Virtual Reality as a means to improve education

The 4D Research Lab (4DRL) is going to use Virtual Reality (VR) technology to introduce students to archaeological sites, laboratories, museum displays and historical places that have limited access. The Virtual Past Places, Reinventing the Classroom (ViPP) project has received a grant of 165,000 euros for this purpose via the SURF incentive scheme. The Lab will also make use of the advantages that VR offers in the provision of learning materials. During the corona pandemic, the 4D Research Lab started experimenting with Mozilla Hubs: new software with which you can set up VR environments fairly easily and which are also easily accessible with most computers. Initially, this made virtual and online access to seventeenth-century Vlooienburg in Amsterdam possible. This was so well received that more experiments with the technology were carried out. For the Classics Week, for example, a virtual tour of Troy was organised at Allard Pierson, during which visitors were shown around the site, where virtual signs with information had been set up.