Results and Feedback from the Digital Escape Room with Rebel Participants


Critical Challenge Question

Will young adults be more connected with their Coaches and stay motivated and engaged in a program

if game-based learning (such as a DER) is used?

On October 8th, several graduates of the REBEL Entrepreneurship Program were invited back to participate in a Digital Escape Room (DER) to determine if this kind of game was a good learning tool for this target group and this kind of entrepreneurial program. The DER contained 6 questions about the content participants learned from business development activities in the REBEL program. For the 4 former participants who attended the DER, the resounding feedback was very positive. We decided to expand this further, and create a second DER for REBEL graduates to attend on October 29th. The goal was to use this second DER to answer our CCQ:

Will young adults be more connected with their Coaches and stay motivated and engaged in a program if game-based learning (such as a DER) is used?


In contrast to the previous DER, this one contained 10 questions about the program content. Each of the questions had a “hint” option, so participants would have a clue about the answer if stuck on a question. After each correct answer, a fact about the topic was presented to the participants. In doing so, each participant was able to expand their knowledge for each topic. At the end of the DER, participants completed a feedback form that contained 6 questions:

  1. Please rank your experience on a scale of 1-5

  2. Please provide details on why you ranked it the way you did

  3. How likely are you to attend another Digital Escape Room session?

  4. What did you find about the Digital Escape Room engaging?

  5. What would have made your experience better?

  6. Is there anything else you would like us to know about your experience?


The purpose of asking these questions was to gather information that would inform us on our Critical Challenge Question. The goal was to have all participants be motivated to come to the follow up session, as well as learn and be engaged with the Digital Escape Room. These questions provide information regarding the motivation and engagement of each participant. The question “How likely are you to attend another Digital Escape Room” addresses whether participants have enough motivation - either internal or external - to attend in the future. The question “What did you find about the Digital Escape Room engaging” targets the engagement level of each participant.


This DER was very difficult to schedule. The first date was for Friday October 22nd, but this date was rescheduled. The second date was for Friday October 29th, but this date was rescheduled as well. The third date was for Monday November 1st, but this date was again rescheduled. Finally, participants completed the DER on Tuesday November 2nd.


The goal was to have graduated REBEL participants complete the DER; however, these individuals have completed the REBEL program and are now incharge of running their own business. Many individuals were unable to attend the first scheduled date on October 22nd because they could not take time off from work to “play a game”. So the motivation to return that we had hoped for did not materialize.


The next idea we had was to link the DER with another activity taking place on the same day. On October 29th, there was a virtual graduation ceremony for the cohort that just completed the program. The goal was to invite the graduates to stick around after the ceremony to complete the DER; however, seeing as though this was a celebratory graduation, many didn’t want to “think” about the content they learned, but rather celebrate their accomplishment. So again, there was no motivation for participants to return after the program had ended.


Our third idea was to simply have the current students complete the DER during class time on November 1st; however, this was the day after Halloween and many students were absent from class. All of this led to a total of 8 participants attending the Digital Escape Room on November 2nd. The theme of the DER was Good Grief Charlie Brown! (Peanuts), and the 8 participated as one group. The facilitator led the participants through the DER; however, one participant gave up part way through the DER. The goal was to split up the participants into teams. This could be developed throughout another escape room in the future. After the DER finished, we received the following feedback:

  • It was an engaging way to learn and be together as a group

  • I liked that it was multip media, videos, reading, comics

  • One question required them to google it - didn’t like the googling part

  • It took a couple of questions to figure out how to properly input the answers and how to navigate

  • Additional functions such as timers could make it more competitive

  • Participants were unsure who Charlie Brown was

  • One dropped out because it was too difficult

  • There were too many questions


The image on the left is a screenshot of the REBEL Entrepreneur LMS. This is the screen participants would see when they logged into their LMS accounts.

Ideally, participants would have completed the DER in the 4 teams listed in the image.

The two blue buttons are links for the DER and a feedback form we used to gather data.

The feedback we received was mixed with positive reviews and legitimate critiques. At first, it took awhile for participants to understand how to navigate the DER. Going back and forth between a google form and a google site had a learning curve. One person even gave up at the beginning of the game for this reason. After the participants completed a few questions, the rest went smoothly. While participating in the DER, everyone was engaged and motivated. Additionally, 7 questions appears to be the maximum number of questions that participants could handle within the DER.


We also discovered that participants have many other commitments that are of higher priority than a DER. Another piece of feedback we received was that many participants were unsure what a “Digital Escape Room” was. Moving forward, it may be beneficial to include a DER while the participants are participating in the REBEL program. That way, when another DER is offered as a “reunion” once they have graduated the program, participants might be more willing to return.