Webinar — Helen of Troy meets The Bachelor
3D printing of antiquities as a pedagogical tool
Presented by Diana Burton, Associate Professor of Classics and Curator of the Classics Museum at Victoria University
Tuesday 26 May 2026
12-1pm
Zoom
FREE to INNZ members
$20 + .90 Humanitix fee (non-members)
$10 + .60 Humanitix fee (students)
What the webinar will be about
Victoria University Classics Museum holds a small collection of antiquities. It is designed as a teaching collection to give students hands-on experience with ancient artworks.
Diana Burton will discuss the collaboration between the Museum and the Victoria University School of Design to develop innovative ways for students and the public to engage with the Museum’s artefacts through 3D printing techniques.
Students understand an object in different ways when they can handle it freely, and this is an effective pedagogical tool for active learning about the roles played by material culture in the ancient world.
Diana will review three projects using 3D prints. All three, in different ways, encourage the students to take on the role of artists or consumers of the objects, and develop a more nuanced understanding of the forms and functions of the vases in their social context. By eliciting students’ personal responses to the vases, they also draw on students’ own experiences as a conduit for critical discussion of the vases' societal and cultural functions.
Images: 3D vases created by VUW students; Diana at the Classics Museum
About Diana
Diana Burton is Associate Professor of Classics at Victoria University, and the Curator of the university’s Classics Museum. Her research and teaching interests lie in aspects of Ancient Greek myth, religion, art, and death, and she is also involved in a collaboration with the Victoria University School of Design to explore the ways in which 3D prints can enhance student pedagogy and public access to the Museum.