James Collins - Education and Competitive Gaming; Why Esports Is Impacting Classrooms

1. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed ESPORTS & EDUCATION Why eSports is Impacting Classrooms Photo credit: British eSports Association Elizabeth Newbury Serious Games Initiative, Wilson Center & PhD Candidate, Cornell University @enewb @WilsonSTIP

2. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Agenda Background About eSports K12 Context

3. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed • The Serious Games Initiative is part of the Science and Technology Innovation Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, one of the top 10 think tanks in the world • We produce games to communicate leading policy research to the public • We aim to make research accessible, engaging & fun to increase dialogue around critical policy issues – Current Games: The Fiscal Ship (www.fiscalship.org) created with 1stPlayable and the Brookings Institute to help audiences learn about the federal budget About eSports K12 Context Background

4. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed About me • PhD Candidate at Cornell University • Dissertation in a Tweet: “Why do people watch other people play video games?” • Mixed method exploration of eSports fans – Content analysis of eSports broadcast – Field observation of eSports in semi-public spaces – Interviews with eSports fans • Key literatures: sociology of sport, audience studies, fan studies, game studies, gender studies About eSports K12 Context Background

5. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed WHAT IS ESPORTS?

6. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed What is eSports? Sport Infrastructure & Culture • Definition of “serious play” • eSports is competitive video game play, where video games are played like a sport eSports • Consists of increasingly professionalized leagues, teams, players • Estimated $696M market* Video Games & Gaming culture • Audience of 385 million worldwide* About eSports K12 Context Background *NewZoo(Feb 2017), Global eSports Market Report 2017

7. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Is eSports a sport? • eSports exhibits many of the characteristics of sport (c.f. Jenny, Manning, Keiper& Olrich, 2017) – Organized play (leagues) – Professionalization of play – Dedicated following (fans) • My research: Yes….and no • eSports fans watch, socialize, consume, learn from watching but also play, which has long been divided in “sport fandom” (supporting Taylor, 2012) About eSports K12 Context Background

8. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Does it matter if eSports is a sport? Depends? • Socially: being a sport provides legitimization for eSports fans to non-eSports fans • Economically: eSports is doing well as it stands –unless you are a player • Legally: Visas (e.g. Forbes, 2013, 2017); Ethical treatment of players, player health; Ramifications for cheating, drug use; Gambling– now legal in Las Vegas; Title IX Photo credit: High School StarLeague About eSports K12 Context Background

9. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Issues in eSports: Gender parity • Currently masculine dominated space – Gamer masculinity + Sports masculinity = No space for women (e.g. Connell’s Masculinities) • Particularly true when it comes to professional and casual play; less with spectating *See Casselman, 2015 on ESPN About eSports K12 Context Background

10. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Ageism in eSports • Ageism is alive and well in eSports • “Prime” age to be an eSports player is pre-college; Professional players frequently “retire” somewhere in the early 20’s  Why? Journalists claim it is due to reaction time, dexterity, etc.  Fans: “I had to become an adult”  What’s critical here is this is in terms of competitive playing --the audience for eSports (those who watch & play casually) is much more flexible Photo credit: Mousesports About eSports K12 Context Background

11. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed ESPORTS & K12 CLASSROOMS

12. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed What does an eSports fan do? About eSports K12 Context Background

13. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Applications for K12 Play • Integration of competitive video gaming in terms of play would provide many of the same benefits as organized sport: teaching fair play, giving kids a sense of agency and self- esteem • Added benefit: pathways to STEM Watching • Understanding that watching contributes to play eSports is critical • Form of experiential learning: students are harnessing what they watch and applying it to their own experience; also evaluating what they watch Photo credit: UCI (which now offers scholarships!) About eSports K12 Context Background

14. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Skills from eSports • Social engagement: eSports is a space where young people can make friends, that they can engage in a diversity of play, watching, and social identity construction practices both online and offline • Need for: awareness of cyberbullying; internet safety; time management • Research & Strategic thinking: fans often become eSports fans as a result of researching how to play their favorite game; they continue this research about the game throughout their experience, tying both to watching (critique of plays) and playing (developing strategy) • Ties to: evaluating data and sources; improved statistical & logical reasoning; game theory; engaged learning Photo credit: Riot Games About eSports K12 Context Background

15. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Pro-Social Skills in eSports Photo credit: Don’t feed the Trolls podcast (disclaimer: not endorsing) About eSports K12 Context Background

16. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed FANS ARE NOT SPORTS CONSUMERS; THETENSIONS BETWEEN BEING A SPECTATOR AND PLAYER ARE SEEN INTHEIR CONSUMPTION Future Directions: Care in Consumptive Practices In-Game Platforms like STEAM and in-game purchasing make supporting the industry easy, giving fans a sense of agency At the same time, purchases need to have some in-game value to be effective –see The International Out-Game Fans buy mostly game-related merchandise (not like a sports fan) but design spaces for watching, playing, and socializing around eSports May not be buying jerseys, but will buy mice if has value for gaming About eSports K12 Context Background

17. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Future Directions: Spaces for eSports Knowledge Acquisition Socializing • K12 audience need physical spaces to gather • Spectating Playing History of arcades, LANs* eSports Space • Increasingly, the spectatorship experience is being geared towards 21+ • K12: Need a physical space to gather, with supportive instructors • Ways to encourage diversity? About eSports * Which are male-dominated spaces K12 Context Background

18. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Future Directions: Design Implications • It starts with the game: successful eSports games have been changed to easily encourage spectator mode • Need to incorporate more diversity in gaming characters to encourage wider audience • Low skill floor, high skill ceiling –fans want to see games that are easy to get into, but can be played at increasingly complex levels Photo Credit: NY Times About eSports K12 Context Background

19. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed ELIZABETH NEWBURY SERIOUS GAMES INITIATIVE WILSON CENTER wilsoncenter.org/program/science-and-technology- innovation-program @enewb @WilsonSTIP facebook.com/WilsonSTIP Elizabeth.Newbury@wilsoncenter.org

20. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Education & Competitive Gaming Why Esports is Impacting Classrooms James Collins, Liaison Office of Educational Technology • US Department of Education @OfficeOfEdTech

21. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Office of Educational Technology tech.ed.gov provide leadership at the Federal level, through the Department of Education, by developing a national vision and strategy ● provide leadership to the Nation in the use of technology to promote achievement and to increase opportunities for all students ● to infuse technology and technology planning into all educational programs carried out within school systems at the State and local level ●

22. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education https://tech.ed.gov/netp

23. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed ● Learning ● Teaching ● Leadership ● Assessment ● Infrastructure

24. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image of Minecraft Project]

25. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image of Educators]

26. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image from Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Indie Arcade CS workshop]

27. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image from Games for Change Conference]

28. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image from Boys and Girls Club of America esports league]

29. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image from William Annin Middle School esports club]

30. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image from League of Legends]

31. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image from UC - Irvine esports program]

32. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed “We observed that participants who scored higher on a number processing task had greater improvements in MOBA skill and that this link depended on the social context of the gameplay. Specifically, numerical skill was linked to player rankings generated from matches where they were paired with random individuals...”

33. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image from esports training program (Team Liquid)]

34. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed

35. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed [Image from TL Taylor on esports culture]

36. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Further Research Needed ● Skill/Play connections ● Data Collection ● Data Interpretation ● Case Studies

37. SLIDO.COM ; #esports4ed Connect with us online: https://www.facebook.com/officeofedtech @OfficeOfEdTech Web: tech.ed.gov Blog: https://medium.com/OfficeofEdTech James.Collins@ed.gov Email: