This chapter presented a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the academic literature on digital educational escape rooms (DEER). The analysis utilized the PRISMA protocol to identify scientific articles from major indexing databases. It explored various aspects, including research authors, countries, document types, keywords, and subject areas. Through this analysis, it became evident that there was a growing interest in publishing and citing studies on DEER. The surge in popularity of DEERs during the COVID-19 pandemic was noteworthy, as they emerged as effective pedagogical strategies in response to the challenges posed by the pandemic. These escape rooms were employed as alternative methods to enhance learning outcomes across various educational domains. To further advance the field, future research was suggested to delve deeper into the existing literature and explore different devices, platforms, and educational domains where DEERs were being applied. Other potential undertakings relevant to the results of this chapter were also discussed.
TopIntroduction
Educational Escape Rooms (EERs) are pedagogical activities that are problem based and time-pressured. They are intended to gamify and improve the total learning process (Sanchez, 2023). As technology penetrated the educational scape, the word digital was attached to the term, since EERs became no more physical rooms, but virtual ones. The idea of escape rooms was to trap an individual in a physical or virtual space where he needs to solve problems, riddles, and the like, or in the case of education unlock learning so he may successfully pass through the exit door. Essentially, the teacher as the facilitator will structure the entire digital room from the learning objective, to the learning topic, to the game style (it could be a puzzle, a maze, a cryptic message, a code), to the design and layout, the time frame, and the platform to use such as Google Form, Google Slides, among others. DEERs compared to EERs require less preparation as the materials needed are aided by technology. DEERs are presented as fun activities for students to encourage engagement and collaboration in the classroom.
In recent years, the use of digital educational escape rooms (DEERs) has emerged as a promising approach to engage students and to enhance their learning experiences. As educators increasingly incorporate digital escape rooms into their teaching practices, it is important to understand the current state of research on this topic. Bibliometric analysis is a powerful and valuable research method that can be employed in the analysis of existing literature on digital escape rooms in education by examining the number of publications, citations, and collaborations in the field. It can provide insights to research trends, impact, collaboration networks, and best practices. In this context, this paper aims to explore the existing literature on the use of DEERs in education through a bibliometric analysis. The insights from this analysis can provide valuable information to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders in the education sector for evidence-based actions, decision making, and future research.
DEERs have gained increasing popularity as a tool for enhancing students' learning experiences by engaging them in their educational journey. With this new development in educational technology, it is essential to understand the state of research on the use of digital escape rooms in education through bibliometric analysis. Digital escape rooms have gained increasing attention in recent years due to their potential in education, training, and entertainment. However, despite the growing interest in this area, there is limited knowledge about the current state of the academic literature on DEERs; hence, the bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature on the topic to identify the most prominent and influential works in the field.
This research conducts a bibliometric analysis of the academic literature on digital escape rooms. The analysis provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on the topic, including research authors, countries, publication outlets, document types, keyword analysis, and subject areas. Additionally, the research examines the productivity distribution of DEERs to identify the most influential works and to highlight the significant topics of discussion related to DEERs. The findings of this research are deemed beneficial to researchers, scholars, and practitioners who seek to understand the current state of knowledge on DEERs. The analysis may guide future research, and may help practitioners apply the latest research and theories to their practice. Ultimately, this research may contribute to the development of more effective and engaging DEER experiences, leading to enhanced learning and training outcomes.
The objective of this paper was to conduct a scoping review and bibliometric analysis of digital educational escape rooms in literature for the past ten years in order to understand its current state in research as well as its applications. Specifically, the following objectives were sought:
RO1. Describe the features of the studies included based on their bibliometrics;
RO2. Identify the instructional contexts;
RO3. Discuss the purposes and their reasons for utilization; and
RO4. Present the outcomes and benefits identified in the included studies.