As education becomes increasingly interactive, students expect richer, more immersive ways to engage with their subjects. 360° virtual tours in education give students a realistic preview of the environments they will study in, whether that is marine research facilities, coastal field sites, specialist laboratories, or other university spaces. These tours complement fieldwork and practical sessions, helping students build confidence, reduce anxiety, deepen understanding, and arrive better prepared for hands-on learning.
Student Learning and Preparation
The 360° virtual tours support students in multiple ways. By combining high-resolution 360° images, drone footage, video, photography, and embedded resources, students can explore unfamiliar environments before attending in person. They gain early insight into the skills and techniques they will use, the types of environments they will encounter, and the organisms or equipment present at each location. This preparation reduces anxiety, builds confidence, and allows students to focus fully on the learning objectives.
Students can revisit the tour after their field trips to reinforce their learning and support their coursework or assignments. The ThingLink tours are fully accessible, allowing all students, including those who are remote, have mobility challenges, or are neurodivergent, to explore and engage with the learning environment.
University Benefits
The tours offer clear advantages for the university. By reducing the need for repeated pre-trip visits, they save staff time, lower travel costs, and help make fieldwork delivery more sustainable. They also support safety and preparedness by giving students the chance to preview potentially challenging or unsafe areas in advance. This ensures that every student receives the same consistent briefing on risks, procedures, and required equipment before heading into the field.
Additionally, the tours have long-term value, as they can be updated to reflect changes in facilities, field sites, or safety requirements without it being completely reproduced. This ensures the resource remains relevant and useful for future cohorts without repeating extensive on-site capture.
The Creative Process
Planning and pre-production
The creation of each 360° virtual tour begins with careful planning. The media producer works closely with learning designers and stakeholders to understand module objectives, student needs, and what a successful tour should achieve. This ensures the final resource aligns with educational priorities and supports students before they visit the site.
Before capturing media, the team completes logistical and safety preparations, including consent forms, risk assessments, permissions for labs and field sites, drone flight approvals, shoot scheduling, and equipment checks.
A location recce identifies key spaces, field sites, and student routes. For the Nettlecombe 2025 field-trip, this recce was particularly valuable due to time constraints. The team captured drone footage and 360° images ahead of the trip, allowing them to focus on photography and video during the field-trip itself.
Production
At Nettlecombe, we produced 17 videos over five days, including interviews with students and staff, cutaways, additional 360° images, and photography. We are especially grateful to the 2024-25 student cohort, who enthusiastically participated, helping create a better experience for future peers. While the tour allowed current students to reflect on what they had learned, its full impact will be seen with future cohorts, who can use the tour before, during, and after their field-trip.
Post-production and Assembly
The Nettlecombe Court virtual tour spent seven months in post-production, during which all media assets were prepared, edited, and finalized, incorporating feedback from stakeholders and colleagues. The tour was then finalised in ThingLink, with media assets carefully embedded and arranged to provide a seamless and immersive experience.
Impact and Results
The completed 360° tours have delivered clear benefits. Students feel more confident and prepared, with reduced anxiety around field or lab environments. Staff gain from streamlined pre-trip briefings and a reusable resource that supports multiple cohorts, saving time and ensuring consistency. The tours also strengthen equality and inclusion by offering meaningful access to students who cannot attend sites in person.
Looking ahead, there are opportunities to refine workflows, streamline production, and broaden the range of media captured. Each new tour also supports ongoing team development and collaboration, helping to build a strong foundation for expanding this approach to additional sites and subject areas.
