Age of Computers - Game-Based Teaching of Computer Fundamentals

Lasse Natvig and Steinar Line

Age of Computers (AoC), which is a new approach to the learning activities that supplements the auditorium lectures in a computer fundamentals course with 250 students, is presented. AoC is a computer game that presents the students a diverse set of problems from the course topics linked to computer history. It is implemented as set of dynamic web pages retrieved from a database. A prototype was used in 2003 and the feedback is positive and a strong motivation for continuing the project. The paper describes the use of AoC and its implementation.