Snowbound students visit Pompeii through their own computers

Snowbound students could be supporting their history curriculum by exploring Jisc’s recreated Pompeiian house – without leaving their own homes.

Learners studying key stage 2 and GCSE history, A-level classical civilisations and Latin as well as university history and classics degrees can explore an intricate 3D reconstruction of a Roman house built in the virtual world Second Life by academics from the University of Bristol.

Ben Showers, programme manager at Jisc, which has funded this work to take place, said: “This resource shows the possibilities for learning, teaching and research beyond the physical classroom. By exploring a virtual recreation like the Roman house,knowledge and understanding of a topic can be even more interactive and personalised for the individual learner and researcher.”

The virtual villa is a recreation of the Pompeian Court which was built inside the Crystal Palace exhibition in 1854 but was lost in a fire in 1936.

Working with researchers, community groups, school and undergraduate students, the University of Bristol creators have designed ways of bringing the model alive for users. Through their online avatars, visitors can explore the house alone, join guided tours, meet other visitors, take part in learning activities, or even interact with (virtual) Victorian and Pompeian inhabitants.

The virtual model, built by Dr Shelley Hales and Dr Nic Earle at the University of Bristol, brings together a digitised collection of the paintings displayed in the Court as well as an archive of the guidebooks and press reviews which described it.

Dr Hales said: “The model helps us to compare the strategies the Victorians used to build, inhabit and engage audiences with their immersive Pompeian environment with the techniques made possible by the technology at our disposal today.”

The project is part of Jisc’s digitisation programme which has invested just under £2 million to develop the range and quality of digital resources available to students and researchers in colleges and universities. The programme is digitising collections and enhancing existing resources for use in learning, teaching and research.

Visit the Pompeiian house in Second Life

Find out more about the project