Virtual Tour Offers Window to MTSU
University officials recently launched an interactive, online virtual tour and those involved with the process are brimming with excitement about the possibilities it brings.
“The (virtual) tour will enhance our image, reach prospective students, help recruitment and build pride. It’s an excellent addition to our Web presence,” said Lucinda Lea, who serves as MTSU’s vice president for information technology and chief information officer.
The online tour “will have an impact on everybody—all of campus, prospective students and faculty, new hires, anyone seeking employment—and the general public can go and see what’s happening at MTSU,” said Sherian Huddleston, associate vice provost for enrollment services and chairwoman of the committee that planned and developed the project.
To access the virtual tour, visit www.mtsu.edu and look for “VIRTUAL TOUR.” Once on the tour, you will find a world of possibilities: links to “apply now,” “schedule a visit,” “request information,” “People/Commentary” and “Interactive Video Tours,” as well as “Campus Map,” one of the virtual tour’s major features.
A year in the making, the collaboration between MTSU and the Maine-based CampusTours Inc., an interactive media and software company, was first unveiled to President Sidney A. McPhee and his cabinet and to the Office of Community Engagement and Support’s Community Advisory Council members.
“You will see the tremendous assets that we have with our faculty, students and staff and the outstanding facilities, and clearly you will get a feel for what makes MTSU so special, and a warm and caring institution,” McPhee said of the virtual tour.
Even alumni of all ages will find the virtual tour fascinating.
“The new virtual tour will provide alumni availability to see campus without actually being there,” said Alumni Relations Director Ginger Freeman. “Many of our alumni are not able to come back to campus as often as they like, and this will give them the opportunity to see the new buildings and areas of campus that may not have been here when they were in school.”
Barbara Draude, assistant vice president for academic and instructional technologies, said the map’s details help to make the virtual tour one of the most impressive university online projects with which Campus-Tours Inc. has been involved.
“We tried to get as much detail in as we could,” Draude said.
Map layers will allow viewers to find food venues, handicap parking and Raider Xpress routes, she added. A content management system will allow university personnel to add new photographs, change the map and keep it as fresh as possible.