ROOM ESCAPE: A TRANSVERSAL GAMIFICATION STRATEGY FOR PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENTS

Escape Room follows the principles of gamification wherein the features of games (e.g. rules, challenges, immediate feedback, permission to fail) are applied in contexts normally not associated with games and play: in this case an undergraduate Physiotherapy degree program. Gamification has been proven to increase levels of participation and intrinsic motivation as well as improving assimilation and retention of contents. The Escape Room activity consists of a team game in which players must solve clues, puzzles and tasks in a limited period of time with the aim of finding the 'key' that will allow them to 'escape' from the game space. Students work together against the clock to solve contextualized problems that are similar to those that they will encounter in their future professional practice. The components of the game are based on two second-year courses in the Physiotherapy degree course; Physiotherapy Evaluation and Examination and General Procedures in Physiotherapy 1. The aims of this study were firstly to generate a situation in which the transversal contents of two different subjects within the Physiotherapy degree program were integrated in the form of a Room Escape activity using English as the means of communication. Secondly, we wished to evaluate the impact of this activity in terms of students' perceptions of its effectiveness. The activity took place during the first term of the academic year 2017/ 2018 with 150 second-year Physiotherapy students. The activity was evaluated by means of online questionnaires. Results show that students value this activity positively in terms of the way in which it facilitates the integration of contents of two different subjects and enables students to perceive their learning gaps in preparation for summative assessment. Students also valued the game-like nature of the activity, perceiving it as a valid means of verifying and integrating previously acquired knowledge in both subjects. We may therefore conclude that Room Escape favours the integration of content from different subjects, thus also perhaps enhancing real life case solving competencies and interpersonal skills.