Case Study: University of Southern California creates immersive VR journalism with Google for Education's Tour Creator and Poly

USC students produce compelling, 360-video journalism with Tour Creator and other VR tools

The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism runs JOVRNALISM, a VR journalism course that brings together students from many disciplines to produce immersive news stories. As the team explored how to tell complex stories in the most effective way, they needed accessible tools to help them create and publish 360-degree and immersive content. Google for Education products used included Tour Creator and Google Poly.

Google for Education helped USC students convert reporting into immersive experiences by using Tour Creator to build 360-degree tours from their video work, adding embedded context and publishing them through Google Poly. The solution gave students a free, approachable way to test and expand immersive storytelling, supporting projects like Turning Tides and The Deported, both of which earned major journalism recognition, including an Online Journalism Award win and finalist placement.

University of Southern California

Robert Hernandez

Associate Professor