How do educational Escape Rooms help in improving Soft Skills?

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, work, play, and learning have changed dramatically through technology. Today, we need different skills than in the 20th century, and educational institutions have a key role to play in developing skills. Unfortunately, schools are unable to keep pace with the development of skills that are essential elements of student success. Educators around the world are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of soft skills and play a huge role in ensuring that students are properly prepared for the world of university and work. In contrast, traditional education does not always provide the right tools to improve student success in this area. Following the recent shift from traditional didactic classroom models to the adoption of active learning approaches, escape rooms are increasingly being used in academia as a method for experiential, peer-group, game-based learning. Educational escape rooms are emerging as a new type of learning activity under the promise of enhancing students’ learning through highly engaging experiences. The paper aims to present opportunities to develop soft skills in the school setting using educational escape rooms. The study also reports on testing the self-developed escape room environment for educational purposes.