Inspiration
This project was created in 2019 in a "Digital Humanities" course by Alysia Hegg, a Master's student in the English Department at Humboldt State University. The goal of this site is to provide access to underrepresented students who are unable to travel to the university before they move here, with the idea that a virtual tour may aide students with the physical and emotional transition when attending college, to both increase sense of belonging once here and retain more students during their first year and beyond. Another important goal was to demonstrate how a digital space can be an inexpensive way to provide access to students to improve their quality of life.
Ideally, all students who are unable to travel with their families to visit the area before moving for college would be provided financial support through grant funding that is awarded to improve Hispanic Serving Institutions, institutions with more than %25 enrolled Latinx students. Alysia plans to publish this essay to the Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice to both spread the word about the usefulness of digital spaces, and expand the scope of audience university management administration attempts to reach, especially at Hispanic Serving Institutions.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].
Digital Tools
I used a 360Fly camera and an Insta360 One X camera to take the 360 photos for this project, Weebly.com to create the website, and Google Tour Creator for the 360 tour.
Research Essay
Utilizing Digital Spaces to Increase Retention Rates
Acknowledgements
Tim Miller, Digital Media Librarian who supported my use of digital tools and design of the website.
Carly Marino, Special Collections Librarian and Professors of "Digital Humanities" course who supported my learning of website creation and design.
Janel Adsit, Professor in the English Department who supported the development of my research essay, as well as my knowledge of website design.
Kellie Jo Brown, photos in the slideshow were used with permission from HSU photographer.
Copyright