Room2Educ8: A Conceptual Framework for Designing Educational Escape Rooms

Authors

Keywords:

educational escape room, game-based learning, gamification, design thinking, conceptual framework, escape room

Abstract

Despite being a relatively new concept, escape rooms are used in academia as learning and collaborative tools. Research findings have established that educational escape rooms (EERs) can create immersion as they combine the strengths of storytelling and gameplay, therefore eliciting high motivation and engagement and so promoting successful learning. Yet evidence demonstrates that there is little consistency in the approaches adopted in this emerging field. A major obstacle faced by educators is the lack of practical design frameworks for EERs. To address this, we propose Room2Educ8, a user-centred conceptual framework based on Design Thinking principles to operationalise the development of EERs. This framework provides heuristics for empathising with learners, defining learning objectives and constraints, adding narrative, designing puzzles, briefing and debriefing participants, prototyping and playtesting, documenting the whole process, and evaluating the escape room experience. It delivers an easy-to-follow guideline that can be adopted and adapted in various learning contexts to create immersive learning experiences. Room2Educ8’s prescribed nature makes it also approachable for commercial escape room designers who consider moving into Serious games territory. To validate the integrity and use of the proposed framework, 104 participants with no prior experience in EER design used Room2Educ8 from 2018 to 2022 to develop 26 EERs. Feedback was obtained through a combination of surveys and focus groups. The framework validation suggests that Room2Educ8 can be proposed as a valid tool for EER design. Participants found the framework very detailed, with clear and understandable steps that were easy to follow regardless of lack of prior experience in EER design. It can be used to develop a wide range of EER types covering different topics and allows designers to get a deeper understanding of the people they are designing for.

Author Biography

Theodoros Mastoras, University of Macedonia

Dr Theodoros Mastoras is Teaching Fellow at the Information Systems & E-Business Lab, Department of Applied Informatics at University of Macedonia. He holds a BEng in Computer Engineering & Informatics from the University of Patras, a Master of Arts in Graphic Arts & Multimedia from Hellenic Open University and a PhD in Applied Informatics from the University of Macedonia.

His research interests include gamification, technology enhanced learning, data analysis, learning analytics and semantic web technologies. Dr Mastoras has given presentations in various international conferences and has published research papers at international journals and conference proceedings.

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Published

2022-09-29