Unlocking learner potential: A course director's experience building an Educational Escape Room for Cancer Risk Assessment

Abstract

Using a traditional lecture format alone often limits students' opportunities to engage with and apply the concepts taught in a classroom. This report describes the design, curricular implementation, and application of an innovative educational escape room as an active learning tool for genetic counselor educators to teach cancer risk assessment skills. A Cancer Risk Assessment Escape Room is a novel way to offer experiential learning and to assess a learner's critical thinking and ability to apply cancer risk assessment models to evolving clinical scenarios. This successful implementation of an interactive escape room can be adapted to other genetic counseling competencies. The use of an escape room allows learners to actively engage in and apply content taught in lectures before entering clinical internships.