A collaborative escape room as gamification strategy to increase learning motivation and develop curricular skills of occupational therapy students

Effectiveness of gamification-based teaching in approach to eye trauma: a randomized educational intervention trial

INTRODUCTION

Ophthalmology education is evolving with the use of new teaching approaches. Teaching based on gamification is one of the new developments in health professions education. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of gamification-based virtual reality on the learning outcome of students regarding the highly important topic of approach to eye trauma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This randomized educational intervention trial with a control group was conducted at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS). A total of 10 ophthalmology residents and 60 medical students were recruited in this study (each group comprised 5 residents and 30 medical students). Individuals were randomly divided into two teaching groups gamification method (intervention group) and lecture-based method (Control group). Data were collected through questionnaires and tests and analyzed by SPSS-26 software using descriptive and analytical statistics.

RESULTS

Residents and medical students evaluated the usability of this method to be favorable (132.72 ± 10.17). In resident students (16.80 ± 2.58, 13.60 ± 1.14, P ≤ 0.05) and medicine students (17.27 ± 4.50, 15.20 ± 0.71, P ≤ 0.05), the mean score of learning outcome score in the intervention group was higher than the control group.

CONCLUSION

Gamification-based teaching is an effective educational strategy that can be used as a complementary educational tool for teaching ophthalmology residents and medical students.

Escape rooms in pharmacy education: More than just a game

An educational escape room is a form of game-based learning that has been shown to improve students' learning experience. A cardiovascular escape room was designed to promote the development of transversal skills and help students retain learned content knowledge in an integrated pharmacology and therapeutic unit in a Pharmacy course.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to design, pilot, and evaluate the students' self-perceived transversal skills, learning experience and knowledge acquisition from a cardiovascular educational escape room.

METHODS

The model pharmacy at Curtin University was used as the room that students were challenged to escape. Students were required to acquire a four-digit safe code, with each digit derived from four separate briefcases containing different puzzles and clues. This code enabled students to unlock a lifesaving medication to successfully escape the room and rescue a fictional patient who had collapsed outside of the pharmacy. Each session was followed by a debrief to reflect on the learning experience.

RESULTS

Fifty-four students participated in the study. Eight out of twelve groups successfully escaped the room. There was negligible difference in the score of the pre- and post-knowledge assessments. All students strongly agreed/agreed that the escape room was an effective way to review the cardiovascular content covered in the lecture and tutorial and that the activity should be continued for future students.

CONCLUSION

Students perceived the education escape room as a valuable learning exercise to help them retain content knowledge and develop transversal skills in the learning of integrated pharmacology and therapeutic within a Pharmacy course.

Game design elements of serious games in the education of medical and healthcare professions: a mixed-methods systematic review of underlying theories and teaching effectiveness

Serious games, as a learning resource, enhance their game character by embedding game design elements that are typically used in entertainment games. Serious games in its entirety have already proven their teaching effectiveness in different educational contexts including medical education. The embedded game design elements play an essential role for a game's effectiveness and thus they should be selected based on evidence-based theories. For game design elements embedded in serious games used for the education of medical and healthcare professions, an overview of theories for the selection lacks. Additionally, it is still unclear whether and how single game design elements affect the learning effectiveness. Therefore, the main aim of this systematic review is threefold. Firstly, light will be shed on the single game design elements used in serious games in this area. Second, the game design elements' underlying theories will be worked out, and third, the game design elements' effectiveness on student learning outcome will be assessed. Two literature searches were conducted in November 2021 and May 2022 in six literature databases with keywords covering the fields of educational game design, serious game, and medical education. Out of 1006 initial records, 91 were included after applying predefined exclusion criteria. Data analysis revealed that the three most common game design elements were points, storyline, and feedback. Only four underlying theories were mentioned, and no study evaluated specific game design elements. Since game design elements should be based on theories to ensure meaningful evaluations, the conceptual GATE framework is introduced, which facilitates the selection of evidence-based game design elements for serious games.

A scoping review of international allied health professions escape room practices and scholarship

PURPOSE

The purpose of this scoping review is to assess the literature on allied health professions escape rooms (AHPERs), investigating their common purposes and practices, and the trends in scholarship.

METHODS

This scoping review followed PRISMA-ScR guidelines to assess the size and scope of evidence in the literature, categorize common purposes and practices, and explore trends in AHPER scholarship. Two reviewers developed a review protocol, collected literature using a search strategy aligned with inclusion criteria, and charted review results.

RESULTS

The literature search yielded 6,170 articles. After the final review, 34 unique records met inclusion criteria. Studies were conducted in the United States, Spain, Australia, France, Brazil, and Canada. Most escape rooms reported participants, team size, puzzle type, and outcomes, but few used causal research designs, primarily using pre-post with no control designs. AHPERs represent an increasingly popular pedagogical approach. AHPERs tend to be simply structured, patient themed, and convey either disciplinary or interprofessional lessons. Generally, AHPERs were self-reported as effective and satisfying, but scholarship supporting AHPERs was insufficient in design for causal claims.

CONCLUSION

Developers and scholars may benefit from considering frameworks and guidelines for consistent creation and increased trustworthiness in the AHPER practice and knowledge base. Where AHPER scholars can increase attention to learning outcomes, and plan scholarly works in advance of the escape room, the AHPER body of knowledge will increase.

Development and evaluation of an escape room based on general pharmacokinetics: Students' perceptions of its motivational climate

We designed an escape room based on the basic principles of pharmacokinetics for undergraduate bachelor students and explored its effect on students' perceived motivational climate and usefulness as a formative assessment via a mixed-method design. The effect on students' perceptions of the motivational climate was measured using pre- and post-test measurements of the MUSIC® inventory. Students' experiences with the escape room and suggestions for improvement were collected by open-ended survey questions. Forty-one students initially joined the study while 28 students completed both the pre- and post-test MUSIC® inventory. Data from the MUSIC® inventory revealed the effect of playing the escape room on students' situational interest was positive with medium to large effect (Cohen's dav  = 0.63). Data from the open-ended questions confirmed the outcome of the MUSIC® inventory. While there was a positive effect on situational interest, students found the escape room not very useful as a tool for formative assessment. Further research should include a control group and focus on the effect of the escape room on academic success and work toward increasing the capacity of the escape room for large-scale courses.

Impact of a peer-to-peer escape room activity in the learning of Human Physiology of medical students from the university of Málaga

Escape room's popularity has raised over the past years among young adults. It creates a distended competitive environment, where participants collaborate to achieve a common objective through teamwork. We decided to apply this format as a teaching method for medical students at the University of Malaga, Spain. A peer-to-peer physiological cardiorespiratory escape room was designed by intern undergraduate students, collaborating within the Department of Human Physiology. This activity integrated the contents of the Human Physiology syllabus, which were organized into four stages that culminated in a final medical case. Intern students oversaw the design, promotion, preparation and execution of the activity, and were in charge of conducting the evaluation and follow up. The escape room was done in mid-December, after all theoretical and practical contents had been delivered, for four consecutive years, improving from each year's experience. The target group for this activity were second year medical students, who were asked to team up freely in groups of four to six students before the start of the activity. The students in each group cooperated with each other while trying to solve the different puzzles and questions in each stage of the escape room. After the activity, the results of the final evaluation exam of these participants were compared against non-participants, who served as a control group. Qualitative feedback was also received from the participants via a special survey that was designed for this task. Results between 2020 and 2023 (three last activities) show that the final mark of the participants was significantly higher than in non-participants (6.39 ± 0.14 vs. 5.04 ± 0.2; p < 0.0007). The global exam mark also increased in the participants (5.43 ± 0.10 vs. 4.44 ± 0.15; p < 0.0007). A significant difference was observed in the performance in cardiovascular (p < 0.0007) and respiratory-related questions (p < 0.0007), which was substantial in the participants. The qualitative feedback received from the participants was mainly positive, indicating an overall acceptance of the format by the students. We conclude that escape room format with a peer-to-peer structure is an efficient teaching tool for medical students performed by medical students in the field of Human Physiology.

Examining Motivation of First-Year Undergraduate Anatomy Students Through the Lens of Universal Design for Learning (UDL): A Single Institution Study

Motivation is critical for meaningful learning among healthcare students studying anatomy. Learners are highly variable, and it is important to ensure learners are equally supported in the diverse aspects of an anatomy curriculum. The implementation of the educational framework, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), in anatomy curricula could potentially enhance student motivation. The multiple means of engagement principle of UDL refers to the enhancement of motivation among students. This study aimed to identify healthcare students' motivation levels at the start and end of their anatomy module and whether there was any change in motivation. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was distributed to gather the self-reported motivation levels of first-year undergraduate medical, dental and occupational therapy (OT) and speech and language therapy (SLT) students studying anatomy at the start of their respective anatomy modules and again at the end of the module. The overall response rate was 74% and 69%, at the start and end of the study, respectively. Responses were analysed by the respective programme of study. Motivation to study anatomy among medical, dental, OT and SLT students ranged from medium to high on the MSLQ at the start of their respective anatomy modules. By the end of the anatomy modules, dental students reported high levels of motivation to study anatomy, whereas motivation among medical, OT and SLT students ranged from medium to high. A change in students' self-reported motivation levels while studying anatomy was identified. The study emphasises the benefits of UDL and its flexible nature to enhance motivation.

Gamification as a Promoting Tool of Motivation for Creating Sustainable Higher Education Institutions

Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are responsible for creating healthy and sustainable environments for students and teachers through diverse educational paradigms such as gamification. In this sense, the Healthy People 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals indicated the imperative to provide inclusive and equitable quality education to promote a healthy environment and life. The principal objective was to analyse the impact of gamification on health development in HEIs, highlighting their positive and negative effects. To achieve such an objective, a bibliometric analysis was carried out. The 257 documents showed no significant increasing trend in the last decade (p > 0.05) related to the pandemic. Most of the publications were conferences (45%), and the few published articles were the documents with more citations (p < 0.001). According to their index in Journal Citation Reports, there were significant differences between the citations of articles published in journals (p < 0.001). The analysis of journal co-citations showed that the leading journals (such as Computers in Human Behavior) had a significant part in the clusters formed (p < 0.001), conditioning also the keywords, especially the term “motivation”. These findings were discussed, concluding that the experimental studies focused on the teachers’ adverse effects are yet to come.