Abstract:

The Arboretum of the School of Forest Engineering and Natural Resources of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) has been a place of training of the students since it was created. The Arboretum is a living open-air laboratory, a close space for practice, a tangible environment that shows conditions similar to the more natural forest.

The 360º virtual tour of the Arboretum has been conceptualized to create a complementary learning resource. It is a virtual experience for the students to increase their skills and to comprehend some relevant information not easy to see in the real world.

The virtual environment aims to improve the acquisition of skills thanks to several aspects: it is a space used and lived by students in their everyday life so that it makes it possible to take the classroom out to the nearby space, it increases the possibilities of the practice area by superimposing new information on the observed space, it improves the assimilation of concepts lengthening the time of reflection on what has been learned, and it offers a new tool for dynamic and collaborative work.

The students are able to explore real and virtual space outside of class time, actively and at will. In general, the use of new well-targeted technologies increases attraction and attention to the activity, motivating the students and therefore, accomplishing a stronger learning.

Keywords:

Virtual tour, panoramic 360, immersive experience, arboretum, forestry.