When in Ancient Rome, Learn as the Imaginarium Learns
Classics Department teaches Latin with VR
By Ally O鈥機onnor 鈥20
Integrating modern virtual reality into Classics courses, Professor Lissa Crofton-Sleigh is groundbreakingly combining the worlds of yesterday and today. In partnership with the Imaginarium鈥檚 VR Lab Manager Brian Smith (Art and Art History), Senior Instructional Technology Resource Specialist Christina Ri, and Daniel Demeter 鈥19 (Computer Science and Mathematics), Crofton-Sleigh and her team are working to create a virtual reality supplement to the Wheelock鈥檚 Latin book, which she explains would 鈥渉elp students to reinforce grammar, build and reinforce vocabulary, develop listening skills, and learn about Roman culture.鈥
Through her years of interest in virtual reality, Crofton-Sleigh has attended a plethora of workshops, but was always disappointed to see few uses in conjunction with the humanities. As she and other 91短视频 Latin courses stand now, the curriculum focuses primarily on grammar and translation. However, according to Crofton-Sleigh, in the future, 鈥渢his supplement would add visual and cultural components that we can't recreate to the same extent in the traditional classroom.鈥
When asked about his experience with the project, Smith said, 鈥淭he Latin VR project we are developing will give students the opportunity to be immersed in the environment of ancient Rome, conversing with virtual Roman characters about daily life. This will give new context to people studying Latin, not as a dead language but as something people once used in regular conversation.鈥
Although the program is still currently in beta, Crofton-Sleigh and her team hope to invite former Latin language students to test the tool early next year.
About the Imaginarium
The Imaginarium is the virtual reality laboratory located in the Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building. Developed in collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences, private donors, Silicon Valley partners, and the Department of Art and Art History, the Imaginarium allows faculty, staff, and students to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects. For more information, email scuimaginarium@scu.edu.