Questyourdigital: Understanding Family and Youth Learning Dynamics Through Escape Games

This study aims to use the model of escape games to examine how digital media are used by individuals in group settings (with particular attention on families, youth, and the interaction between literature and illiterate digital audiences). In the process, it addressed three social change issues: (i) the shift of attention to the user as creator of his own education; (ii) the move to collaborative education; and (iii) integration of different types of people to create a result. Preliminary survey work shows that children are highly, and almost equally, enthusiastic about both individual and collective games. Mothers and fathers both strongly favor collective games. With respect to digital media, parents and children weighed various concerns differently. Next steps in this research will involve more data gathering regarding escape games in particular, socio-economic categorization of players, definition of digital media fears that will engage families, and further cooperation with psychologists and physicians. Eventual goals include designing an actual escape game, observing families playing it, and using data about their experiences to build new digital literacy toolkits.