The traditional campus tour is not so traditional at Bradley University. The Peoria institution began piloting a program this summer that introduces iPad interactivity to the tour.
Bradley is believed to be the first university in the nation to offer the technology as part of its campus tour experience.
Prospective students visiting the campus log on to a pre-programmed iPad and indicate the specific college and major(s) they plan to pursue as undergraduates. Student admission representatives then take the visitors on the regular tour route and stop at strategic places to activate select videos on each of the tour group iPads. Prospective students and their parents are immersed in the Bradley experience through engaging video segments that fill the void of myriad activities that cannot be experienced at the exact moment when visitors are present.
Video topics include classrooms, science and robotics labs, theatre and musical productions, athletic competitions in an off-campus 10,000-seat arena where men’s basketball plays, special events, and activities on the quad. They are particularly valuable for visits on Saturdays and during summer and holiday breaks when fewer students are on campus, and give winter visitors a view of other seasons.
“The pilot project was an enormous success and underscores Bradley’s commitment to meeting the needs of our students in innovative and creative ways,” said President Joanne Glasser. “This new and exciting cutting edge technology demonstrates the strength of our faculty-student collaborations in creating useful and visionary tools that result from experiential learning opportunities.”
The idea was conceived by Associate Professor Jim Ferolo, chair of Bradley’s Interactive Media Department. The programming for the iPad was completed by Eric Johnsen, an undergraduate student in the Interactive Media Program. “The project gave me a chance to apply what I had learned in the classroom to a real-life situation,” Johnsen said. “It also challenged me to extend myself and my skills beyond normal expectations. It has been a truly invaluable experience.”
Plans are underway to increase the interactivity and meaningfulness of the iPad experience in the upcoming year.