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SPOKANE, Wash. — Students in Gonzaga University Professor Andrew Goldman’s History 193 course can sit up for traveling somewhere latest and distant — and into the past — this fall.
They could travel to the streets and monuments of Pompeii or to first-century Rome to go to the Colosseum.
What was the experience of the Colosseum like for a gladiator? Goldman could ask his students. Or for a multi-millionaire?
After viewing over a dozen interior and exterior views of the Colosseum for themselves, students can begin to attract conclusions about what the traditional city was like and compare it to their experiences of modern-day Rome.
The experiential learning is all because of virtual reality.
Last spring, Goldman began incorporating these reconstructive virtual trips to ancient cities and landmarks into his classroom — bringing history alive for college kids. This semester, he’s taking the teachings he has learned from using virtual reality at school and applying them to his Roman Archaeology course this spring when he plans to make use of the technology more extensively.
“It also means that you can feel and experience in an immersive sense, what’s actually there, and that’s what’s really precious about it,” said Goldman, Ph.D., Gonzaga’s former Alphonse A. and Geraldine F. Arnold Distinguished Professor.
Using virtual reality, Goldman’s students have a look at landscapes and evaluate how these cities were formed and lived in, and the way they’ve modified.
A Core Component in Class
While conducting archaeological research in Turkey in 2013, Goldman met Simon Young, Ph.D., an Australian archaeologist. They have turn out to be close friends over time. In 2017, Young visited Goldman’s research site and told him about archaeological reconstructions he was working on and his plan to make use of them for tourism purposes.
A digital re-creation of ancient Pompeii as seen through virtual reality. Credit: Lithodomos VRGoldman saw opportunity for his Gonzaga students. He’s the primary Gonzaga professor to make use of virtual reality as a core component of a category.
Young went on to found Lithodomos VR and serves as its CEO. The company offers an inexpensive alternative to an often-expensive field of technology, by making the reconstructions available for purchase online, and by offering a cardboard headset option that matches a smartphone, to experience them.
After getting the green light last summer from Young to make use of Lithodomos VR within the classroom, Goldman applied for and received a grant from the Dean’s Faculty Development Fund within the College of Arts and Sciences in addition to additional support from the Digital Humanities Initiative to permit students to make use of this technology in his classroom at no extra cost.
What sets the reconstructions produced by Lithodomos VR aside from others, said Goldman, is the eye to archaeological accuracy. Its reconstructions were built by experts in ancient sources and it is clear in the main points — from the gold awnings to the location of statues on the Colosseum.
While Goldman was impressed with the technology and application, he repeatedly gathered feedback from his students last spring in his History 302 course to evaluate their thoughts.
“The students felt that it was very immersive they usually thought it was very interesting,” Goldman said. “It helped them to recollect details. They thought it made class more exciting and it definitely made the traditional landscapes and buildings and cities more relatable.”
The students also desired to give you the option to maneuver around within the cities. Currently, users cannot freely walk across the virtual sites, but can view sites in a 360-degree panorama. To enter structures and move around sites, users must unlock viewpoints by focusing their sight toward the highlighted viewpoints.
‘A Very Good First Step’
“There is loads of room for improvement, but I feel it was a superb first step in attempting to use this technology in an actual classroom, using class content, frequently,” Goldman said. “The second half of the category, we spent most classes taking a look at this form of stuff. I feel it gave them an actual sense of what the space was like — what it will have felt like in the traditional city. Of course, it will be fun to be there, nevertheless it’s the subsequent smartest thing.”
For the scholars’ term project, they were grouped into three-person teams that had 10 weeks to develop their very own set of research to create virtual realities for the reconstruction of an ancient site.
The project, a contest amongst the scholars, culminated throughout the last week of college with presentations before a juried panel composed of GU faculty and Simon Young.
The winning team of the competition presented reconstructed viewpoints of the famous Greek sanctuary at Epidaurus, the healing center of the god Asklepios. The students’ research informed their development of potential viewpoints for people to experience what a pilgrim to the shrine would have seen.
This summer, they worked remotely with Lithodomos VR to create a virtual reality reconstruction site, along with the 74 sites Lithodomos VR currently has that feature nearly 500 viewpoints in 18 countries.
Clearly enthused concerning the prospects of virtual reality at Gonzaga, Goldman and others sit up for helping introduce the technology more widely across the University.
Gonzaga’s Burgeoning Digital Humanities
Katey Roden, Ph.D., directs the Digital Humanities Initiative. (GU photo)Katey Roden, Ph.D., assistant professor of English and director of the Digital Humanities Initiative, said Goldman’s work with virtual reality represents one of the best of burgeoning digital humanities pedagogical practice at Gonzaga.
“Andy is authentically asking his students to think about the affordances presented by emergent technologies, not only for flashy appeal, but a deep consideration of the opportunities virtual reality presents to create deep, wealthy, and dynamic learning communities where students are truly energetic participants,” Roden said, adding that the work Goldman’s students have done demonstrates the worth of virtual reality experiences in Gonzaga’s humanities classrooms and academic practice.
“Virtual reality presents an important deal of potential, however the Digital Humanities Initiative is committed in the beginning to making sure that technological application in our classrooms and curricula are intentional and geared toward the final word goal of transformative learning experiences,” Roden said. “To this end, we’re exploring opportunities to increase access to VR technology more broadly on campus.”
Goldman will discuss his work with virtual reality during Gonzaga’s Fall Family Weekend at a chat entitled “Making Virtual Reality a Classroom Reality,” at 11:30 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 5, within the Hemmingson Center, Room 314A.
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