College In Focus - Unit 2

LESSON 2.4 - Virtual College Visit

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT:

Students have explored the idea that it’s difficult to truly understand something without being able to see the whole picture. When it comes to choosing a college, planning a visit is a big part of making this happen. Most colleges and universities offer both in-person visits and virtual visits to allow students a chance to see campus and get a look at what life at that school is all about. Students in your class will be doing both.
 

To get the most out of the visit, you have to go in with an idea of the things that you really want to know about a school. What are the essential questions you have when looking at which college might be the best fit? Pair the students in the class and give them time to develop five important questions that they would want to ask about a college or university while on a tour.
 

After this time elapses, ask each pair to share their top two questions. This will allow the class to avoid too many repeated questions and maximize the total number of questions they are able to generate as a group. Record the questions that the students generate (and combine them with others from other classes) to develop a list of questions that the students can seek answers to during their in-person college visit.
 

DIGGING IN:

Remind the students that most colleges and universities offer in-person tours and visit days for students interested in attending, and that they will have the opportunity to visit a nearby college as a class. In the meantime, you will be assembling their questions (and those from students in other classes) to put together a list of questions that they will be taking with them to find answers to. This is sort of like a scavenger hunt.
 

In this lesson, they will be able to get some practice by completing a similar scavenger hunt for a virtual college tour of their choice. Pass out the “Virtual Visit Scavenger Hunt” sheet and ask the students to visit: intoolkit.com/virtual This webpage includes direct links to virtual tours for many of Indiana’s colleges and universities. Encourage students to consider choosing their top college choice for their virtual tour (unless it happens to be the in-person destination they will be visiting). Then, allow them to begin exploring the campuses to find the answers for the sheet.
 

Keep in mind that there is no standard for college virtual tours. Some are simply videos. Others are immersive 3D experiences. Some have audio. Others don’t.

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INTO ACTION:

As students are nearing the end of their scavenger hunt form, they may discover that not every question on the form was addressed in their specific virtual tour. This is okay. They should go to the school’s website to search out any answers that they did not discover during the virtual tour. Oftentimes, a Google search including the name of the school and the question can also uncover these answers as well.
 

Project Leadership staff can assist in planning for the full, in-person college visit following this lesson.