Abstract: Faculty teaching first-year courses must not only teach students about subject matter, they must also help students understand how to locate, evaluate, and use scholarly information. And this can be a challenging task. First-year students often have difficulty navigating both digital and physical library spaces (Salisbury & Karasmanis, 2011). This can be especially true at the University of Toronto, where a complex network of libraries encompassing print and digital collections can compound anxiety around the navigation of the scholarly information environment (University of Toronto Libraries, 2018). This talk will discuss a new educational partnership between Robarts, the University’s Humanities and Social Sciences library, and Woodsworth One (WDW One), a program for first‐year students in the Social Sciences and Humanities. As we describe Woodsworth One’s interest in problem-based learning (Walker et al., 2015), we will explain how a new relationship was built with Robarts Library, and ways in which a Robarts “escape game” was used to help ensure WDW One students would develop fundamental research skills as they explored scholarly information space (Walsh, 2014) and built “cognitive maps” (Afrooz et al., 2018) that will help them navigate these spaces in the future.

1. Teaching Research Skills
Through Gamification
A Collaborative Project between
Robarts Library and Woodsworth One
Beth Fischer Woodsworth One
Ben Walsh Robarts Library

2. Agenda
● Woodsworth One (WDW One): Overview
○ Teaching about library resources
○ Escape Room Activity as a possibility
● Robarts Library: Overview
○ Origins of our escape game
○ Building and deploying cognitive maps towards wayfinding
○ How our escape game works
● WDW One: Results from student surveys and final grades
● Robarts: Results
● Going forward

3. Woodsworth One
● For First-Year Students in the Social Sciences & Humanities
● Theme: “Order and Disorder”
● Two courses, each capped at 25 students
● Objective: To aid the transition to university
○ Skills-building workshops: time management, study
strategies, test-taking strategies & research skills

4. ● Students have a hard time differentiating between credible and
weak sources
● Students have difficulty citing their sources
● Students have trouble navigating U of T’s online library system
● Students are confused by U of T’s network of physical libraries
Teaching about library resources has been
challenging

5. ● Helps students to navigate both digital and physical spaces
● Interactive
● The activity employs problem-based learning, which is the
primary pedagogical method in WDW One
WDW One: Robarts’ escape game as a possibility

6. An approach grounded in research
○ 1st year undergrads arrive without the ability to locate, assess, and use
scholarly information (Salisbury & Karasmanis, 2011)
○ Students who used the library in their first year of university are more likely to
graduate (Soria, Fransen, & Nackerud, 2017)
○ Gamified orientation in academic libraries increases student engagement and
achievement (Walsh, A., 2014)
○ “Cognitive map” is needed to support future navigation of complex spaces
(Afrooz, White, & Parolin, 2018)
Robarts Library: Origins of our escape game

7. ○ 2018 Robarts collaborated with Olivier St-Cyr (Faculty of Information)
○ 2 student teams investigated the utility of a digital library wayfinding tool
○ UX testing identified an essential need for incoming students to develop a
“mental map” of academic library space and systems
○ Afrooz, White, & Parolin (2018) describe the “active exploration of the built
environment” as a better tool for generating the kind of lasting memory needed
for the future deployment of an accurate cognitive map
Robarts Library: Cognitive map

8. An approach grounded in data
○ Targeted learning outcomes were identified through an examination of
reference statistics collected over the course of 2017
○ These learning outcomes included:
■ Finding a book by title using the library website
■ Locating a call number and location information in catalogue record
■ Using a call number to find a book in the stacks
■ Navigating from the open floors (1-5) to the closed stacks (9-13)
■ Using the library website to locate an article by title
■ Identifying the components of an article citation
■ Locating Course Reserves and borrowing an item
Robarts Library: Origins of our escape game

9. We’re not the first to introduce
gamified library orientation
○ 2016 - La Trobe Univeristy, Melbourne
There’s no escape: Using Escape Room game
design principles to engage library users
○ 2017 - Engineering & Computer Science Library,
University of Toronto
Leveraging Escape Room Popularity to Provide
First-Year Students with an Introduction to
Engineering Information
○ 1000 students have taken part on St. George
Campus since September 2017
Robarts Library: Origins of our escape game
Charles Robb’s Landmark, 2004. Image retrieved from
https://melbourneartcritic.wordpress.com/2018/06/26/la-trobe-uni-sculpture-park/

10. ● The story
○ Felix, U of T’s first online catalogue, turns itself back on
and threatens to erase all records added since 1992
● The work
○ Players follow clues throughout the library and library
website
○ Players compete activities to identify a series of lock
combinations: letter, number, symbol, and key locks
○ Through each activity players problem solve while
gaining hands on experience navigating the library’s
physical and digital library spaces
○ This work results in the development of a cognitive map
student will continue to use
Robarts Library: How our escape game works

11. ● The example
Robarts Library: How our escape game works

12. ● The example
Robarts Library: How our escape game works

13. ● The example
Robarts Library: How our escape game works

14. ● The example
Robarts Library: How our escape game works

15. ● The example
● BX583 .S59 S38
Robarts Library: How our escape game works

16. ● The example
● BX583 .S59 S38
● Teams must
navigate their way
to this location in
the stacks to find
the next puzzle or
clue
Robarts Library: How our escape game works

17. Results from the perspective of WDW One
Before this event: Yes No
Had you ever been to the upper floors of Robarts Library where the books are shelved? 82 18
Had you ever been to the Course Reserves section of Robarts Library? 29 71
Did you know what a "call number" for a book is? 68 32
Did you know how to locate a book by its call number? 71 30

18. Survey: To what extent was this activity helpful in
improving your ability to conduct research?
Not helpful 5.88%
Slightly helpful 11.76
Moderately helpful 35.29
Very helpful 32.35
Extremely helpful 14.71

19. Survey: Would you recommend that WDW One host
this activity again next year?
Definitely not 0
Probably not 11.76
Probably 32.35
Definitely 55.88

20. Did the activity improve the quality of students’
research papers?
Year Average Grade for Final Research Paper
2016 76.62
2017 76.08
2019 77.40

21. Results from the perspective of Robarts
○ We’re very happy!
○ Working with faculty partners deepens the impact we can make on learning
outcomes
○ Developing the 2-Part program (a gamified orientation paired with a
classroom-based information literacy session) is an innovation that we believe
will strengthen learning outcomes

22. ● Designing a game together
○ WDW One - Order and Disorder
● Designing a game that will facilitate the discovery,
evaluation, and use of scholarly information for all
incoming students
● Aligning data collection
● WDW One alumni students invited to test
new games each August
WDW One and Robarts Library: Going forward

23. DISSENT
An escape game at
Robarts Library
Coming Fall 2019!

24. Thank you!
Questions?
Beth Fischer (Woodsworth One)
beth.fischer@utoronto.ca
Ben Walsh (Robarts Library)
benjamin.walsh@utoronto.ca