"The Da Vinci Code for IP Research": Case Study of a Course-Integrated Educational Escape Room for Entrepreneurship Education

Abstract

Educational escape rooms can engage students in the development of information literacy skills while interacting with information formats and environments authentic to their disciplines. In business and entrepreneurship education, escape rooms offer the additional benefit of developing the characteristics of the entrepreneurial mindset, such as adaptive thinking, problem solving, enthusiasm, and decisiveness. This case study explores game-based learning for library instruction in entrepreneurship education. Using Eukel and Morrell’s (2021) escape room design cycle as a framework, it analyzes the development, testing, implementation, and results of an original escape room, Exfiltration! A Competitive Intelligence Virtual Escape Room, implemented as a course-integrated information literacy learning activity in an upper-level undergraduate new venture creation course. Limitations of the escape room are identified, and opportunities for iterative improvement are described. Recent scholarship on the application of entrepreneurial mindset, business research competencies, gamification, escape room pedagogy, and escape rooms in library instruction is discussed. This case study responds to the call from Taraldsen et al. (2020) for more small-scale studies of educational escape rooms outside of the STEM and health science disciplines.