When Design Gets in the Way: Student Learning and Digital Escape Game

This study examines how university students experienced learning while playing Radioaktiv, a digital escape game set in a science-themed laboratory narrative, when played online over video conference. Motivated by the rapid growth of escape game research in education and the limited work on digital and online formats, the author investigates how students' learning unfolded during gameplay. Video recordings of six student pairs in a Norwegian teacher-education course were analysed using interaction analysis, with a focus on one representative puzzle concerning gamma radiation. The analysis draws on a dialogic view of learning as the negotiation of meaning through interaction between students and between students and the game.

The central finding is that design choices sometimes obstructed learning rather than supporting it. In the examined puzzle, students who correctly identified the answer were repeatedly rejected by the game because of spelling and formatting requirements, which triggered a recurring pattern of certainty, confusion, and mechanical trial of all possible answers. Conversation shifted from subject content to trivial matters such as how to type Greek letters. Where a supplementary video was integrated into the gameplay, students used it to support subject-matter discussion, suggesting that embedded content can enrich dialogue when it is naturally woven into the game.

The study concludes that playtesting is essential for identifying such obstructive design issues, and that just-in-time, adapted feedback is critical, since automated systems cannot fully replace a teacher or facilitator present during play. The author emphasises that digital escape games should be implemented within a clear pedagogical framework that integrates puzzles, subject content, and play elements, while noting that the findings derive from a small, single-case sample.