Opensource gamification of a computer science lecture to humanities students

Opensource software can provide a wide range of educational computer games and gaming tools so to enable a sharing community among teachers. Since their appearance Metaverses1 appealed the technology prone teachers, increasing the number of virtual worlds learning projects. The Open Source movement create an ecosystem of software, documentation and tools that it makes easier for teachers to share their work and learning objects. Here we show how an open source Metaverses becomes a tool for the teaching of science subjects in a Department of Human Studies, where students can learn the basics of a simplified von Neumann-class computer architecture in a OpenSimulator virtual learning environment. A survey among students showed that interacting with a virtual computer architecture in a immersive 3D environment increased their learning achievements and subject comprehension. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.