more freedom. Since everyone is admired to social distance and self-quarantine, technology using virtual reality devices will be more preferred and developed due to this pandemic crisis.
https://360visibletour.com/difference-between-360-virtual-tour-and-virtual-reality/