Walk like an Egyptian...or a Roman

Imagine as a student walking through the Coliseum in Rome while discussing your favorite poem by Ovid with a group of Latin students from Virginia.   For Judith de Luce, little is left to the imagination as she has this experience weekly.

De Luce, professor and chair of classics, has been working for years with VRoma, the Web site that brings ancient Rome to present-day technology users. This combination of ancient world and present-day technology is bridging centuries and miles to bring visual history to the classroom.

VRoma began from a grant provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1997. Since its inception, core faculty members from different schools and backgrounds across the country have worked on the site to expand materials and resources available to users.  

The two main parts of the site are its interactive space and Internet resources and links. The Web site states that, "The VRoma Project uses workshops and presentations to engage teachers and students in a virtual community dedicated to using Internet technology to foster the teaching and learning of Latin and Roman culture." The site offers interactive materials, databases, images and teaching materials to anyone who visits.

"VRoma represents real collaboration of people teaching at all levels," said de Luce.

The interactive space on the Web site, the MOO (multi-user object oriented dimension), allows people to communicate in real time. The MOO is used the same as an online chat room where one user can talk to a group or an individual in any area of the site by typing in the text box that appears after logging onto the site.

This year de Luce is working with a class of advanced-placement fourth-year Latin students at Covenant School in Charlottesville, Va. For 40 minutes each week, the students are submersed in a world of college-level thinking that allows them to expand their understanding of ancient Rome.

During this year's session de Luce has covered various poetry and texts, and presented the class with five Latin terms essential to understanding of ancient texts. The class has since revisited the definitions and has continued developing them in discussion. De Luce especially enjoys watching the online interactions of the students, how involved they become, even the jokes and laughter that go on during the course.

"It's exactly what would happen in a face-to-face class, only you are looking at a computer screen," said de Luce.

De Luce, a pioneer of using technology to teach classics, encourages colleagues to use the technology that is available to them.  

"She doesn't just use technology for its own sake because it is the latest thing," said Steve Tuck, assistant professor of classics and administrative director of VRoma.

"What Judith has done is that it is not an end to itself but is a means to do things she wanted to do anyway."

VRoma Web site To enter the interactive area, simply sign on as a guest or register to get your very own VRoman identity.

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