Increasing Student Engagement through Gamification
Nadine Stecher, assistant professor of sciences, has developed a strategy to help engage students through gaming.
The virtual anatomy and physiology-themed escape room called “Apply at Your Own Risk” is a group activity that she offered as an extra credit assignment to her Anatomy and Physiology I students. The first iteration was set up in a physical lab space, but she later converted the escape room into a virtual format in Fall 2020 when she began teaching remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Puzzles in the escape room are built on material from her Anatomy and Physiology I course. In order to escape the room, students must apply their knowledge and work together as a group.
Research has shown that educational games can lead to improved academic performance and can be used as team-building activities.
“Ultimately, this activity reinforces the course material by helping students review concepts learned in the course,” said Stecher, who chose topics that she considered most important to review because of their complexity.
According to Stecher, student participation was high, and she plans to offer the virtual version to her Fall 2021 students as an extra credit lab.
“The escape room is my largest gamification effort so far. I am very proud of what I built,” said Stecher.
Stecher shares the disclaimer that due to the specificity of the course material, solving the puzzles will be very challenging for anyone who is not familiar with the content of Anatomy and Physiology I.