The leading organisation of Intellectual Output 1 is the Masaryk University. This Output is linked to the first objective of the CLUEDUP project: to identify the potential of combining collaborative learning activities with Escape Room (EscR) design. It also contributes to the overall CLUEDUP mission in terms of enriching both pedagogical approaches and to improve online training of skills, such as clinical reasoning, critical thinking and team communication.

To date, collaborative learning activities, such as TBL (Team-Based Learning) or PBL (Problem-Based Learning) and EscR have been used as separate and different pedagogical methods. While TBL has recently become a highly-valued learning activity due to its clear structure, the COVID-19 pandemic circumstances and the hurried shift to the online environment, restricted substantially its use and effectiveness. By contrast PBL, which had been previously losing ground to TBL mainly due to its vague structure, adjusted to the new conditions relatively quickly. Similarly, physical Escape Rooms (EscR) settings, where teams of participants solve puzzles and riddles in face-to-face interactions, are facing similar limitations during the pandemic and also need to be made virtual.

This intellectual output will underpin the whole project implementation with real-world data collected from places where collaborative learning is already embedded in healthcare curricula and now suffer from the aforementioned problems.

HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) curricula based on TBL have faced substantial challenges after teaching and learning was shifted online as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other small groups learning activities, such as PBL, CBL and FCs, were more flexible though also experienced substantial problems while moving online. Needs analysis for TBL with applicability mapping to other collaborative learning activities in response to epidemics/pandemics challenges represents an important investigation, which will benefit not just partner institutions but all HEIs in Europe. In combination with the results from IO4 and IO5, this intellectual output will provide a holistic approach to designing your own escape room scenario incorporated into a collaborative learning activity.