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Earlier this year Hobsons came out with its annual report on undergraduate student recruitment.  Similar to the results we reported earlier this year from Noel-Levitz, this report also stresses the value of the campus visit and the online virtual tour.  What is really interesting in Hobsons’ data is that both the campus visit and virtual tour provide value in the search, applying and final decision process.  This essentially covers all the levels of the recruitment …

Last week St. Mike launched an interactive campus tour in a slightly different format.  St. Mike launched their tour completely through YouTube.  The creator of the tour, Mallory Wood, was recently interviewed by collegewebeditor.  What is really interesting from the post is Mallory’s insistence on crediting Seth Odell with the idea on his blog almost a year ago. Mallory also goes on to share in the article that a driving focus of her tour was …

Last week Noel-Levitz released their 2010 edition on the E-Expectations Report about what college-bound students are looking for in terms of online engagement during the admissions process.  To create their report they surveyed more than 1,000 high school students about their online behavior and expectations.  I’m not going to rehash the complete report here, but if you are looking for that, Karlyn over at .eduGuru wrote a nice summary or simply go download the report …

One of the first things we realized when starting nuCloud is that our map tools can be used for so much more than just campus maps.  Any sort of virtual tour that can be accomplished through a map is a possible use of the software.  Because we have a strong background in higher education it makes sense for us to start with that market, but it is by no means the only viable solution.  Part of demonstrating …

Leave it to a major player like Cisco Systems to investment in showing off their newest data center through a flashy interactive map.  Cisco recently spent $80 million in the renovation of an unused office building on its campus in Richardson, Texas.  What better way to fully display this achievement than through an interactive map? View the Richardson Data Center Interactive Tour. The tour has a collection of videos with all the details about the …

When I look at different interactive maps and virtual tours around the web, more often than not there is a very distinct difference between the two.  After all, a map is a map and a tour sometimes includes a map, but I’ve noticed that people commonly call anything a virtual tour including the following: 360 degree panorama photographs A video of someone walking through locations Detailed text with pictures of locations Pictures accompanied by an …

Did you see the post last week on the TargetX iThink blog, The “Secret Menu” of the Campus Visit by Trent Gilbert?  Trent has been exploring college campuses getting his fair share of tours of the scripted nature.  In a short video clip Trent tells us, “There are all these things I could do… but I’m never invited to do them.” Touring certain things like the football stadium might seem obvious to inquire for a …

As the costs of gas and traveling continue to go up many prospective students will not visit as many campuses as previous classes enjoyed. A simple to use and vibrant interactive map or virtual tour can sometimes be the deciding factor in your institution making the short list of travel destinations. A recent Associated Press article, 10 ways to control the cost of college visits, instructs prospective students to take virtual tours as the #1 …