By Erica Levi \u2013 Digital Repository and Copyright Lead at Coventry University <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am the copyright specialist at Coventry University Online, a department where teams create teaching and learning content for online delivery. I advise and train colleagues on copyright, and deliver training through their induction and monthly brown-bag workshops: all recorded in short and serialised videos. Even though attendance is typically good, copyright remains a dreary topic for most of my colleagues. So, I set myself a mission to entice more of them to turn up at my sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I aimed for the activity also to be an occasion for healthy competition and social fun. We work in a hybrid model, so it had to be an online experience: immersive and engaging. I wanted to tackle one of the driest topics I would never dare deliver in person: copyright history. Since most of my colleagues are learning designers, media producers and education technologists, the pressure was on: it had to be educational while graphically and aesthetically pleasing. However, I had no budget and no resources. I decided to explore online escape rooms \u2013 the idea being to invite players to view historical copyright-related events from a futuristic dystopic society. I stumbled over several instructional YouTube videos on using Google Slides for this, particularly @TheSkepticalEducator<\/a>; the use of Google Sites is explained too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A further benefit of creating an online escape room was that it would be playable repeatedly. There are also no set-up requirements, and it is re-distributable online. I made it for single or paired players in Teams or Zoom rooms to discourage \u201clurkers\u201d from disengaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since I am highly skilled in PowerPoint, exploring Google Slides took much patience with its somewhat limiting features. Creating videos using the most advanced features and then incorporating sounds was interesting. I included public domain sounds from FreeSound<\/a>, and it was enjoyable to discover their fantastic selection. Google Slides has an excellent feature for finding free .png images with transparent backgrounds; this helped me build up the scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though escape rooms are time-based, I decided to exclude a timer for the activity – I wanted to encourage players to read the resources in the game rather than rush through to finish within the set time frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creating online escape rooms is fun, and sometimes it seems like second-guessing how users would behave when presented with certain visual clues. I tested usability once the game was ready by watching a few selected people playing. I made some tweaks and then sent the link to the LIS<\/em>–<\/em>Copyseek<\/em> <\/em>Jisc <\/em>Mail List<\/em> for feedback, and I was invited to present it to the World Caf\u00e9<\/em> at Icepop<\/em>s<\/em> 2023<\/em> in Glasgow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I engaged my colleagues by sending an intriguing invite to frame the narrative, explaining that they were the chosen elite members of my resistance group rising against the villain Lord Schism. I was counting on them to disrupt his plans for global control. I built much excitement and presented<\/p>\n\n\n\n myself in the session with camouflage. It was a great thrill, and the feedback has been great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the session in mid-August, I lifted the embargo and published the game on social media. Feel free to play and share: the link is here<\/a>. I value your feedback, which can be sent through a form available at the end of the game. I am collaborating with colleagues to create a template that can be used to create other escape rooms, even on other topics. I am happy to share the raw files for you to tweak the game, just contact me by email<\/a> if you\u2019re interested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I now have a fixation on gamification. I am currently working on coding an online branching scenario activity to help creators of teaching and learning content take ownership of their material and license it correctly. I am using Twinery and having fun learning how to code. Watch this space!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About my role and activities I am the copyright specialist at Coventry University Online, a department where teams create teaching and learning content for online delivery. I advise and train colleagues on copyright, and deliver training through their induction and monthly brown-bag workshops: all recorded in short and serialised videos. Even though attendance is typically […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1432],"tags":[1707,1132,1706,1705,1337,1708],"class_list":["post-11450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coolsig","tag-alt-cool-sig","tag-copyright","tag-coventry-university","tag-erica-levi","tag-gamification","tag-icepops"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/08\/Erica-2-cropped.jpg?fit=600%2C505&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2021\/06\/meet-coolsig-officer-erica-wine\/","url_meta":{"origin":11450,"position":0},"title":"Meet CoOLSIG Officer: Erica Wine","author":"ALT","date":"21 June 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Where are you based? I live in Birmingham, but for over the three years, I have been working as a Digital Repository & Copyright Lead in Coventry University Online, which is a Coventry University subsidiary that specialises on online courses provision. We have been very busy supporting the Group during\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Copyright and Online Learning SIG"","block_context":{"text":"Copyright and Online Learning SIG","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/coolsig\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Picture of Erica Wine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2021\/06\/Erica-Wine-scaled-1.jpeg?fit=550%2C664&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2021\/06\/Erica-Wine-scaled-1.jpeg?fit=550%2C664&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2021\/06\/Erica-Wine-scaled-1.jpeg?fit=550%2C664&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12159,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2024\/04\/copyright-online-escape-room-take-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11450,"position":1},"title":"Copyright Online Escape Room \u2013 Take 2","author":"ALT","date":"15 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Following Erica\u2019s blog post in August, we wanted to update you on new episodes of the online copyright escape rooms. The Lord Schism saga is now available on its webpage. The plot Erica: In the new episode, I wanted to create interactive fiction\u2014like those choose-your-own-adventure books and games where the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Copyright and Online Learning SIG"","block_context":{"text":"Copyright and Online Learning SIG","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/coolsig\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2024\/04\/Eryl.jpg?fit=752%2C419&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2024\/04\/Eryl.jpg?fit=752%2C419&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2024\/04\/Eryl.jpg?fit=752%2C419&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2024\/04\/Eryl.jpg?fit=752%2C419&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12835,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2025\/02\/alt-cool-sig-annual-report-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":11450,"position":2},"title":"ALT CoOL SIG Annual Report\u00a02024","author":"ALT","date":"6 February 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Co-Chair\u2019s Welcome and Update Welcome to the fourth annual report of the\u00a0Copyright and Online Learning (CoOL) SIG\u00a0of the Association of Learning Technology. The CoOL SIG was formed in November 2020 and this report covers the period January to December 2024. 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We hope you are keeping safe and well. We are looking forward to our first webinar of 2022, where we are being joined by two learning technologists working in UK higher education. \u2018Confessions of a Learning Technologist\u2019 is a chance to hear from two colleagues working in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Copyright and Online Learning SIG"","block_context":{"text":"Copyright and Online Learning SIG","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/coolsig\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"CoOL SIG","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2022\/01\/Twitter-Post-1024x512-px-49.jpeg?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2022\/01\/Twitter-Post-1024x512-px-49.jpeg?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2022\/01\/Twitter-Post-1024x512-px-49.jpeg?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2022\/01\/Twitter-Post-1024x512-px-49.jpeg?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13093,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2025\/05\/four-years-of-the-cool-sig\/","url_meta":{"origin":11450,"position":4},"title":"Four years of the CoOL SIG","author":"ALT","date":"19 May 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is written by Jane Secker, Associate Professor in Educational Development and co-chair of the ALT Copyright and Online Learning SIG. Jane reflects on the work of the CoOL SIG over the past 4 years and how their group aims to help build more confidence in copyright matters in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Copyright and Online Learning SIG"","block_context":{"text":"Copyright and Online Learning SIG","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/coolsig\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/05\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-5.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/05\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-5.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/05\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-5.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/05\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-5.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12402,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2024\/08\/meet-coolsig-officer-liesl-rowe\/","url_meta":{"origin":11450,"position":5},"title":"Meet CoOLSIG Officer Liesl Rowe","author":"ALT","date":"6 August 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Liesl Rowe, working at Leeds Beckett University, is the newest member of the Alt CoOL SIG. 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What next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n