# 3D Heritage Artefacts in Education--Enhancing Attractiveness of Computer Graphics Curriculum
## 1 Introduction  
Lublin University of Technology (Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, to be precise) has been offering computer science studies for over 25 years. Many challenges have been faced over time, such as organizational aspects of studies, the COVID-19 pandemic, distanced learning and cooperation [1, 2, 3]. From the beginning, computer graphics have played a crucial role in the study program. The rapid development of 3D scanning techniques and international efforts aimed at popularizing the preservation of cultural heritage have opened up new opportunities for making classes more attractive for the students [4]. Lab3D is part of the Department of Computer Science at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Lublin University of Technology. The individuals who created Lab 3D were already involved in heritage digitization activities back in 2014. First, local heritage sites in eastern Poland were focused upon [5, 6]. In the following years, the team's activities internationalized to include Central Asia (e.g., Uzbekistan, tangible and intangible heritage [7, 8, 9]), Eastern Europe, (Romania, Cluj-Napoca region, wooden historicchurches [10; 11]), and even North America (United States of America, catholic churches planned for demolition [12]). The goal of this work is to present the concepts and methods that were introduced into the computer graphics course and share the experiences gathered while conducting the classes, which were enriched with the assets of digitized cultural heritage. An attempt was also made to answer the question of whether including heritage elements into the computer graphics course negatively or positively affected students' achievements. The analyzed period covers the years 2018-2024. The COVID-19 years were treated in a special way in this work, due to the pandemic stress, and were incomparable to the conduct of class from the other years. Digitization activities undertaken by Lab3D allowed for introducing real-life cases into the education process, especially in areas of graphics computation, policy making, and universal design. The area most affected by changes was 3D graphics processing (modelling and texturing, creating a 3D scene and animation, rendering). It involved using models of scanned historical artefacts as the main objects, with an emphasis on presenting them on the 3D stage in accordance with the atmosphere of the object. Therefore, these did not introduce changes in the technologies used but only enabled the creation of scenes with a more interesting story. The goal of this concept was to increase the level of enthusiasm among the students when fulfilling the exercises and to improve awareness of cultural heritage topics. Moreover, elements of digitized heritage were used as practical examples provided during the other stages of the classes. The computer graphics course was chosen as the main source of data and ideas for this article. The reason is the high quality and completeness of data during the long-term period. It has to be noted here that 3D digitization of heritage objects is a rather specific utilization of computer graphics. However, it involves many techniques from that domain and provides valuable objects that can undergo further processing. The approach for conducting the course may be perceived as the implementation of problem- and project-based learning [13]. The following research hypotheses were formulated:  
**H1. **: _Introduction of digitized cultural heritage elements to the computer graphics laboratory has a positive effect, which translates into better grades obtained by students at the end of laboratory classes._  
**H2. **: _Exam grades obtained by students at the end of computer graphics lectures are better than before introducing digitized cultural heritage elements to the computer graphics course._  
**H3.