Video games in the classroom – surely not? If I’m honest I’m usually the first to roll my eyes during INSET when a new gaming app or tech craze is mentioned. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of good out there and I am a fond user of technology in the classroom, but how much of it is style over substance? I recall giving a session on Google VR headsets a hard pass a few years ago. Walking around Pompeii in virtual reality sounds great, but by the time you’ve set it up, curtailed the inevitable muppetry of students trying to throw themselves into Vesuvius, and stopped them from bumping into things, I imagine the question on most teacher’s lips would be ‘is this really worth it?’ – or perhaps that’s just me?
Nevertheless, from a young age, I’ve always been an avid gamer, yet since becoming a teacher I never saw a feasible way to combine my hobby with the classroom. However, as soon as the video game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was released by Ubisoft, I knew it wouldn’t be long before it ended up in my teaching.
The game is set in Greece in 431 BC and you play as either Alexios or Kassandra; abandoned at birth and trying to prevent an evil cult from tearing apart Greece. The game has clearly been developed by classicists and the level of detail and historical accuracy is incredible. The most remarkable feature, however, is the ability to seamlessly walk around an accurately reconstructed ancient Greek world and visit the major monuments, temples, cities and sanctuary sites as they would have been.
So, how can this be effectively deployed in the classroom without it becoming another fad? For one, the game can be streamed into documentary-style videos on relevant topics. The docu-series approach of analysing major sanctuaries would be right at home in the OCR Greek Art and Greek Religion modules, for example, not to mention in the GCSE Myth and Religion course. Climbing prescribed temples to analyse the sculpture and design in more detail would really bring these relics to life.
Alternatively, a more streamlined version of this method could be to make bite-sized clips of specific course content – the Parthenon, for example, is a focus in most of the GCSE and A-Level Classical Civilisation topics, so why not break-up a lesson with a 2-minute walk-around to deliver all the key facts and figures? Don’t fancy using a video? Why not use screenshots from the game instead to add into presentations to give detailed reconstructions of syllabus material? And why should us teachers have all the fun? The gameplay can be shown with no audio, allowing students to come up with their own commentaries as a means of revision.
Mythology is also dealt with well by the game; there’s just the right amount of it without diverting from a historical narrative. Accordingly, whilst you cannot complete all of Herakles’ labours, you can hunt down the beasts he faces. Teaching GCSE Mythology and Religion students about the Cretan Bull or the Erymanthian Boar could be given an added dimension using a clip, or even just a GIF, in a presentation.
But what if you don’t have the game or the console? Perhaps this sounds like too much work? If only there was a Classics teacher who had already done the work for you and made the resources in a free, easily accessible format – perhaps, say with their own YouTube Channel that’s regularly updated. Never fear, I’ve got you – @Mr Hinde’s Classics Channel.
