Classics in Motion’s aim is to update the teaching approach of the Classics, bringing it closer to the rest of the humanities.

The series provides students and faculty members with a useful tool designed both for the classroom environment and individual use. Subjects of the podcast-series are the works of the most important Classical authors.

I have tested the pedagogical impact of the video-series myself within the classical literature courses I currently teach at The City University of New York. Having struggled in the first semesters to catch my students’ attention, I started implementing and integrating my video series in the classroom environment.

For instance, as I teach the Antigone by Sophocles, I use my video to introduce the subject and then ask my students to interact with this more familiar medium. I ask them to write anonymous comments on specific passages or images of the video, which are uploaded onto a shared platform.

The podcasts are a bridge between learners and the subject matter. The Classical studies often involve foreign and apparently remote cultural landscapes that can alienate students from the subject. As a CUNY classroom approaches a masterpiece by Sophocles, often questions like these are raised: Who is Ismene? Is it a he or a she? Where is Thebes? Why is this relevant today?

The visual narrative provided by my podcasts reduces the oddities of foreign names and topography, helping the students’ memorization. The new media format eases the access to such contents, often deemed lofty and elitist. This familiarity, finally, allows student to interact with the intellectual depths of classical literature and philosophy. Thus new technologies can foster the creation of an inclusive and effective pedagogy, building bridges between subjects and students.

The students’ responses have been remarkable: the familiarity with the modern format allows my classes to interface with it confidently. Furthermore, I invite students to watch the videos again to prepare for their written exam. On average, the students show better results in the midterm sections regarding authors featured by my podcasts.

Through my podcast, the battles of epic narrative, the passions of the tragedies and the peaks of philosophical thought are returned in their universal value, not as expressions of an outdated culture— “the whitest [college] subject” according to Philip Roth. Dido’s love in the Aeneid is the same as Shakespeare’s Juliet or Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and an insightful choice of images in videos can help mediate this inclusive message.