Deploying avatars in escape rooms: research inspired teaching leads to increased student engagement

Deploying avatars in asynchronous teaching and learning is an additional tool to increase engagement at all levels of education. This research studies, in particular, the user experience of undergraduate and post-graduate students studying online due to Coronavirus who are introduced to this innovative tool. The methodology is to create avatars to replace key teaching and learning blocks, for example, introductions, activity descriptions, and lectures themselves, in order to enrich the user experience for students who are often disengaged from "voice over PowerPoint." Our preliminary research is very positive with students voicing enthusiastic support for this approach. At the Learn and share exhibition, the researchers shared preliminary results, as well as demonstrated prototype escape rooms which teach using the gamification paradigm.