Escape the lab

Initial situation

The Division of Scientific Information (DIS) plays an important role in training the university community in information skills. It trains not only UNIGE students, but also researchers through a training program consisting of workshops and scientific information meetings that address various practices in research and management of scientific information and data. To do so, the DIS relies on a team of collaborators who produce modern training materials adapted to the target audience.

For example, this division is behind the InfoTrack platform. By adapting the content of InfoTrack to a face-to-face version, the team created a board game called “the race for the quote”. After the presentation of a few InfoTrack videos to the class, the class is then invited to play the board game that forms the body of the course.

The support of researchers in their Open Access publication process is also part of the DIS missions. The game “Escape the Lab” was therefore created by DIS collaborators on the occasion of the International Open Access Week 2018 in the continuity of the different actions carried out in support of researchers on this essential theme.

Project implementation

“Escape the Lab” is a board game that aims to educate young researchers on the topic of Open Access. The players are immersed in the world of a laboratory: a professor has locked them up by forgetting to put a lid on the Petri dish containing bacteria that attack the cognitive abilities of humans! To get out, the prisoners must open the 4 padlocks that close the door of the laboratory before the bacteria have all escaped from the dish. 4 categories of questions allow them to obtain the 4 keys necessary to win the game: University of Geneva; Publishing; Open Access and Generalities.

The game also has a collaborative component. In principle, each participant answers the questions alone and tries to collect all 4 keys. However, each wrong answer lets a bacterium escape. If all 8 bacteria are out of the box before a player has collected all 4 keys, the game is lost. However, the 1èr-e player who manages to open all the locks can save his partners.

In its basic version, the game includes 12 questions in each category, which are either multiple choice (one true answer) or true/false. Correct answers are indicated on the card, sometimes with additional information. Some “bonus” cards do not contain questions, but influence the development of the game (e.g., exchange a key with another player). “Escape the Lab” is available in French and English.

“Escape the Lab” is intended to be used primarily in Open Access and Open Science training courses given by Library trainers. However, it can also be adapted in other contexts. A complete game lasts about 30 minutes (including set-up and explanations). The learners are divided into groups of 4 and a trainer can follow several groups in parallel to answer possible questions or clarify certain points (4 game boxes are currently available). At the end of the training, the game is ideal to summarize and review the concepts discussed earlier.

Versions of the game have been taken up and adapted to other topics by some of the Library’s trainers. For example, a version was created for a training session on research data management.

Thoughts and advice on implementing a similar project

The benefits of using games in higher education are widely recognized in the literature. It is an active teaching method that breaks with the usual practices of university pedagogy.

With the use of a board game such as Escape the Lab, the trainer steps aside and lets the learners be the focus of their learning. The trainer becomes a facilitator who answers questions while letting the players interact with each other. The game thus promotes peer learning.

Finally, even if players do not go through all the questions in a game, the game mechanism and the voluntary overlapping of certain questions ensure that the majority of important concepts have been covered by the learners. In addition, the “bonus” cards break the monotony that could occur if all the questions followed the same pattern.

To add an extra element of gamification and encourage participants to immerse themselves in the game, if several groups are playing in parallel, a small prize can be promised to theère team that escapes from the lab.

The “Escape the Lab” game files are available for download on GitHub under the Creative Commons CC BY license and can therefore be freely reused or adapted at other institutions.

Moreover, the game makes it relatively easy to create versions adapted to slightly different training situations, for example on a related topic (such as scientific publishing in general or open research data) or for a more novice audience.

Student feedback