After capturing 360-degree footage of all campus buildings, these tours needed to be created and edited collaboratively. They came up with the idea of an interactive map leading to a virtual tour of each school. When schools closed in the UK last March, the Midlothian Council Digital Learning Team wanted to find new ways to connect students to its 39 schools outside Edinburgh.
“Pupils have stated that they have enjoyed showing their parents around areas of the school that they have not been to before and enjoyed visiting to pick up special messages from the staff that they are missing.”
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“Parents have reported to us that some pupils have got themselves dressed in full uniform and then sat down to assembly,” Owen shares with us. They could pick up video and audio messages from their teachers and other staff to feel part of the Penybont school family.”Ĭreated with the help of ThingLink, the tour has already received rave reviews from parents and other stakeholders.
“We came up with an idea to create a virtual version of our school that pupils could visit on demand. “We looked for ways to ensure that pupils still felt a sense of belonging to the school even if they were at home,” explains Owen. How would they make sure their learners could feel connected to their school-the place they know and love? As a result of the school’s closure due to COVID-19, headteacher Robbie Owen started thinking about the importance of a stable social presence during the time of remote learning. Penybont Primary School is a 360-pupil community primary school in the Welsh town of Bridgend. Microsoft Education Gold Partner ThingLink is helping a number of schools with an easy-to-use, Office 365 Education-compatible solution for creating and sharing 360-degree smart virtual tours in Microsoft Teams. Virtual campus tours are just one way that schools are making these transitions easier for students and their families. Now, with many students facing new hybrid learning models, schools and districts are hard at work looking for new ways to make their students’ return to learning feel as comfortable as possible. Leaving a familiar education setting and moving to a new grade or campus is a common back-to-school challenge.