Participating in the 'campus tour' without leaving your desk - the development of a virtual learning resource to ensure equivalence of access for mobility restricted and Cloud students

Creating authentic learning experiences with associated assessment in higher education (HE) is becoming increasingly important in ensuring graduates develop the necessary skills to be job ready. With the government led massification of the HE system, the diversity of the student cohort is broadening, such that embedding inclusive teaching practices into curriculum is vital. In addition, while the traditional HE student cohort was campus based, more and more students are choosing to study online in the Cloud, thus academic staff are tasked with ensuring equivalent learning experiences for both cohorts of students such that all students have the opportunity of achieving the learning outcomes of the course. This presentation will showcase the product and journey taken to develop a multi-media ‘virtual campus tour’ resource that was specifically designed to enhance equity and accessibility for Cloud and mobility restricted students who are unable to participate in the located campus tour learning activity. Creating an opportunity that allowed this cohort of students to participate in an equivalent campus tour was deemed particularly important in this unit, as this activity aligned to a number of the unit’s learning outcomes that centred on the concept of place, the experience of place, and the impact place has on health. Thus it allowed Cloud and mobility restricted campus based students to all experience the same sense of ‘place’. The process highlights the inter-disciplinary collaboration between academic staff, video-producers and interactive designers required to create such a resource, and the ongoing, iterative nature of resource creation. In addition, it demonstrates how technology can be used to produce, and enhance, the quality of learning experiences for students.