Participatory Design of Educational Escape Room Video Games: A Media Literacy Case Study

Milos Kostic1[0009-0005-0912-9518], Miljan Milosevic1,2[0000-0003-3789-2404], Maja Cosic1[/], Enrique Barra3[0000-0001-9532-8962], Mohammed Saqr4[0000-0001-5881-3109], and Sonsoles López-Pernas4[0000-0002-9621-1392]
1 Belgrade Metropolitan University, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia,
2 Institute for Information Technologies, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia,
3 Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain,
4 University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu 80130, Finland,
milos.kostic@metropolitan.ac.rs,
miljan.milosevic@metropolitan.ac.rs,
maja.cosic@metropolitan.ac.rs,
enrique.barra@upm.es,
mohammed.saqr@uef.fi,
sonsoles.lopez@uef.fi
DOI: 10.46793/eLearning2025.277K

Abstract. Arising challenges in digital media literacy regarding recognizing and handling misinformation demand the development of innovative educational tools. Educational escape rooms (EERs) are already established as engaging learning solutions for related topics, but their design often lacks meaningful involvement of end-users. In this paper, a participatory design (PD) approach for the development of media literacy EER video games is presented. As a part of the ENDGAME project, an international multi-stage workshop was conducted with 41 diverse participants from Finland, Serbia, and Spain, utilizing collaborative design methods including breakout sessions, brainstorming activities, and stakeholder feedback collection. The results illustrate different views and preferences on visual style, narrative themes, skill mapping, puzzle mechanics, and accessibility topics. Our findings contribute to the understanding of PD value in the creation process of immersive, adaptable, and engaging educational ERs.

Keywords: Participatory Design, Educational Escape Rooms, Video Games, Media Literacy, Co-Design.

Acknowledgments. This work has been co-funded by the European Commission through its Creative Europe Programme (CREA) funding programme as part of the project “Escaping New Disinformation through GAmified cross-border Media literacy Education” (ENDGAME) (ID: 101185763).

References

  1. Danry, V., Pataranutaporn, P., Groh, M., Epstein, Z., Maes, P.: Deceptive AI systems that give explanations are more convincing than honest AI systems and can amplify belief in misinformation (2024)
  2. Kertysova, K.: Artificial intelligence and disinformation: How ai changes the way disinformation is produced, disseminated, and can be countered. Security and Human Rights 29(1-4), 55–81 (2018)
  3. Skipper, Y.: ‘I’d Probably Scroll by’: An Exploration of Young People’s Views on Spotting and Stopping Misinformation. Children & Society 39, 940–949 (2025)
  4. Nee, R. C.: Youthquakes in a post-truth era: Exploring social media news use and information verification actions among global teens and young adults. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator (2019)
  5. Lu, C., Hu, B., Bao, M.-M., Bi, C., Ju, X.-D.: Can media literacy interventions improve fake news discernment? A meta-analysis. Social Science Research Network (2023)
  6. Contreras-Espinosa, R. S., Eguia-Gomez, J. L.: Evaluating video games as tools for education on fake news and misinformation. Computers 12(9), 188 (2023)
  7. Khaled, A. E., Gulikers, J. T. M., Tobi, H., Biemans, H. J. A., Oonk, C., Mulder, M.: Exploring the Validity and Robustness of a Competency Self-Report Instrument for Vocational and Higher Competence-Based Education. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment 32(5), 429–440 (2014)
  8. Nicholson, S.: Peeking behind the locked door: A survey of escape room facilities. https://ischool.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/erfacwhite.pdf (2015)
  9. Pan, R., Lo, H., Neustaedter, C.: Collaboration, awareness, and communication in real-life escape rooms. Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems – DIS ’17. the 2017 Conference, Edinburgh, United Kingdom (2017)
  10. Warmelink, H., Mayer, I., Weber, J., Heijligers, B., Haggis, M., Peters, E., Louwerse, M.: AMELIO: Evaluating the Team-building Potential of a Mixed Reality Escape Room Game. CHI PLAY ’17: The annual symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2017)
  11. Williams, P.: Using escape room-like puzzles to teach undergraduate students effective and efficient group process skills. 2018 IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC), Princeton, NJ, USA (2018)
  12. Wu, C., Wagenschutz, H., Hein, J.: Promoting leadership and teamwork development through Escape Rooms. Medical Education 52(5), 561–562 (2018)
  13. Clarke, S., Peel, D., Arnab, S., Morini, L., Keegan, H., Wood, O.: EscapED: A Framework for Creating Educational Escape Rooms and Interactive Games to For Higher/Further Education. International Journal of Serious Games (2017)
  14. Fotaris, P., Mastoras, T.: Escape rooms for learning: A systematic review. In: Lars Elbaek, Gunver Majgaard, Andrea Valente, Saifuddin Khalid (eds.) Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL 2019) (2019)
  15. Veldkamp, A., van de Grint, L., Knippels, M.-C. P. J., van Joolingen, W. R.: Escape education: A systematic review on escape rooms in education. Educational Research Review 31, 100364 (2020)
  16. Taraldsen, L. H., Haara, F. O., Lysne, M. S., Jensen, P. R., Jenssen, E. S.: A review on use of escape rooms in education — touching the void. Education Inquiry 13(2), 169–184 (2022)
  17. López-Pernas, S.: Educational Escape Rooms Are Effective Learning Activities Across Educational Levels and Contexts: A Meta-analysis. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (2023)
  18. Lathwesen, C., Belova, N.: Escape Rooms in STEM Teaching and Learning—Prospective Field or Declining Trend? A Literature Review. Education Sciences 11(6), 308 (2021)
  19. Quek, L. H., Tan, A. J. Q., Sim, M. J. J., Ignacio, J., Harder, N., Lamb, A., Chua, W. L., Lau, S. T., Liaw, S. Y.: Educational escape rooms for healthcare students: A systematic review. Nurse Education Today 132, 106004 (2024)
  20. Reinkemeyer, E. A., Chrisman, M., Patel, S. E.: Escape rooms in nursing education: An integrative review of their use, outcomes, and barriers to implementation. Nurse Education Today 119(105571), 105571 (2022)
  21. López Pernas, S., Barra, E., Kostić, M., Milošević, M., Gordillo, A., & Saqr, M. Escape Rooms for Media Literacy: A Systematic Literature Review. Social Science Research Network. (2025).
  22. Schuler, D., Namioka, A.: Participatory Design: Principles and Practices. 1st edn. CRC Press (1993)
  23. Bodker, S.: Creating Conditions for Participation: Conflicts and Resources in Systems Development. Human–Computer Interaction 11(3), 215–236 (1996)
  24. Sanders, E. B. N., Stappers, P. J.: Co-creation and the new landscapes of design. CoDesign 4(1), 5–18 (2008)
  25. Rilla, K., Asimina, V.: Bridging serious games and participatory design. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction 2(2), 93–100 (2014)
  26. Ismail, R., Ibrahim, R., S. Yaacob: Participatory Design Method to Unfold Educational Game Design Issues: A Systematic Review of Trends and Outcome. 5th International Conference on Information Management (ICIM), Cambridge, UK, pp. 134–138 (2019)
  27. Netwerk M.: The Dutch Media Literacy Competency Model 2021. https://netwerkmediawijsheid.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/The-Dutch-Media-Literacy Competency-Model-2021.pdf (2021)
  28. Dumitru, E.-A., Ivan, L., Loos, E.: A generational approach to fight fake news: In search of effective media literacy training and interventions. In: Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Design, Interaction and Technology Acceptance pp. 291–310 (2022)
  29. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Maldita.es: The Hoax Factory – Educational Escape Room. https://escaperoom.maldita.es, last accessed 2025/08/22

Izvor: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on e-Learning (ELEARNING2025)