Students in a UC College of Arts and Sciences Judaic studies class took a first-hand look at the story of Holocaust survivor Fritzie Fritzshall and her experiences at Auschwitz-Birkenau, thanks to virtual reality (VR) technology.
The students were participating in a class titled Teaching and Remembering Trauma: Designing Holocaust and Genocide Education. UC is one of the first colleges granted exclusive access to the museum's traveling set of VR headsets, provided by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
Alexis Morrisroe, adjunct instructor in the Judaic Studies program, secured access to the VR headsets through her prior role as a youth educator at the museum from June 2008 to April 2020. Seizing the opportunity, the department became one of the first schools participating in the soft launch.
"The virtual reality definitely had an emotional impact on students. In a class like this, how to teach the Holocaust, the affective experience of the modality and the medium is significant… you want to stimulate discussion, and people had a lot to say about this," department head Matthew Kraus said.
It's not enough to rely on the interesting usage of technology alone; designing lesson plans and connecting the experience to learning objectives in class takes time, but ultimately brings the lesson to life.
"We could have easily been like 'okay put on these headsets, watch this film, what do you think?' How do you make it a learning experience?," Morrisoe asked.
"We say we are committed to innovative approaches to education; there's a lot of behind the scenes and preparation to make those things successful and not just be innovative for the sake of being innovative," Kraus added. "That's an important part of how you make these things actually work."
Morrisoe said she would like to use VR technology again, especially given the prevalence of its usage in museums and education centers. As Holocaust survivors may not be around much longer to directly contribute to Holocaust education, VR could offer a beneficial alternative. It has the potential to permanently preserve the survivors' voices and experiences in an accessible and personable manner.
By integrating VR technology into the classroom, UC not only enhanced emotional engagement and understanding among its students, but also contributed to the preservation of survivors' stories and Holocaust history by taking the chance to participate in this experimental usage opportunity.
Featured image at top: Flag flies above the entrance to the Aushwitz-Birkenau museum center. Photo/whoismargot for Pixabay.
