Entrepreneurship education (EE) aims to prepare students for the future labor market. In terms of teaching form, it has shifted from conventional towards experiential pedagogy. A form of experiential EE that has been commonly used is game-based learning (GBL). Research shows that GBL is positively related to (cognitive) learning. However, GBL is shown to be weakly related to student motivation. Therefore, a new development within GBL that shows promise to positively influence the student’s motivation is the use of non-digital gamification such as educational escape rooms (EER). Educational escape rooms are increasingly used for experiential education. Despite the applicability of EER to experiential EE, there is a paucity in applying EER to this discipline mainly due to a lack of instructions on how to develop EER as an innovative pedagogy for experiential EE. This research studies the design criteria of EER by using a research-through-design approach. We combine literatures of experiential learning, entrepreneurship competence, and gamification to explicate design criteria. We validated the EER in two test cycles with two diverse groups of students. We contribute to the literature of EE by showing that EER offers a new teaching approach that is both attractive and effective for students.

1. HOW TO DEVELOP AN EDUCATIONAL ESCAPE
ROOM FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION?
1
USASBE 2020 : Entrepreneurship Education
Title: Developing Escape Rooms for Entrepreneurship Education
Authors: Sultan Göksen
Richard A. Martina PhD
Eva Sormani
Email: s.goksen@hva.nl
r.a.martina@hva.nl
sormani@fh-muenster.de

2. INTRODUCTION
2
Entrepreneurship
education
1.the vital role of serious
games and simulations
within general
entrepreneursip
education (EE)
1.focus on experiential
EE because EERs are
especially well suited
for experiential
learning
1.a lack of tested design
elements to guide the
creation of EERs
validate design
elements (Goksen,
Martina, & Sormani, 2019)
for EERs in experiential
EE
the benefits of
educational escape
rooms (EERs) to
foster student
motivation (Fotaris &
Mastoras, 2019)
created an EER
(research-through-
design) based on
design elements
derived from the
literature on
constructivist learning,
entrepreneurship
competences, and
gamification

3. EDUCATIONAL ESCAPE ROOM
3
Educational escape rooms are “live-action team-based games where
players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one
or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal (usually
escaping from the room) in a limited time” (Nicholson, 2015, p.1).

4. THE DESIGN ELEMENTS
4
 Design Elements for Educational Escape Rooms for Experiential Entrepreneurship Education
Competences
• Cooperation (Johnson & Johnson, 1981)
• Spotting opportunities (Bacigalupo et al.,
2016)
• Self-awareness and self-efficacy
(Bacigalupo et al., 2016; Bandura, 1977)
• Initiative, motivation and
perseverance (Bacigalupo et al., 2016; Vygotsky,
1978)
• Financial and economic literacy
(Amagir, Groot, Maassen van den Brink, & Wilschut,
2018) Bacigalupo et al., 2016)
Gameplay
• 1. Narrative (O’donovan et al., 2013)
• 2. Increasing difficulty (Ericsson, 2008)
• 3. Immediate feedback (Nah et al., 2014)
• 4. Hint management (Lopez-Pernas et al.,
2019)
• 5. Time limit and a countdown
clock (Kapp, 2012)
• 6. Game rules (Jambhekar et al., 2019)

5. METHODS
5
 Research strategy
• Research-through-design approach (Romme & Reymen, 2018)
 Data collection
• Triangulation:
1. observation with time & hint sheets (focus group with the supervisory coaches)
2. (semi-structured) interviews with the participants, Clarke et al., 2017 (only after the EER)
3. focus group interviews with the supervisory coaches (to gain viewpoints about the EER from different
perspectives (Dilorio, Hockenberry-Eaton, Maibach & Rivero, 1994).
 Data analysis and evaluation
• Generate themes from the data by using ”open coding” (Locke, 2001)
• Reducing themes into design elements (Strauss & Corbin, 1990)
• Compared the design elements inducted from the data with the designed elements deducted from theory (Yin,
2009)
• Two iterations of this process, one after the pilot and one after the EER
 Testing the EER
• Pilot EER: the students were randomly devided into four teams of three students
• EER: the students were randomly devided into eight teams of three students
 Participants
• Pilot EER: tested with the first-year students of the economics teacher training course at the same university.
• EER: designed for the first-year bachelor students of marketing at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam
(HvA).
• Goal: Offering students an engaging activity to improve their entrepreneurial skills through collaborating wit their
classmates.

6. FINDINGS
6
The general
contours of the game
The details of the
game

7. THE GENERAL CONTOURS OF THE GAME
7
1. Narrative
The overall storyline for the EER was that students have
applied for the specialization entrepreneurship within their
educational program.
2. Increasing difficulty
Started with a relatively simple puzzle, the puzzles became
increasingly difficult, requiring insights and competences
developed on the level of year two
3. Immediate feedback
To solve the puzzles, by trying various solutions
4. Hint management
Distinction between two hints- normal hints (i.e., provided a
partial solution to a puzzle) and final hints (i.e., provided the complete
solution for a puzzle).
5. Time limit and countdown clock
A digital coun tdown clock that was visible to all students
6. Game rules
Through a instructional video, with 7 game rules

8. THE DETAILS OF THE GAME
8
The details of the game:
workshops
- Vecon
- Unlock
- 3E
- HvA Toolkid

9. DISCUSSION AND CONTRIBUTION
9
Collaboration
Division of
games into
multiple parts
and multiple
puzzles that
can be played
simultaneously
Spotting
opportunities
The puzzles are
interdepend`-
dent and
conjointly
provide the
solution to a
game
Increasing
difficulty
To be solved,
the puzzles
required
increasingly
more insights
and
competences
developed on
the level of
year 2
Hint
management
One hint per
puzzle
Two minutes
penalty per hint
Time limit
and a
countdown
clock
45 minutes and
an analog
countdown
clock for each
team
 The iteration of the design elements, the pilot & after the EER:
Collaboration
remained
unchanged
Advice:
Keep the same
Spotting
opportunities
Included hidden
hints to be
spotted in the
puzzles
Advice:
Include hints
and tools to be
spotted in the
room
Hint
management
The distinction
between normal
and final hints
Advice:
Provide the first
normal hint
without
penalties
Time limit
and a
countdown
clock
60 minutes and
one digital
countdown
clock is shown
on smartboard
Advice:
Keep the same
Increasing
difficulty
Decreased the
number of
puzzles in the
games
Advice:
Decreased the
number of
games to four

10. CONCLUSION
10
Limitations
• Created for the first year bachelor students in
a Dutch context
• Challenging and time-consuming (time,
budget, creativity, collaboration)
• Skills of educational professional
Further research
• Testing in other contexts
• Research into the competences of
the educational professionals
• Reflection on the process afterwards
with a 360-degree camera

11. HOW TO DEVELOP AN EDUCATIONAL ESCAPE
ROOM FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION?
11
USASBE 2020 : Entrepreneurship Education
Title: Developing Escape Rooms for Entrepreneurship Education
Authors: Sultan Göksen
Richard A. Martina PhD
Eva Sormani
Email: s.goksen@hva.nl
r.a.martina@hva.nl
sormani@fh-muenster.de