Esports Education is not just a Trend – It’s A Solution
by George Cork – Esports AcademicsEsports Education has been at the forefront of conversations over the last 5 years and how it can develop and be something meaningful to not only students but also to the wider education and esports ecosystem.
There are 4 main parts that I want to address in this piece which are the following:
– The Importance to regulation in the esports education space
– How esports can be used to facilitate the learning of people
– The role in which governments must play
– Seeing esports and technology as a solution
Importance to the regulation in the esports education space
Esports is not as much the wild west as it used to be but there are still some very big lessons in which it has to learn. Part of this is educating the next generation about the industry and the careers that they can forge for themselves within this fantastic industry. In addition, some of this also comes down to the ecosystem needing to think of the sustainability of esports moving forward. The world of esports is still vastly misunderstood by the general public(Parents, Teachers, Grandparents), whilst there has been a great push towards helping the understanding of the breadth of opportunities we still have a large way as an ecosystem and industry to go in order to reduce the stigma in which is associated with not only esports but video gaming as a whole. Which I personally feel like is a role for ALL involved not just a single party or entity is going to solve this.
The esports education space also needs to encourage collaboration between both industry and education, there is far too often a massive disconnect between the 2 industries so we need to make sure this changes and they can work in perfect harmony with students gaining relevant skills that they may need to be successful in 5-10 years’ time rather than the world of tomorrow. Therefore, setting them up for the best possible pathway into a career.
How Esports can be used to facilitate learning
Worldwide we are facing another pandemic of our own in the education sector of Student Disengagement. In countries all over the world even more students in the K-12 Education systems are becoming disengaged with education. A study by the Gallup/Walton Family Foundation survey found that between 45-54% of students feel disengaged in school. Esports can be a way to reach them at the point of interest and use it as a tool to empower them and their learning. Utilising it to teach core elements and things that would be required later in life but through a different scope to help continue students’ development within life. I will admit there is not a Silver Bullet solution here but will help to potentially decreasing the number of students that now feel disengaged with how traditional education is today!
The Role in which government must play
A lot of governments have seen the growth of the esports and video game industry and really been oblivious to the benefits in which it can offer in terms of soft-skill development and further personal development. A bigger effort must be made by government to really see the ceiling potential in which esports has within society today and look at ways in which it can be used to help clarify things for students in perhaps their toughest years in the education system due to the changes that are ongoing. The methods of old are outdated for the society in which we are living in today, education and the world must update not just for ourselves but for doing right by the future generations to come.
Also, knee jerk reactions are not the way to solve the technology problems we need to educate not deflect the issue.
Seeing Esports and Technology as a Solution
With the esports area being such a daunting area for even people with a gaming background the industry has a role to play to be more accessible to education institutions to enable further development. As I said previously I see this as something that will only be solved via collaboration rather than taking a lone wolf approach.
Esports can be used as a tool to educate people on core things like event management, business, media creation and many other fields and these skills are still transferable into any other industry. It is just a matter of educating educators and helping the adoption of these sort of programs. Let’s start to meet students one at the point of entry but also at their point of interest to make education engaging again through appealing to their sense of curiosity.
Secondly, the role in which Artificial Intelligence plays in not only today’s world, but the world of the future is only becoming more prevalent day by day. We need to make sure we educate the next generation on not only how to use it but also use it effectively. They are going to be using it in their day-to-day lives in the future so why not set the foundations now instead of ignoring the impact in which it is going to have!