VRoma Project

Abstract

The project personnel of the VRoma Project have created an on-line virtual environment that offers new possibilities for Latin teachers and students. Through intensive workshops and follow-up mentoring based on apprenticeship learning, the project personnel engage teachers in an egalitarian multilevel community of practice dedicated to using Internet technology to foster the teaching and learning of the Latin language and Roman culture. For students, it provides opportunities not otherwise available for authentic, situated learning of Latin involving the reading and translation of Latin texts in their physical and cultural context, communication in Latin in an imaginatively created native environment, and emulation of expert practitioners through construction of textual commentaries to be "published" within the virtual environment.