I designed the Lesson Plan for a virtual reality tour of the Roman Colosseum as my final project in Issues and Trends in Instructional Design course through the University of Arkansas’ program in Educational Technology. The lesson integrates virtual reality technology and associated potential of game-based learning within virtual and virtually-constructed worlds. These decisions were based upon my own area of expertise (ancient Rome) and studies that demonstrate increased student engagement and learning through game-based projects. The lesson plan also aligns with an integration model that I designed as part of the course; this model emphasizes the importance of student-focused learning.

The lesson plan, which takes place over two class periods in a college course for humanities, takes students on a tour of the Colosseum using virtual reality headsets. I designed my lesson over three parts; each part is set up in ascending order of building blocks, first laying out knowledge, then moving on to analysis and application. The first part is to show the students how the monument survives today using the virtual reality headsets. Students will have watched a video on the construction and events of the Colosseum, and they will have prepared questions ahead of time. In addition to the guided tour, students will have a Bingo Colosseum with terms about the architecture of the Colosseum. Whichever student completes the Bingo card first, wins an extra credit point! In this setting, students will directly apply the knowledge they gained from the video and expand by asking self-generated questions. In this setting there will be a balance between information provided (or reiterated) by the instructor and student-directed learning and interest. The incorporation of the Bingo game into this scenario is to incentivize student participation and engagement in the process of knowledge acquisition.

In the second part, students partner up and participate in a scavenger hunt, which takes place in a reconstructed Colosseum. Students are placed in different spaces of the amphitheater and they learn information about the space. Then, they find a box and open it. The box has a quiz over the information they just learned; upon successful completion of the quiz, students receive a code that directs them to the next room. There are five rooms total and the completion of the fifth quiz provides the students with their prompt for the next assignment. I decided to create this integration of game and simulated virtual world because of our readings that discussed how much more effective student knowledge acquisition and general interest was when organized around a game, as opposed to simply undirected world exploration. The scavenger hunt allows for students to guide themselves through the spaces in which they were interactive. The quizzes are broke material down into manageable units and are focus more on analysis and interpretation. I thought the scavenger hunt would be a good balance of allowing students to direct themselves through the space while learning knowledge relevant specifically to the area in which they were interacting.

The final step was to have students design their own spectacle. They would read a chapter on Imperial spectacle. Each student would be given one of four Roman Emperors. This would divide students into groups. On their second class day, students would work in their groups to design Roman spectacles which their emperor would sponsor. This requires the students to bring in their previous knowledge of that emperor and historical circumstances to the new information on spectacle. This application of information allows students to understand how space and spectacle can be used as propaganda and power. Once the students complete the simulation of their emperor’s game, each group presents their decision and explains to the class why they made the choices that they did (basing their arguments on data and primary evidence). In this assignment, not only are the students engaging in game-based learning that relies on critical analysis and application of primary sources, but they are also taking full ownership of their research by creating a final project which can be shared with others (and which needs to be explained by them).

Developing this lesson plan helped me approach old material with new eyes and integrate new and developing technologies into a traditional classroom experience. The process also made me consider how new technologies bring new ethical questions about access and interactions in virtual reality worlds. The development of the lesson plan also brought to life ways that a focus on student-directed learning can reshape lesson plans. Such a focus results in less scripted direction and more freedom of movement for the students, giving them voice and choice in their learning. Additionally, the lesson plan strongly integrated the role of games in the learning process, which has been shown to increase engagement and have a more lasting impact of student learning. For my projects in Latin this year, I have actively tried to integrate choice in student projects and we regularly use games to enliven our Latin learning.