978-1-7281-4959-2/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE Enter the Serious E-scape Room: A Cost-Effective Serious Game Model for Deep and Meaningful E- learning Stylianos Mystakidis Faculty of Information Technology University of Jyväskylä & Patras Jyväskylä, Finland & Patras, Greece smyst@upatras.gr Enrique Cachafeiro OESO Duke Health Durham, USA enrique.cachafeiro@duke.edu Ioannis Hatzilygeroudis Department of Computer Engineering & Informatics University of Patras Patras, Greece ihatz@ceid.upatras.gr Abstract— Escape rooms are a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm in the last decade. Simultaneously Virtual Reality is a promising technology for innovation in education, training and e-learning. Combining these two concepts, this paper outlines a new model for designing serious games in virtual reality environments for high quality, deep and meaningful learning, the Serious E-scape Room. It describes the theoretical grounding, general guidelines and principles of the model. It also presents the case study “Room of Keys”, a serious virtual escape room for biology concepts. To test the assumptions of the model, researchers conducted a mixed research study with 148 students in a US high school. Pre-post test results recorded a 13.8% performance increase and high overall satisfaction. The game has been received enthusiastically by students, it increased their motivation and helped them build a deeper understanding of the learned concepts. Keywords—escape room, virtual reality, serious games, deep and meaningful learning, biology I. INTRODUCTION Virtual reality (VR) is a technological field with origins in analog, mechanical systems such as the Sensorama [1]. VR re- emerged in recent years offering psychological and sensory immersion [2] through digital, computer-generated virtual environments. Desktop VR environments have been utilized effectively for a long time in education [3]. Educators have been able to design and develop innovative, immersive resources, environments, experiences, such as simulations and games for teaching and learning [4]. VR experiences are currently being used mainly for entertainment but also for educational purposes [5]. As new VR software platforms and hardware such as head-mounted displays and peripherals emerge in quick pace, it is essential to provide affordable tools and paradigms for educators to adopt VR and use it effectively for high quality, deep and meaningful learning experiences. In this paper, we present a new model for designing mini serious games in VR environments, virtual escape rooms. We present the design and development of the awarding-winning educational serious escape room “The room of keys”, for learning biology concepts. We also provide preliminary evaluation results from first user experiences breaking out of the virtual escape room. II. BACKGROUND A. Deep and Meaningful E-learning Deep learning is the result of a deep approach to learning. This approach is characterized by an intrinsic interest in the subject matter and a drive to understand the underpinning principles behind studied phenomena and processes [6]. Deep learning thus is durable and interconnected with existing knowledge. Meaningful learning occurs when learning is active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative [7]. More specific, meaningful learning experiences include tasks linked with authentic, realistic context so that new competences can be transferred and applied in real settings. In these experiences, learners participate actively to make a personal cognitive contribution by interacting with content materials and learning environments. Their actions should be intentional, self-directed towards their own individual goals and serve the construction of personal interpretation and meaning through reflection on new knowledge and observed phenomena. This sustained critical discourse takes place in a knowledge community with collaborative tasks that involve both teachers and co-learners [8]. These two concepts have correspondences in their structure and thus have been unified in the term deep and meaningful learning [9]. The achievement of deep and meaningful learning is challenging in e-learning where learning quality and drop-out rates are constant concerns [10]. Addressing e-learning participants’ emotions and intrinsic motivation improves deep learning and performance [11]. B. Escape rooms in Education Appropriately designed gameful and playful motivation enhancement methods such as gamification and serious games can empower learners to develop and adopt autonomous, intrinsic goals, increase their engagement and facilitate deep and meaningful e-learning [12], [13]. Serious games are experiences that offer a set of meaningful choices with a primary educational purpose [14]. Escape rooms are a new type of leisure spatial activity originating from Japan that are spreading rapidly world-wide in the last decade [15]. Escape rooms are defined as live-action team-based games where players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order