EXITrun – A Lecture as a Virtual Educational Escape Game

Using gamification approaches in Higher Education is an appropriate way to increase student’s engagement especially during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Escape Games which could be either used as physical experience of a group in a room, or - more virtually - as several puzzles that need to be solved with the target to solve one overarching mystery, are well known tools that can be used in an educational environment as well. However, despite of existing frameworks and manifold examples it remains difficult to set up a Virtual Educational Escape Game (VEEG) with the proven positive effect on successful learning. This study presents some factors that support successful learning when using a VEEG and compares cost-benefit-ratios for manually versus automatically run VEEGs.