We have an adage in anthropology: ‘to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange.’ Students learn to reexamine what they consider familiar and to open themselves up to the diversity of perspectives that exist. Science fiction does the same thing.
– Kailey Rocker

Mark Jenike, associate professor of anthropology and chair of the department, said elective courses like Anthropology and Sci-Fi provide an opportunity for students to dive deeper into specific aspects of humanity and understand them in new ways.

鈥淎nthropology is the only discipline at 麻豆影院 that seeks to understand humans as a total species, from our origins to the present, in all of our global diversity,鈥� said Jenike. 鈥淒r. Rocker鈥檚 Anthropology and Sci-Fi course is the kind of creative application of an anthropological approach to understanding humanity that our topics courses are particularly well-suited for.鈥澛�

Ethnography & Science Fiction

While they differ in content, writing style, and audience, both anthropological writing and science fiction share a commonality: they are forms of world-building. The course combined creative writing with ethnographic writing through readings, writing, and a world-building project.

Ethnography is a research methodology that cultural anthropologists use. It is a type of immersive fieldwork where anthropologists live with, work with, and interview the people they are studying. It also refers to the written stories anthropologists produce from their fieldwork.

鈥淲e collaborate with communities to share their story and their experience of the world around them,鈥� Rocker said. 鈥淭here is a creative component, though. My field notes are often written down as a story: what I encountered, who I learned from, and some quotes they shared with me. In ethnographic writing, you are trying to the best of your ability to represent the words and the worlds of the people that you work with as truthfully as you can.鈥�

This is where the two genres differ. While ethnographers are responsible for truthfully and honestly representing the people they study, science fiction writers have more creative freedom. This freedom makes science fiction a great avenue for exploring anthropological ideas without having the same constraints.

World-Building and the Power of Sci-Fi聽

For their world-building project, students worked in small groups to construct a world where specific technology, technological input, or environmental change had occurred. From there, they imagined the logic and cultural systems of that world, exploring beyond the bounds of their own reality.

鈥淭hey were each responsible for developing some aspect through story and through it an anthropological analysis,鈥� said Rocker. 鈥淚 asked them to think not only about technology or material but to think more about the human experience. How would this impact what a family structure looks like? How might it influence relationship building or language development?鈥�

As part of this project, students also interviewed each other in a 鈥榗ultural exchange鈥� to present an analysis of what a long-term cultural encounter between two very different groups would look like.

From this project, the idea of a sci-fi zine was born.

鈥淥ne student just made a casual remark that they really enjoyed reading the other groups鈥� material,鈥� Rocker said. 鈥淭hat it was so neat to dive into a different world that wasn鈥檛 their own and to see the creativity, imagination, and exploration. I was like, 鈥榃ould anyone be comfortable sharing their stories outside the classroom?鈥欌��

The answer was yes. Nine students from the winter 2025 course worked with Rocker through the spring to edit and compile their stories into a science fiction zine. A limited number of copies were also printed by Allegra Appleton.

In the zine, the students used the genre of science fiction to build worlds with their own cultural logics and contemplate anthropological questions.

“We are fortunate to have An Anthropology Anthology of Other Worlds as a lasting reminder of the achievements of Dr. Rocker and her students in the anthropological study of self and other, of the familiar and strange,” Jenike said.聽

Exploring Humanity Through Fiction聽

Junior Percy Schneider, an anthropology major from Milwaukee, WI, always had an interest in humans and in fiction. They found their passion for anthropology after taking Rocker鈥檚 introductory cultural anthropology course.

鈥淚 love humans; I love everything we create,鈥� Schneider said. 鈥淚 took intro to cultural anthropology with Kailey Rocker, and something just kind of clicked: 鈥楾his is my field. This is where I鈥檓 meant to be.鈥欌��

Schneider studied under Rocker again in the science fiction course. They enjoyed the readings and the challenge of studying humanity through science fiction.

鈥淚 think science fiction is a great genre because it鈥檚 looking at humanity looking towards the future,鈥� Schneider said. 鈥淭here are stories where it gets really dystopian, but other times, there are ones that just fill us with this blinding hope.鈥�

For their literary exercise, Schneider collaborated with, among others, junior Iris Shykula, a junior creative writing and Russian studies major from Longmont, CO, to create a shared universe for their stories. The effort was entirely collaborative, as they had to decide how their stories fit together, what the timeline was, and the rules of how their world functioned.

Schneider鈥檚 story follows a 16-year-old on her 鈥榙escent,鈥� a rite of passage for people in their culture who are about to start a new job at the bottom of the ocean. The story also explores the theme of kinship in a world without traditional families.

鈥淚 was really trying to focus on finding family in a world where you don鈥檛 begin with one, because in the world we created, there are no babies or children,鈥� Schneider said. 鈥淚 focused on that idea of how someone looking like you could be comforting, even if you don鈥檛 know them at all. I wanted it to be like coming to a home that you never knew you had.鈥�

The students were also asked to write an anthropological analysis of their own works of fiction. Schneider made the decision to include their analysis in the zine. When analyzing your own work, they said they felt like a professional anthropologist.

鈥淚 yielded more out of analyzing the story than writing the story,鈥� Schneider said. 鈥淚 started looking back at it, and I was like, 鈥極h yeah, I see how this works. I see how this represents some anthropological concept.鈥欌��

In addition to their stories, students were tasked with imagining an everyday cultural object from their worlds. They designed and 3D printed these objects with the help of the 麻豆影院 University Makerspace. Pictures of the objects were printed in the zine, and the physical items were used in a cultural encounter workshop. Students were challenged to interpret the objects produced by other groups like archaeologists working within a limited context.

Angela Vanden Elzen, associate professor and reference and learning technologies librarian, said this is one of the many examples of Lawrentians utilizing the Makerspace to get more out of their coursework and their 麻豆影院 experience.

鈥淥ur makerspace has given faculty, students, and staff the opportunity to bring a wide range of making technologies into coursework, laboratories, performance spaces, field work, as a creative outlet, and so much more,鈥� Vanden Elzen said. 鈥淭hese kinds of projects help students to see that getting started with 3D design and 3D printing is not as intimidating as they may think. The technology has come so far that it is easier than ever to learn how to use these technologies.鈥�

According to Rocker, the idea was to make students consider how everyday objects can take on new meanings when viewed in a different light. One group, inspired by time travel and historical drama, created a teleportation device within a pocket watch. The device caused severe memory loss when used, which led to a deeper analysis of how this would impact kinship practices, communication, and human agency.聽聽

A Collaborative Effort聽聽

While Rocker had initially planned for the zine to be a digital-only project, she was encouraged to get it printed.

鈥淚鈥檓 very excited with what we were able to achieve. It surpassed my wildest imaginations,鈥� Rocker said.

Physical copies of the zine were disseminated to different departments at 麻豆影院 University and are available to check out at the Seeley G. Mudd Library.

Rocker hopes that readers enjoy the students鈥� creativity and get to experience what 麻豆影院 professors get to see every day.

鈥淚鈥檓 blown away by the creativity and passion, and I hope readers will think about the ways it overlaps with or is very distinct from their own everyday lives and experiences,鈥� Rocker said. 鈥淪o much collaboration was involved in the creation of this little zine. I鈥檓 incredibly proud of the students who took the class and also indulged me in taking on this project.鈥澛�

He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Utah. He earned a master鈥檚 in anthropology and an M.Ed. in higher education at Iowa State University and a bachelor鈥檚 degree with a major in history from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

We caught up with Wilson to talk about interests in and out of the classroom.

In the classroom

Inside info:聽What鈥檚 one thing you want every student coming into your classes to know about you?

Anthropology is exploration. It is about asking, interrogating, puzzling through, and answering questions. I love questions. Every class I teach is dedicated to helping students explore questions and learn transferable problem-solving and analytical tools to take forward into their future鈥攁ll through better understanding the interconnectedness of humanity and our environment.

Getting energized:聽What work have you done or will you be doing at 麻豆影院 that gets you the most excited?

A good colleague of mine and I are currently setting up a salvage archaeology project on the North Coast of Peru to recover scientific information from looted archaeological contexts to explore the everyday lives of everyday people during periods of significant climate and political change. The work combines ethical archaeology, big data analysis, climate reconstruction, ecological theory, student opportunities, and collaboration with local researchers, all the things that get me most excited in research.

Going places:聽Is there an example of somewhere your career has taken you (either a physical space or something more intellectual, emotional, or spiritual) that took you by surprise?

In the past nine years since a career change to become an archaeologist I have horse-backed into the Absaroka mountains to help investigate Indigenous land use of mountain spaces, excavated at 16,000 feet in the high Andes to understand high-elevation herding, surveyed and sampled at one of the most prominent adobe temple sites on the Peruvian north coast to explore emergence of cities and states, hiked canyons in Utah to record rock art and explore hunter-gatherer settlement, and explored many more locales. Every project I have been invited to or undertaken has been a wonderful surprise of culture, people, food, and learning.

Out of the classroom

This or that:聽If you weren鈥檛 teaching for a living, what would you be doing?聽聽

What I think I would like to do: voice acting. I love the way that voice actors can bring animations, novels, puppets, etc. to life and have always enjoyed trying to emulate their efforts. What I would probably be doing: data science. I do really enjoy exploring data to find the patterns, connections, and meaning that can be extracted to understand the world.聽

Right at home:聽Whether for work, relaxation or reflection, what鈥檚 your favorite spot on campus?

One of the new features on campus that I thoroughly appreciate is the world timeline that has been installed on the second floor of Youngchild. It wonderfully puts into perspective how little time we, as a lineage, have been on the planet and the deep history of the world鈥檚 existence. I also really enjoy Room 326 Briggs, which has the archaeological teaching collections, links to the anthropology collections, and is where I do most of my teaching.

One book, one recording, one film:聽Name one of each that speaks to your soul? Or you would recommend to a friend? Or both?

Movie: The Princess Bride. Is it a comedy? An action movie? A romance? A swashbuckler adventure? Something else? Yes, yes, it is. It is campy and it is glorious. I love the way the movie plays with mixing genres (I really like genre mixes of all kinds) and the movie just makes me happy.

Book: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (really anything by Terry Pratchett). Terry Pratchett鈥檚 ability to mix profound insight into the human condition with comedy and fantasy is incredible. Also, Hidden Figures by Margo Lee Shetterly. The unveiling of hidden history in NASA and space flight was profoundly impactful and I find the stories of those women equal parts humbling and inspiring. A third is a single book chapter titled 鈥淐ompetition, conflict, and the development of social hierarchies鈥� by James L. Boone in the 1992 book Evolutionary Ecology and Human Behavior. It fundamentally underlies my approach to exploring and understanding the emergence of inequality across humanity鈥檚 past.

Recording: I am an absolute sucker for British radio comedies, especially science fiction. The 2018-20 show Quanderhorn Xperimentations by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall takes wonderfully over-the-top voice acting, science fiction ideas, comedy, and sets it all in the 1950s to make full use of the radio medium. It鈥檚 joyous, absurd, and quirky. Old Harry鈥檚 Game by Andy Hamilton is another that comes to mind as a socially insightful, absurd comedy that can only exist through the medium of radio. I really adore how radio can make use of simple sound effects and the magic of voice to bring vibrant worlds alive and comedy鈥檚 ability to interrogate the human condition. Finally, and this might be cheating a little bit as it also is visual, but Vincent Price鈥檚 An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe. Price鈥檚 unique voice, flair, and presentation brings to life the darker side of the human condition of multiple Poe stories.

In 2020, Boyle opened her first business, Mousse Sparkling Wine Co., in the small town of Jordan, Minnesota. It provided new challenges for Boyle, but her years of education and experience working with other wineries helped her tackle the learning curve.

鈥淚 just think I wouldn鈥檛 be where I am without the critical thinking skills and the rigorous coursework that I had at 麻豆影院,鈥� Boyle said.

Two 麻豆影院 alums join together to open brewery and taproom in Bloomington, Minnesota

Two years on, Mousse is the only winery in Minnesota with as large and varied a selection of sparkling wines. Mousse鈥檚 wines include whites, reds, and ros茅s in sweet and dry varieties. Mousse also serves some hard ciders, a couple non-alcoholic beverages, and some small-plate snacks.

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a niche, and not everybody makes sparkling wines 鈥� so when I moved back to Minnesota in 2012, my goal was to open a winery that specializes in sparkling wines because it鈥檚 unique,鈥� Boyle said.

Making sparkling wine requires particular equipment and processes, which makes Boyle鈥檚 commitment all the more special.

Boyle said she calls Mousse鈥檚 products sparkling wine rather than champagne because the term 鈥渃hampagne鈥� in commercial wine-making is officially reserved for sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France.

As for the name of the company itself, mousse is the bubbly surface of sparkling wine, but the name also honors Boyle鈥檚 Minnesotan roots by resembling the moose that roam Minnesota鈥檚 wilds.

As Mousse鈥檚 owner and winemaker, Boyle is heavily involved in the day-to-day operations as she runs the winery鈥檚 tasting room with six part-time staff. This is Boyle鈥檚 first business, and she said it provided new challenges for her.

鈥淚 enjoy the challenge of wine-making,鈥� she said. 鈥淓very year is different, and with grapes, you get what you get during the season. 鈥� I like the challenge of making something great with a new harvest every year.鈥�

The grapes grow in summer and are harvested in the fall, and Boyle said Minnesotan grapes are well-suited to sparkling wine. Boyle doesn鈥檛 tend to the vineyards, however.

鈥淏eing on a farm with a bunch of grapevines wasn鈥檛 my vision; my vision was more to be a sort of 鈥榰rban鈥� winery,鈥� she said.

Boyle and her husband don鈥檛 live in Jordan, but they chose the town to establish the urban winery because it was a small town close to the Twin Cities metropolitan area looking for businesses.

鈥淭here was already a brewery here and a few boutique shops, so I felt that a winery would fit in well in the community,鈥� Boyle said.

Mousse is located inside a quaint 1895 brick building in Jordan鈥檚 downtown. Boyle said it needed some renovation but has made for an excellent winery. Mousse frequently hosts live music and has a dog-friendly patio

Boyle said she loves wine-making because of the artistry involved. Owning the company also gives her the freedom to explore what she wants.

鈥淚t incorporates a bunch of different subjects: It鈥檚 chemistry, biology, microbiology, and manual labor in the actual making of the wine, but it鈥檚 also food and wine pairing, socializing, and getting together with people and having a good time,鈥� she said. 鈥� 鈥淚t鈥檚 a whole life activity and interest.鈥�

A vinicultural anthropologist

Boyle chose the 麻豆影院 program in France that would spark her wine passion because of her interests as an anthropology and French double major.

鈥淚n France, wine is just part of the culture; they drink it with lunch and dinner,鈥� Boyle said.

Boyle said she鈥檚 always been interested in culture, which is why she chose 麻豆影院 for its anthropology program and selected the field as one of her majors.

鈥淎nthropology is very broad in that way, and I feel like there鈥檚 a parallel in the wine industry where it鈥檚 very broad; it incorporates a lot of different subjects under one umbrella,鈥� she said.

After 麻豆影院, Boyle spent time living in Des Moines, Iowa, where she happened across a community college course on wine appreciation while browsing the internet. With only a week before classes started, Boyle joined the class and found it much more involved in the technical side of wine-making than she was expecting. She enjoyed it, however, and pursued the craft further.

鈥淚 feel like it was the right place at the right time,鈥� she said.

Boyle spent time learning about wine-making in Iowa and New Zealand, but a winery in Traverse City, Michigan, specializing in sparkling wines inspired her to follow the sparkling route. After years in the industry, she decided to go off on her own.

Boyle also credits her time at 麻豆影院 with teaching her resilience and the ability to face and tackle problems. She said learning French and other languages has been helpful in the wine-making business as well.

鈥淓ven just doing research and writing my business plan hearkens back to my college days when I was doing research for a paper,鈥� Boyle said.

In the future, Boyle hopes to sell Mousse鈥檚 products in other stores. For now, though, she is happy with the progress she and her staff have made.

鈥淚鈥檝e never worked so hard in my life,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a challenge and a lot of work, but I also think it鈥檚 been really fulfilling.鈥�

鈥淚 care a lot about the way the class feels,鈥� Vance said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 not something I think you can control, but I think you can try to help create a space where people can connect with one another.鈥澛犅犅犅�

Vance called her new approach to assessment 鈥渧ery successful鈥� 鈥� not only through the positive reaction from her students to the more engaging assignment, but also to creating something that could then be shared.聽They placed posters in the Mudd Library near the end of spring term to direct people to the podcast.

鈥淭he posters with the QR codes that linked to the podcast were up through reunion weekend (in mid-June),鈥� Vance said. 鈥淪o, all the alums coming in could learn something about the history of this place, too.鈥澛犅�

Vance has gone the more traditional route for assessing her students in the past, but she has found that when taking a more creative approach,聽learning is a lot more enjoyable for both her and her students.聽聽

鈥淎t least for me, I get very excited when doing something creative and collaborative,鈥� Vance said. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 something that I feel is really authentic and honest, and if I am honest with myself, it allows for others to be honest with themselves. Ultimately, I think it makes for a better learning environment.鈥�

Vance would like to thank the following people who helped make the project possible: David Berk, Gretchen Revie, Erin Dix,聽Debra Walker, her聽History Department colleagues, and all of her聽Spring 2019 History 101 students.

Reading the signs

In聽Murali鈥檚聽anthropology course, students learned about the different ways in which signs can be expressed, shown throughout the world, and how to make meaning of them.聽聽

鈥淎 sign can be anything from a street sign to the clothes someone wears,鈥� said Joseph Wetzel 鈥�20, a student who took Murali鈥檚 course. 鈥淪o,聽anything that signifies something else is a sign.鈥澛犅�

Throughout the spring term, the class built on this idea of signs being more than we typically think of.聽

鈥淎聽lot聽of understanding of how information is translated through signs is thinking about shared cultural knowledge,鈥澛燱etzel said.聽

All of聽the work they did throughout the term led to students breaking into groups and creating their own escape rooms in various places around campus.聽

鈥淭he students spent all term drawing on the semiotic theory they were learning in class to understand how clues work as signs, and how escape rooms are semiotic spaces,鈥� Murali said.聽鈥淭hey then applied this knowledge to creating their own escape rooms.鈥澛犅�

During class, they looked at different escape rooms聽online to familiarize themselves with them. At the end of the course, they used all the聽knowledge聽they gained about signs having deeper meanings based on cultural knowledge to create the escape rooms, and opened them to others on campus to solve.聽

鈥淭here are clues that refer to different buildings on campus, and we have clues (that refer to) Lawrentians,鈥� Wetzel said.聽

It was a fun way to also explore 麻豆影院 culture.聽聽

One of the escape rooms, created by Amy Courter 鈥�21,聽Hayoung聽Seo 鈥�19, and Wetzel and titled聽Escape Room: Library, was based on a concept that students could identify with. 鈥淚t鈥檚 based on a student waking up from her dream, because they fell asleep while studying for聽finals,鈥澛燬eo said.

Murali has been incorporating innovative learning methods into her classroom聽and聽has seen it have a positive impact on the way her students聽react to learning.聽

鈥淚 have increasingly been focusing on engaged, hands-on assignments as a way to help students understand and apply what they learn in class, and this assignment follows that pedagogic strategy,鈥� Murali said. 鈥淚 think it went well, and I鈥檓 very proud of my students.鈥澛犅犅�

Oscar Loya, a double major in Anthropology and East Asian Studies, first heard about 麻豆影院 University from his college prep program, Sante Fe Breakthrough. One of the program鈥檚 main scholarships is the Davis New Mexico Scholarship, which 麻豆影院 has been partnered with since 2016. The scholarship works to support first-generation college students as they work toward earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree.

鈥淚 am very proud to be a Davis New Mexico scholar and to be representing my home,鈥� Loya said.

Loya has felt welcomed by the 麻豆影院 community since the first day he stepped on campus. When he speaks, he feels his voice is heard and respected.

鈥溌槎褂霸�, as a community, values everyone鈥檚 light, and I see that everywhere, from the amazing classes to the recreational and residential aspects,鈥� Loya said.

The classes at 麻豆影院 have both challenged and guided Loya in his development as a student and as an individual. He values learning about the past and about how people interact with each other from different cultures.

Loya said he hopes to pursue either a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship or a Fulbright Scholarship. He then eventually wants to enter a graduate program in archaeology.

When students in Lavanya Murali鈥檚 Anthropology of South Asia class explored a Bangladesh refugee camp via a documentary, they did much more than just watch the narrated video.

Without leaving campus, the 麻豆影院 University students walked the paths of the camp housing Rohingya Muslims who had fled violence in Myanmar.

Virtual Reality (VR) technology allowed the students to take the walking tour, with a 360-degree view. Not only could they walk with and listen to the 鈥淚 Am Rohingya鈥� tour guide discuss the camp, they could veer off on their own, wander inside the makeshift housing at the camp, explore the edges.

鈥淔or me, the object was to humanize something that is such a huge crisis,鈥� Murali said, 鈥渁nd to have my students understand how refugees were living and the conditions in which they were living and to understand the magnitude of the refugee crisis.

鈥淎nd I think the VR experience did that because it鈥檚 immersive. It does a better job of that than just watching the documentary would have.鈥�

The experience of the Murali class, using Google Cardboard headsets with smartphones during winter term 2018, is an early example of VR technology being integrated into the classroom at 麻豆影院.聽

Constance Kassor, an assistant professor of religious studies, followed suit this term, using the Google Cardboard headsets for students to explore religious sites in India and Tibet. Martyn Smith, associate professor of religious studies, has been dabbling in other uses of the technology in class.

More is on the way, be it VR, Augmented Reality (AR) or 3D technology.

The Makerspace wing of the Seeley G. Mudd Library, housing the early investments in that technology, has already been expanded and reconfigured since its launch three years ago.聽

The next step will come this summer when faculty representatives from 麻豆影院 will join with other Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) schools for a conference on blending immersive technologies with liberal arts classrooms.

麻豆影院, led by Reference and Learning Technologies Librarian Angela Vanden Elzen, and other ACM schools successfully sought a Faculty Career Enhancement (FaCE) grant to fund a two-day workshop in July aimed at kick-starting new collaborative efforts to share, promote and develop best practices for growing the use of VR, AR and 3D technologies in classrooms at 11 ACM schools.

The workshop will be held at Grinnell College and will be a jumping off point for collaboration that will be ongoing, Vanden Elzen said.

They鈥檒l share not only the classroom potential of VR and AR but also some of the low-cost options that make the technology accessible without major blows to the budget. Murali, for example, is among the 麻豆影院 professors already using Google Cardboard, a VR platform adaptable to a smartphone, available for as little as $10 each.聽

鈥淎t a lot of these campuses, there is a small handful of people, in some cases maybe only one, who are doing this kind of stuff with their students,鈥� Vanden Elzen said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to provide a great opportunity for a bunch of people interested in VR and AR and 3D visualizations to share what we鈥檝e learned.鈥�

Pioneers in VR tech

麻豆影院 has had a handful of students dive into VR for their Chandler Senior Experience, including two this year under the guidance of Anne Haydock, assistant professor of film studies.

Two years ago, Christopher Gore-Gammon 鈥�17 and Noah Gunther 鈥�17 were pioneers of sorts, the first two 麻豆影院 students to use VR in their Senior Experience projects.

Gore-Gammon, now a videographer with 麻豆影院 after graduating with a degree in film/cinema/video studies, said helping 麻豆影院 push forward on the use of VR and AR technologies was a big motivator for him.

鈥淥ne of the reasons I did that project was not only to explore my interest in it but also to give 麻豆影院 the chance to pioneer in an art medium and form that not many schools are doing yet,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have your art schools here and there that are doing it, but liberal arts schools of this size aren鈥檛 even venturing close to it. So, to integrate VR and AR into not only the projects that students do but into the classroom itself gives 麻豆影院 a unique opportunity to change how we approach pedagogy, and how we approach not only teaching the students that come in but also teaching each other.鈥�

Piquing the interest of faculty

Getting faculty buy-in across campus is the next hurdle for many schools. Some schools have jumped into VR and AR technology with more enthusiasm than others. Some have faculty members already experienced in the new technologies. Others do not. 麻豆影院 has made significant progress over the past couple of years but there is room to grow.聽

What schools are finding, Vanden Elzen said, is that students are often ahead of their instructors in this technology and are pushing for it to be used in the classroom.聽

Kassor called the new technology an innovative tool to get students engaged in exploration on a deeper level. In early February, 10 students in her class on Buddhism in India and Tibet used VR headsets to go on a virtual scavenger hunt, seeking and exploring monasteries, temples, statues and murals.

鈥淚 gave students a basic orientation in how to use the VR viewers and some apps they might want to look at on their phones,鈥� Kassor said. 鈥淭hen I kind of turned them loose and gave them time to explore, and then we had a kind of show-and-tell after they found things.

鈥淭he value of that for me was really just to give students another opportunity to explore things on their own rather than me curating content for them. It was really encouraging them to do something a little bit more than just a Google image search.鈥�

The students鈥� enthusiasm reflected the growing interest in the technology, and the classroom possibilities, Kassor said.

At 麻豆影院, that growth in student interest can be seen in the Senior Experience projects as well as the daily traffic coming in and out of Makerspace.

鈥淪tudents have been really embracing this,鈥� Vanden Elzen said. 鈥淎t first there were just a few students who would use this space. Now we鈥檝e seen a lot of students embrace the space independently. So, it鈥檚 kind of come the other way around where the students are telling their professors what they鈥檝e been making in the Makerspace.鈥�

Meanwhile, Film Studies just got approval to create a high-end VR station just outside of Makerspace in the library. While the impetus came from Film Studies, it鈥檒l be available to students across all majors, perhaps as early as the start of next term.

Film students 鈥渨ill use it to develop their own VR content to be used with the campus HTC Vive VR headsets,鈥� Vanden Elzen said. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l be using Unreal 4, a game-design program, and a 3D modeling program, probably Blendr, to create their content. 鈥� We鈥檙e hoping that by having this resource in the library, students from all majors will feel like this is available for them to use.鈥�

That鈥檚 part of the VR momentum that鈥檚 building on campus, Gore-Gammon said.

鈥淭here are already multiple students who are interested,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 have to be experts, but they鈥檙e interested. And soon we will go from the two people 鈥� me and this other student 鈥� two years ago to these students this year to eventually there will be 50 students who will want to do it, and that will be amazing.鈥�

When Kassor and some of her students return to Nepal next year 鈥� a biennual trip 鈥� she hopes to have students create VR content that students back in Appleton can then access. That鈥檚 the next step in this VR journey, she said.

鈥淲e can bring some of that back and some of the students who don鈥檛 have the opportunity to travel can experience some of the same things the students who are traveling get to experience.鈥�