EDUCATION
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“While it’s impossible to replace these survivors, Testimony 360 will help to ensure their incredible legacy lives on beyond their lifetimes, so generations to come will continue to be able to have that unparalleled experience of hearing directly from a Holocaust survivor. It will enable visits to the places where they lived, were imprisoned and rebuilt their lives. With the threat of antisemitism reaching levels not seen since the camps were liberated, this is extremely vital for ensuring young people understand what antisemitism can – and did – lead to.” REDEFINING LEARNING Sacred Heart Catholic School in London was the first school in the UK to get to experience Testimony 360 . “It was an absolute honour that my class was chosen to be the first,” says Richard Price, history teacher at Sacred Heart Catholic School. “We have previously been lucky enough to have survivors speak at our school, but this will make sure future generations of schoolchildren get the same opportunity, even when these survivors are sadly no longer with us. Combined with the VR aspect, it allows pupils to connect with the people and places of the Holocaust like never before. It’s exciting to think about the possible wider applications this kind of tech could have for history teaching in future.” When it came to the Holocaust sites HET wanted students to explore, the organisation was keen to find a team who were confident in developing immersive technology and could create a classroom-ready product for schools with no barriers to entry from a tech perspective. “It also needed to be a team who could support us in creating a piece of content that would be engaging and memorable. It had to capture the sites and spaces we were teaching about and frame them in an immersive way for students. Infinite Form was able to do this by building on its experiences in both creating VR content and telling stories,” says director of programmes at HET, Clementine Smith. Infinite Form initially saw Testimony 360 go live as a tender project. The project’s production manager Kelsey Lockington says, “We had several 360 and VR projects under our belt by this time, but never one so meaningful,
T he Testimony 360: People and Places of the Holocaust programme was officially launched in June 2024. This educational programme is being delivered in schools throughout the UK by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), with its development being sponsored by The Eyal & Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation in partnership with the HET and the USC Shoah Foundation. Combining AI-powered interactive Holocaust survivor testimonies with an educational VR experience, it allows students to explore spaces related to the Holocaust. VR content was developed by Infinite Form on behalf of the HET. Since 1988, HET has worked with schools, universities and communities around the UK to raise awareness and understanding of the Holocaust. One of its earliest achievements was ensuring that the Holocaust formed part of the national curriculum for history, where it remains today as the only historic event that is compulsory to teach. “ Testimony 360 is a groundbreaking educational programme which will revolutionise how we learn about the Holocaust, allowing young people to hear from eyewitnesses even when they’re no longer with us,” begins Karen Pollock CBE, chief executive of the HET.
Revolutionising how the Holocaust is taught in schools, Testimony 360 is a free educational programme that combines VR with digital survivor testimonies
Words Oliver Webb
One part of making the platform authentic involved capturing 360° shots of real artefacts and landmarks
WATCH ME See the early uses and initial impact of Testimony 360
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