Digital Educational Escape Rooms as E-courses Using D-EER4SmL: Investigation of Motivational Affordances

This study investigates whether a digital educational escape room delivered as an e-course, built on the D-EER4SmL design framework, can enhance learner motivation. The framework combines Keller's ARCS motivational model with a 10-step design process, Smart Pedagogy, and Project-based Learning (PjBL), and the course was implemented on WIX using web 2.0+ tools. The central contention is that carefully designed escape-room experiences can serve as motivational e-learning environments, with the authors positioning the framework as a work in progress that still requires further validation.

The pilot involved 108 postgraduate digital systems students, a cohort that was majority female (81.5%) and largely without formal ICT certification (52.8%). Motivation was measured with a 35-item, five-point Likert instrument adapted from Keller's Instructional Materials Motivation Survey, assessing seven motivational affordances (MA1–MA7). Reliability was acceptable to good, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.747 before the intervention and 0.774 after. Paired-samples analysis showed statistically significant gains across all seven factors (p < .001).

The most substantial improvements occurred in collaborative learning (MA6), where mean scores rose from 2.86 to 3.79, and in inquiry and problem-based processes (MA4), which increased from 3.22 to 3.94. The authors attribute these outcomes to tailoring the course to learner profiles, the alignment between PjBL and the escape-room scenario, the application of ARCS strategies, and web-based gamification. The study is limited to a single institution and cohort and to motivational affordances specifically, leaving the broader smart learning affordances and longer-term effects unexamined.