Educational Virtual Tours: Creating Immersive and Interactive Tours to Support the Teaching and Learning Process

Abstract

This iLEAD study presents a design and development methodology for creating virtual tours with the aim of supporting the teaching and learning process of undergraduate students at our university. These tours are created to foster interactivity and immersion, enriching educational experiences across diverse fields such as medicine, music production, and engineering. We propose a seven-stage design process for developing tours, which includes stages such as project evaluation, production, and final documentation, ensuring the tours meet specific educational objectives. During the production stage, some tours are created using simple navigation and interaction tools commercially available, effectively meeting basic needs. Driven by the demand for more personalized interactions, we developed a proprietary solution that incorporates audiovisual elements, interactive quizzes, structured navigation, student’s evaluation and feedback, and the use of VR. Furthermore, we integrated immersion dimension analysis, considering system, narrative, and challenge aspects, with the intention of optimizing the effectiveness of the tours in supporting the teacher’s learning objectives.