“The Gamifying Education: Escape Games training was all in all an informative and enriching experience for me. Being a student of Game Design for Pedagogical Purposes, and having explored primarily video games and gamification, it was intriguing to learn about the use of Escape Games as an educational tool.
During sessions, trainers did an amazing job at delivering meaningful information to participants. After theoretical inputs, we put into practice what we had learned, which really helped assimilate all the information and assess ourselves.
Signing up for this training, I was hoping to be exposed to Escape Game Structure Design and be guided through the steps as to how to create purposeful ones, and my expectations were definitely met.
It was very helpful to play an Escape Game before having to facilitate one. As a player, I was amazed at how a minimalist set of game materials could really set the tone and make us visualise the intended environment. I was surprised at how much could be addressed through a single storyline. It made a great point of how powerful good narrative design could be.
During facilitation, it was interesting to switch the roles and observe our friends play. We had to learn how to guide players throughout a game just enough so that we were helpful but not too overwhelming, so as to strike the perfect balance and keep the game fun.
Conducting debriefing sessions was the most challenging, but through practice, we gradually learned some useful do’s and don’ts.
Overall, the scheduling and organisation of the event were fantastic. There was a comfortable balance between learning sessions and chilling time for our brains to breathe. The small cabins that we stayed in were quite cosy and the cafeteria catered for all different dietary needs, the food being both healthy and yummy.
As an ending note, I do intend to put into practice what I have learned at the training session, and help create purposeful Escape Games when the opportunity arises. I am grateful to the trainers for sharing their knowledge and to have met and learned alongside the amazing participants at the event. Thank you Shokkin Group Estonia, keep organising such great events for people to experience.”
Yogini Mauree
“In July I participated in my first Erasmus+ training course, and I was amazed at the quality of it, which motivated me to participate in more training programs in the future. Let me talk about what I gained from it:
I really liked the form of training, since many of the sessions take the form of games. Even the theoretical inputs include some interesting mini-games which can make people feel refreshed and listen to the content carefully. The whole learning process is simply more fun than school! These games also strengthen team building, and the gamified training method itself is something I can learn and apply.
I also liked the content of the training, both the theoretical learning and the practical implementation. Although the course was only three days, I learned how to design and facilitate an escape game step by step.
My major is educational innovation and leadership, so I have been familiar with the concept of gamification in education, but before that, I never knew how gamification was carried out in detail. At the training, I found that it was not as difficult as I imagined.
Unleash your imagination and creativity, and educational innovation can be everywhere.
In addition, during this training, I met participants from different countries, learned about their cultures and created friendships with them. In conclusion, I have learned a lot from this training and I feel confident to apply what I have learned in my future career.”
Duyi Hu
“For me, escape games provide an immersive experience to students which at first engages them in a very deep level in the puzzles and riddles, and then after the first euphoria, have a very a great effect on engagement.
When during the training we played the escape games ourselves, we were very engaged into solving the quest with all the riddles and puzzles. After the effect of engagement weared off, we were able to connect and be more engaged to the topic of the game.
I think that escape games are very good tools to use in the classroom: they first engage and stimulate the brain and then after they create this immense interest in a person in the topic of the game itself.”
Nika Karabelskaja
“Last July I participated in the training course Gamifying Education which took place in Estonia. The main goal of the training course was to learn how escape games can be used in an educational way.
The topic of the training course was close to my heart, since I work in youth camps, where learning is done mostly through games. So I thought that participating in this training course would be a great opportunity for me.
The training was eye-opening, because previously I had little experience with escape games, thinking that mostly they are just hard puzzles with no other intention to them. After learning deeper about the types of escape games, the dynamics and processes, I was amazed how deeply one can go with only creating one escape game.
The training course gave our team an opportunity to play a variety of escape games, debriefing on them and even facilitating one game ourselves, which was an incredible experience.
I got a lot of inspiration to one day even create my own escape game, because now I am even more close to knowing fully everything I need to know for creating one. After the training, our team was also really inspired to recreate the game that we were facilitating with people outside the training course, who don’t know yet about all the mechanics and secrets of escape games.
I personally learned a lot from this training course and definitely upgraded my skills in group work, communication and organisation. I am very thankful for the opportunity that I received and I know that I will be definitely using the knowledge that I got on the training course in real life.“
Katarina Urm
