Abstract:

There has always been a need for engaging assessments in online learning environments, though the COVID-19 pandemic further emphasized this need (1). The rise of technologies, especially video games, has contributed to the use of elements of these environments in other areas. To this end, gamification is the use of game techniques in non-game contexts and their application in methodologies in the learning process, the purpose of which is to attract and strengthen the attention of students, the formation of cognitive interest, the desire to solve problems, increase motivation, and further modify external motivation into internal (2).

Gamification in higher education is a relatively recent application, one of the methods online educational role-playing games that teachers and students can play in class are escape rooms and breakout games. Escape rooms and breakout games are considered immersive learning environments, which promote learning through teamwork and problem solving (3). The premise of an escape room is a teaching/learning strategy to help students, in consolidating fundamental concepts and basic procedures for professional development and at the same time, teach important skills to deal with stressful situations under time pressures in a fun and enjoyable way. The implementation of this type of resource presents a new experience with pharmacology students of the Degree in Veterinary of Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) with an international group of students from different universities such as Zaragoza (UNIZAR, Spain) and Cayetano Heredia and Nacional de San Antonio Abad (Lima and Cusco, Perú). The escape room consisted of 6 tracks (elaborate by GeniallyTM) related to the theorical contents (Central Nervous System, Autonomous Nervous System, Anesthesia, Analgesia, etc…) of the Pharmacology and Pharmacy and Clinical Pharmacology and Veterinary Pharmacotherapeutics subjects using puzzles and clues involving specific objectives to “escape” from the room before they run out of time. Specifically, 80 students aged between 21 and 24 and 11 professors participated. After the activity, feedback on the experience of inserting gamification elements into the learning process of the subject was discussed.

The escape room is available at the following link: https://view.genial.ly/633d82133555c700187c6452/interactive-content-actividades-de-refuerzo-del-aprendizaje-snc.

References:
[1] Heim, A. B., Duke, J., & Holt, E. A. (2022). Design, discover, and decipher student-developed escape rooms in the virtual ecology classroom. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, 23(1), e00015-22.
[2] Ansar, M., & George, G. (2022). Gamification in Education and Its Impact on Student Motivation—A Critical Review. Emerging IT/ICT and AI Technologies Affecting Society, 161-170.
[3] Brown, Neysa, Wendy Darby, and Helen Coronel. "An escape room as a simulation teaching strategy." Clinical Simulation in Nursing 30 (2019): 1-6.

Acknowledgement:
This work was supported by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (project INNOVA258/2022)

Keywords:

Gamification, Escape room, Pharmacology.