Shakespeare-VR is an open source educational tool for instructors to use when integrating virtual reality into their instruction material. To offer instructors some examples the team at Shakespeare-VR has created a handful of modules to serve as examples for how VR can be used to supplement traditional teaching methods. The modules contain a lesson plan and a worksheet that can be implemented using the video files available for free here on the Shakespeare-VR site.

“To Be or Not to Be” Lesson

In this lesson, students will study the physical aspects of Elizabethan theater with the goal of learning how to identify and assess the functions of space, medium, and performance choices in Shakespearean drama. The lesson centers on a virtual reality tour of the American Shakespeare Center Blackfriars Playhouse and three different productions of the “to be or not to be” soliloquy: a film, a filmed theatrical production, and a virtual reality production.

The lesson plan is available here

The worksheet for the lesson is here

“Sweet Sorrow” Lesson

Overview: In this lesson, students will study the physical aspects of Elizabethan theater, watch clips of Romeo and Juliet, and perform Juliet’s part on the Blackfriars stage. It combines the experience “Sweet Sorrow: Romeo and Juliet in Virtual Reality” with a virtual documentary of Blackfriars Playhouse and a filmed production of the ‘bedroom scene’ from Romeo and Juliet. The goal of the lesson is to guide students toward an ability to identify and assess the functions of space, medium, and performance choices in Shakespearean drama.

The lesson plan is available here

The worksheet for the lesson is here