By Alyssa Long
History of Art and Architecture professor Claudia Moser and Writing Program lecturer Christian Thomas have received a $94,000 grant from UC Santa Barbara’s Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI) to develop an interactive, game-based course called Rome: The Game.
The lower division course, which will be available to students in winter 2021, is an introduction to the art, archaeology, and history of ancient Rome, with an emphasis on writing and research.
Writing Program lecturer Christian Thomas
Unlike traditional online courses, Rome: The Game will take the form of a virtual game, engaging students in a narrative and promoting active learning. Students will complete lectures, readings, and assignments, all framed within the context of the digital story.
“Students taking this lower-division course will play the character of a graduate student who goes to Rome in order to help a prestigious Southern Californian museum determine whether a cache of ancient objects are real or fake, and whether those objects should be sent back to Italy or stay in the United States,” said Thomas of the Writing Program.
“During their virtual stay in Rome, students will then supervise part of an archaeological dig and decide where and how to excavate and visit museums in search of a mysterious group of ancient objects from the Southern California museum. They will explore the monuments, art, and architecture of the city of Rome and navigate the shadowy world of the Italian tomb robbers and the mafia-run black market in order to find looted and forged artworks and antiquities.”
History of Art & Architecture professor Claudia Moser
Navigating a choose-your-own-adventure style plotline, students will make choices about where to dig and what to conserve to solve a mystery through a series of interactive videos, reminiscent of real research projects. “This game format will present students with scenarios and choices that can only be properly addressed by doing course readings, by paying close attention to lecture videos, and by participating in the interactive videos,” Thomas said.
Each section of the story will require students to complete weekly writing assignments, which will influence the outcomes of the game and the student’s grades. Students will hopefully be motivated through these writing tasks by interest the storyline and excitement over the game, Thomas noted. Claudia Moser added that giving students vivid experiences of the ancient world through interaction with Roman art and archaeology will make the study of the past more accessible to students in the modern-day.
Both Moser and Thomas expressed hope that this class will spark curiosity in students and encourage them to enroll in more History of Art & Architecture and Writing Program classes with their new knowledge.
Students can expect to hear more about Rome: The Game this upcoming fall, with a video preview to showcase the interactive nature of the course, before it debuts in the winter of 2021.
Alyssa Long is a second-year student at UC Santa Barbara, majoring in communication and minoring in art. She is a Web and Social Media Intern with the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.