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.

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 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.