Getting Students Excited About the Community and the College

Sinclair Community College, located in downtown Dayton, Ohio, takes pride in its award-winning faculty and academic programs, as well as its historic community. Unfortunately, its homegrown virtual tour solution did not successfully exemplify the best parts of campus and the surrounding areas.

Luckily, 360° Tour from Concept3D had exactly what the team needed. With this immersive virtual tour solution, Sinclair Community College could successfully draw more attention to campus and get prospects excited about the community.

Sinclair Community College is an accessible and successful college fiercely dedicated to its community. As the oldest continuously running community college in the United States, Sinclair also boasts one of the lowest tuition rates in the state of Ohio. However, that doesn’t mean their programs suffer. On the contrary, Sinclair Community College’s academia thrives within their extensive programs, including their health sciences, automotive, and theater departments.

Before finding Concept3D, creating their own 360-degree tour videos to display on their website didn’t allow Sinclair to efficiently advertise the alluring campus and surroundings to keep students engaged. Furthermore, COVID-19 has shifted consumer expectations; a virtual tour option is no longer a want, but a need. Sinclair needed to adapt to keep up with rising demands to stay relevant during the pandemic.

Justin Fiehrer, the 360° Tour power user, was familiar with Concept3D’s Interactive Campus Map software from a previous college employer and trusted the product. And after nearly a year of online research and timing assessment, Sinclair chose 360° Tour to virtually showcase their campus in the wake of an unpredictable pandemic. The team also loves that they can own and input their own media and edit it on their own time.

Since its implementation, the Sinclair Community College team has utilized their 360° Tour to display not only the most beautiful and interesting aspects of their campus, but of downtown Dayton as well. Community is vital to the school, so Sinclair uses 360° Tour to virtually exhibit certain areas that students wouldn’t be able to see in-person, or with another virtual tour solution. In addition, the Sinclair team uses the hotspot feature to add supplementary pieces of content within each tour stop to keep students engaged.

Since launching in January of 2022, JMU has put a lot of hard work and time into their virtual map and tour, and it shows. Within the school, various departments are excited to get involved with the project and manage their own content because they know what a great impact these tools can make.