Quick Teaching Tips: Playful Learning through Virtual Escape Rooms

A recent episode of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast explored playful learning through virtual escape rooms. Nichola Whitton and Rachelle O’Brien of Durham University share how they create virtual escape rooms for learning. The basic idea of an escape room is that a group of participants get locked in a room, and their challenge is to get out. In order to escape, they must solve a series of challenges or puzzles, each of which reveals clues that ultimately let them break free. Whitton and O’Brien propose that virtual escape rooms can be used as learning games that can be adapted to almost any discipline where students solve problems. Instructors design a series of activities that lead to an assessment, and the assessment leads to an escape. In the podcast, they share 4 steps to take to create a virtual escape room for any class.

How do you reinvigorate your learning environment at the end of the semester? How might play apply to your teaching context?. Share your reflections with us and earn a Reflective Teaching Badge token.