Role Playing Ancient History: Integrating Creativity
and Technology to Enhance Student Engagement

Kathleen M. Quinn (University of Cincinnati)

This paper will address two innovative pedagogies undertaken in upper level, undergraduate history courses at Northern Kentucky University and the effectiveness of such curricula on students who generally feel little connection with the campus community. Northern, a four-year, public, low-selectivity, regional university with 14,000 students, values education that is learner-centered, increases public engagement, offers opportunities for creativity, and encourages collegiality (“Northern Kentucky University’s 2003-2008 Strategic Agenda”). These commitments, plus Northern’s dedication to enhancing student access to and faculty use of technology, prompted the development of Greek and Roman history courses that integrate cooperative role playing with the technology resources offered by the Blackboard Learning System.

For a Roman history course, the author developed an interactive journal assignment called the Viatores Aeterni in which each student assumed a persona from Roman history. Students developed fictitious, but historically-rooted, personae in response to assigned occupational prompts (e.g., priestess, merchant). The journal assignment incorporated written, oral, and Blackboard components, and it created opportunities for students to “own” and share course material relevant to their persona’s historical experience. For a Greek history course, the author utilized Mark C. Carnes and Josiah Ober’s The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C. (Longman, 2005), part of the “Reacting to the Past” curriculum. Both of these pedagogies involved student creativity, individual research, group participation, and use of technology. The author will discuss the obstacles and positive outcomes of using such curricula with a student population that is often hesitant to connect with faculty and peers on campus.