VRoma Pedagogical Objectives

The VRoma Project has been designed to test the following five hypotheses about the role modern information technology can play in facilitating the teaching and learning of classics. Listed under each are some projected outcomes that would, if they occur, lend support to the premise. During the two-year grant period, we will be gathering evidence related to these outcomes; such assessment should give us a clearer idea of what works, what doesn't work, and why.

1. Technology's capacity for simultaneous presentation of different types of resources promotes effective learning in classics.

• Students will demonstrate ability to read, translate and discuss Latin literature with accuracy and comprehension using the resources of VRoma (e.g., dictionaries, grammatical and cultural commentaries)
• Students will demonstrate ability to describe and explain a particular phenomenon such as Roman comedy using various types of primary cultural evidence available through VRoma (e.g., literary and documentary texts, visual arts, archaeological remains)

2. Technology's capacity to create a sense of immediacy and intimate contact with the classical world generates interest and personal investment in teaching and learning classics

• Students will demonstrate interest in classics through active involvement in VRoma (e.g., connecting voluntarily as well as when required, participating in building projects), through enrolling in more classics courses and/or becoming involved in on-campus classical activities, and through satisfaction reports
• Faculty will use the resources of VRoma to create new assignments, units or courses (or to reinvigorate existing ones) and will participate actively in the building or administration of VRoma

3. Technology's capacity for rapid and efficient communication helps to bridge diversity, develop community, and foster collaboration among individuals in distant locations and different types of institutions

• Students and faculty will make regular and ongoing use of VRoma both within and outside the parameters of the funded project
• Students from the same institution and from different institutions will meet in VRoma both in and out of course settings and will work together on joint projects (e.g., translations, building, reports)
• Faculty from different institutions (and sometimes from different educational levels) will collaborate on entire courses, course units, or specific educational projects
• A community of VRomans will evolve around the site; these faculty, students, and interested nonacademics will participate in background research, building, development of on-line materials, and general site administration

4. The coupling of cross-platform, time-independent web technology with real-time, interactive MOO technology expedites distance learning and cross-institutional collaborative courses

• VRoma resources will enable faculty from geographically distant institutions (and sometimes from different educational levels) to collaborate effectively on specific course projects or to offer successful joint courses
• VRoma resources will enable faculty to offer successful on-line courses that enroll students from geographically distant institutions

5. Guided and goal-oriented use of technology in classics courses improves general technological interest and proficiency

• Students who are required to use VRoma technology in classics courses will demonstrate increasing ease and expertise with various aspects of advanced technology; they will perceive more ways they can use technology in other areas
• Faculty will demonstrate the requisite skills to fully integrate technology into their teaching, to train their students to use technology in discipline-specific ways, and to help their colleagues do the same