Escapuliste? – learning course materials to escape

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The project

This proposal aims to take advantage of the dynamics of “Escape games” to create an immersive learning environment, in which students have to work as a team to solve the different puzzles related to a given course.

What was done

We have created a character, Anita, a Computer Science student that loves to design escape games for her colleagues, and we have transformed a Taguspark classroom in Anita’s bedroom. The plot is the following: Anita is preparing an escape game for Linear Algebra but gets locked inside the closet. She sends an email to her colleagues, asking for help: they have one hour to solve the Linear Algebra quizzes that will allow them to open the closet, or she will not be able to breathe and will die. Almost 90 students played this game.

Other relevant information

Students considered the experience to be very entertaining and acknowledged that these activities encouraged team’s work. In addition, the escape game was seen as a preparation for the midterm test, in which students performed better than in previous semesters. The design of the escape games (storyline, the scenario and the quizzes) was challenging but very fun. The most time-consuming activity is the preparing Anita’s room for each session. This is not a recommended activity during COVID.

Luísa Coheur (luisa.coheur@tecnico.ulisboa.pt) Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, INESC-ID

Ana Moura Santos (ana.moura.santos@tecnico.ulisboa.pt) Department of Mathematics, Instituto Superior Técnico, CEAFEL

Sofia Sá (sofiasap@tecnico.ulisboa.pt) Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico

Luís Costa (luisfcosta@cos.ufrj.br) Systems Engineering and Computing Program, Coppe/ UFRJ, Brazil