Teaching Computer Science With Virtual Worlds

The ProgrammingLand MOOseum of Computer Science is a multiuser virtual environment hosted on the Internet. It is built on a model of exploratory, spatially oriented immersion, where visitors learn principles of computer science as they journey through the content. The MOOseum is divided into “wings” that are devoted to particular programming languages and is populated with an array of interactive objects and agents that facilitate an active learning experience. This paper describes the environment and the effort to integrate it into the curriculum.