Abstract: It is challenging for many students, potential farmers and others to visit aquaculture sites, due at least to 1) their distance from urban centers or large roads; and 2) biosecurity concerns. This project describes and shares preliminary results of the development of virtual tours of aquaculture facilities. Specifically, a team from NCSU including extension personnel, students, distance education specialists and film and technical communications specialists worked together to share practical information on farms in virtual form. Story lines included two ways to look at most farms: from a physical/equipment/engineering perspective; and from a biological/life history/culture point of view. Videos as well as infographics were developed for each of these .
Videos included views of physical equipment, workers monitoring, feeding, grading and harvesting; and interviews of extension specialists, farmers and others providing details of critical areas, challenges and solutions. Infographics included basic information on the flow of water through various unit operations, for example pumps, filters and sterilization equipment in recirculating aquaculture operations. Other infographics depicted the life cycle and necessary culture steps during the life cycle from fry arriving on an airplane to shipping of live fish to markets.
Additional work with editing software, 360 degree and two dimensional images with interactive graphics imported via ThingLink added to the pedagogical value. For example, 360 degree images of a quarantine facility (which might be off limits due to biosecurity concerns) allow users to turn, zoom in on specific pieces of equipment or areas of the room, and access additional descriptive information (text, graphics or technical information) as desired. Preliminary graphics and videos were presented to students in undergraduate and graduate aquacultural engineering courses in 2019, and further documentation will be used to enhance courses and extension websites in 2020.
Keywords: Aquaculture, extension, virtual, technology, outreach, education.