The UNLOCK project – Creativity in HEIs through a game design approach – aims to equip HEIs with the knowledge, attitudes and skills required to design, set and facilitate escape room games in learning experiences and stimulate entrepreneurial skills in both students and educators, aiming at strengthening employability, creativity and new professional paths.
A robust line of research has pointed that:
1) games in education are an effective tool for learning in and across different domains;
2) games in education can provide players with tools which may promote creativity;
3) escape rooms, as games for pedagogical purposes, require a set of transversal skills;
4) the actual practices of teaching with games still remain severely overlooked.
Thus, the UNLOCK consortium expects to contribute to strengthening Europe’s innovation capacity and fostering innovation in HEIs, businesses and the broader socio-economic environment by:
1) assessing how escape room games can be used for pedagogical purposes in HEIs and, specifically, to improve entrepreneurial skills;
2) understanding how educators can be prepared to facilitate educational escape games when teaching, while developing innovative competences themselves;
3) designing a gamified MOOC to deliver a new and innovative learning approach and OERs for HEIs’ educators to learn to design escape room games for pedagogical purposes and, so, promote excellence in entrepreneurial skills development for educators and students;
4) testing and validating the results in live workshops and online environments;
5) elaborating OERs supporting educators to improve their role as facilitators of escape room games in learning environments and to be able to assess students’ developments;
6) disseminating the project’s results Europe-wide next to target groups to maximize their impact and sustainability;
7) creating an online community, at European level, aiming to support peer learning.