Background and purpose

Previous lectures for graduate trainees did not convey the urgency, complexity, and challenges of a successful grant submission. To increase engagement, instructors applied gamification principles to create an educational escape room. Serious games used in other settings engage participants to solve problems, build teamwork, and improve communication skills. This study was designed to fill a gap in the types of educational training effectively conducted via escape rooms.

Educational activity and setting

A college of pharmacy team implemented a game to simulate the grant submission process and familiarize trainees to internal processes and resources. Participants searched for grant opportunities, identified proposal errors, solved research-related clues to open locks, contacted a difficult collaborator, physically located resources, and requested permission for late submission. The activity was implemented during an introductory class for first-year graduate students (n = 19). Learning objectives targeted the technical and relational aspects of proposals within a realistic, timed setting. Student perceptions of the escape room experience were gathered via individual interviews (n = 8) and evaluated by thematic analysis.

Findings

Analysis of participant emotions, thoughts, and attitudes identified common themes of excitement (63%), fun (50%), stress (38%), and frustration (25%). Compared to didactic instruction, many interviewed students preferred the escape room (63%) and found it conducive to learning (63%). A subset thought it might not work for everyone (13%) or would be improved by adding a didactic component (13%).

Summary

This escape room served as an engaging method to introduce graduate students to the grant submission process.

中文翻译：

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拨款截止日期：模拟拨款提交的密室逃脱

背景和目的

以前针对研究生学员的讲座没有传达成功提交资助的紧迫性、复杂性和挑战。为了提高参与度，讲师们应用游戏化原则来创建一个有教育意义的逃生室。在其他环境中使用的严肃游戏可以让参与者解决问题、建立团队合作并提高沟通技巧。本研究旨在填补通过逃生室有效开展的教育培训类型的空白。

教育活动和环境

药学院团队实施了一个游戏来模拟拨款提交过程，并使学员熟悉内部流程和资源。参与者寻找资助机会，确定提案错误，解决与研究相关的线索打开锁，联系困难的合作者，实际定位资源，并请求允许延迟提交。该活动是在一年级研究生 ( n = 19)的入门课程中实施的。学习目标在现实的、定时的设置中针对提案的技术和相关方面。通过个人访谈（n = 8）收集学生对逃生室体验的看法，并通过主题分析进行评估。

发现

对参与者情绪、想法和态度的分析确定了兴奋 (63%)、乐趣 (50%)、压力 (38%) 和沮丧 (25%) 的共同主题。与教学式教学相比，许多受访学生更喜欢逃生室 (63%) 并发现它有利于学习 (63%)。一个子集认为它可能不适用于每个人 (13%) 或通过添加教学组件来改进 (13%)。

概括

这个逃生室是一种引人入胜的方法，可以向研究生介绍赠款提交过程。