Ludus: When “Serious” Games and Learning Meet in University Classrooms

What happens when a board game is brought into a university classroom to teach technical and scientific content? At the University of Udine, Ludus (Ludendo docere utini scientiam) was tested—a new way to integrate traditional teaching (without replacing it) with an analog game-based learning session. The project, coordinated by Marco Bietresato, had two main objectives: to reinforce the understanding and retention of technical concepts, and to stimulate motivation, focus, and collaboration. The experience involved 16 students from two courses in the undergraduate programs in Food Science and Technology and in Viticulture and Enology, both part of the Department of Agro-Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences. Four analog games—i.e., without digital components—were designed and created to facilitate the learning of even complex concepts related to equipment used for handling liquid products in the food industry. The two courses involved, “Machines and Plants for the Food Industry” and “Machines and Plants for Enology,” have a strong technical, graphical, and computational component.