Guided Video Tours with Student Commentary

Stevens Institute of Technology Virtual Experience (tour.stevens.edu) features Guided Video Tours juxtaposed with unrehearsed Student Commentaries

Guided virtual tours are a staple of college Web sites today, and thousands of prospective students  now catch their first glimpses of their eventual Alma maters from these online presentations.  Virtual campus tours have become substantially more sophisticated, with video guides, panoramic images and virtual reality scenes designed to bring an immersive experience into your living room.  However, most guided tours include just one perspective – that of the institution, and often end up feeling either like slick marketing materials or like a ponderous journey through every building on the campus.

CampusTours and Stevens Institute of Technology have designed a new Guided Tour that attempts to include student commentaries throughout the experience.  For the first time, CampusTours has coupled Student Commentaries with Guided Tour stops, allowing prospective students to digest not just the university’s take on each topic, but also hear from students and professors in relevant unscripted video commentaries accompanying each stop on the tour.  This ends up requiring over one hundred and thirty (130) videos, but the presentation has an authentic feel that imbues every tour stop and many of the map locations with the stories and experiences of the students.