Unlock Learning: Digital Escape Rooms Built from My Biggest Fails

Outline

1. INTRODUCTION – 5 minutes
2. DIVE INTO A DIGITAL ESCAPE ROOM – 15 minutes
3. BREAKING DOWN THE ESCAPE ROOM STRUCTURE – 7 minutes
4. PLANNING FIRST – 7 minutes
5. BUILDING BACKGROUNDS IN GOOGLE DRAWINGS – 15 minutes
6. BUILDING CLUES – 15 minutes
7. CREATING GOOGLE FORMS LOCKS WITH RESPONSE VALIDATION – 15 minutes
8. EMBEDDING COMPONENTS INTO GOOGLE SITES – 10 minutes
9. WRAP-UP & Q&A – 10 minutes

SUMMARY
Escape rooms are an awesome way for students to get immersed in content, think critically, and collaborate—all while having fun. I’ve built a ton of escape rooms over the years and trust me, I’ve probably made every mistake possible. In this session, I’ll be comically sharing what I’ve learned through the process, including what not to do, so attendees can skip the headaches.

They’ll get to experience a virtual escape room, then we’ll dive into the process of building their own together. We’ll brainstorm clue types that work best within Google Tools, and I’ll show them how to create easy and AI generated backgrounds and clues in Google Drawings—covering layering, sharing permissions and how to configure and fit clues. Next, we’ll set up digital locks in Google Forms using Response Validation and go over the best question formats. Finally, they’ll pull it all together by embedding everything into a Google Site to create an interactive escape room. We’ll also spend time focusing on setting up Google Drive folders and managing tool share permissions, because it’s not just about building an escape room—it’s about learning the most efficient way to do it.

Attendees will also walk away with a cheat sheet packed with examples, clue generators, templates, and everything they need to start building escape rooms that unlike mine, will engage their students from day one. Here is a more specific outline.

1. INTRODUCTION (5 minutes)
Introduce myself. Introduce the session’s goals and the power of digital escape rooms.Discuss how the tools and clues can be adapted to any subject area and grade level.

2. DIVE INTO A DIGITAL ESCAPE ROOM (15 MINUTES)
Participants will experience a fully functioning digital escape room, solving puzzles and using critical thinking—just like students would.
Participants can work individually or collaboratively.
This is structured so participants can experience first-hand how escape rooms work from a student’s perspective and experience frameworks that make an escape room engaging and effective.

3. BREAKING DOWN THE ESCAPE ROOM STRUCTURE (7 MINUTES)
Once participants have broken free (hopefully), we’ll break down the escape room’s structure—starting with what not to do. Kick things off with a brief story about the humorous challenges I’ve faced creating escape rooms, sharing what works—and what doesn’t.
Look at creating a balance of clues based on time constraints and difficulty levels. Too many steps can cause frustration, too few can be boring.
I’ll share lessons from my escape room failures when creating clues, and we’ll discuss the common pitfalls to avoid.

4. PLANNING FIRST (7 MINUTES)
Planning First
Plan the Story: Create a cohesive story that ties the clues together, keeping students engaged. Let them develop stories based on their interests—like being stuck at a Taylor Swift concert.
Plan Clue Types: Brainstorm and list clue types and formats that work well within Google Forms.
AI Tool Assistance: Use AI tools for generating story ideas and clue descriptions.

5. BUILDING BACKGROUNDS IN GOOGLE DRAWINGS (15 MINUTES)
Before diving into the clues, nailing the background is key—it sets the stage for everything. A solid background ensures everything fits and flows smoothly. Trust me, I’ve crammed too many clues into one space and made messy backgrounds! We’ll cover layering, cropping, resizing, and linking images correctly. AI tools will help create custom visuals that match the theme. The goal? A great-looking background that enhances the story and keeps students engaged.
We will cover
We’ll cover image layering, using background remover tools, resizing, cropping around transparent areas, and linking images correctly.
We will also discuss using AI-generated images: We’ll use AI to create custom visuals to match the theme.
The goal is to create a background that not only looks great but also helps tell the story so students can feel immersed in the experience.

6. BUILDING CLUES (15 MINUTES)
Now that the background is set, it’s time for the real fun—building the clues. We’ll start by organizing everything with Google Drive share permissions (trust me, I learned the hard way!). Then, participants will dive into creating 1-2 clues, like number locks, color puzzles, or visual clues, testing them out and sharing them with the group.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Google Drive Organization: Make sure all clues are accessible to students.
Cheat Sheet of Clue Generators: A constantly updated doc with links to tools like fake IDs, airplane tickets, and fortune cookies. Create clues quickly!!
Visual Clues in Google Drawings: Layering images, maps, and ciphers to build engaging clues without taking a lot of time.
AI Tools: We’ll use tools like Adobe Express, Canva, DALL·E for custom visuals, plus Suno AI for song clues and Glif.AI for hiding words in images.

7. CREATING GOOGLE FORMS LOCKS WITH RESPONSE VALIDATION (15 MINUTES)
The heart of any great digital escape room is the Google Form locks. Whether it’s number locks, word locks, or color locks, Forms response validation is where the magic happens. I’ve made a few mistakes along the way (like accidentally giving away the answers with auto-correct—oops!).
Participants will learn to name locks clearly, set up short answer questions, add helpful hints with descriptions, and customize error messages to keep answers secret. We’ll also break forms into sections for a clean, student-proof experience.

8. EMBEDDING COMPONENTS INTO GOOGLE SITES (10 MINUTES)
Now it’s time to bring it all together in Google Sites. Participants will embed their backgrounds, clues, and locks for a smooth, interactive experience.
Compile Resources: Embed Google Drawings, clues, and locks into the site, adding story details to tie everything together.
Publish and Test: Learn how to publish the site, set sharing permissions, and test functionality using an incognito window.
Color Coding & QR Codes: Color code sections for readability, accessibility and generate QR codes or bit.ly for quick access.

9.WRAP-UP AND Q&A (10 Minutes)
Recap Key Takeaways: Review tools, strategies, and lessons learned to ensure participants feel confident and ready.
Showcase & Share: Open the floor for participants to share their work, ask questions, and get feedback.
Final Thoughts & Next Steps: explain the "cheat sheet" with templates, clue generators, and tips for building escape rooms.
By the end, participants will have a fully functional escape room, ready to be shared with students.

Supporting research

Digital Escape Rooms as Pedagogical Tools in Education
This review highlights how digital escape rooms boost student engagement and problem-solving skills in various educational contexts.
Read more here- https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4587

Escape Rooms in STEM Learning
Escape rooms foster collaboration, critical thinking, and reinforce STEM concepts in an engaging, hands-on format.
Read more here​- https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/6/308

Using Digital Escape Rooms to Make Learning Fun
Edutopia showcases how escape rooms enhance teamwork and communication while integrating subject-specific content, even for younger students.
Read more here​ - https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-digital-escape-rooms-make-learning-fun

Escape Room and Its Impact as an Educational Evaluation Tool
This study highlights how integrating escape rooms into classroom evaluation tools resulted in an 11% rise in academic performance and a 15% increase in the success rate, with a high level of student engagement.
Read more here. https://stm.bookpi.org/PLLER-V4/article/view/13148