Episode 129: Leveraging Esports — Empowering Student Engagement and Success in Education

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Welcome to another episode of K12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr. Kim J. Fields, former corporate manager turned education researcher and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the microaggressions that I faced as an African American mom raising my two kids who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their educational progress. This battle tested experience is what I provide as action steps for you to take. It's like enjoying a bowl of educational research with a sprinkling of mother Wisdom on top. If you're looking to find out more about current information and issues in the public education that could affect you and your children and the action steps that you can take to give your children the advantages they need, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K12 public education trends and topics is important to you, so keep listening. In this episode, I'll be discussing esports and the impact they're making in K12 public education. Do your children play video games? Because so many children play video games, schools are finding that using video games to engage disinterested students seems to be working out pretty well. These gamers are participating in competitive esports teams. I discussed the growing trend of esports and its impact on K12 public education, especially for students in middle school and high school. In this episode, let's untangle this Playing video games is a large part of daily teenager life, and more schools are using gaming to reach disengaged students. According to a recent Pew Research center survey of about 1400 teenagers between the ages of 13 to 17, 85% of teenagers in the United States play video games, with four in ten indicating that they play them at least once a day. Another survey, the High School Athletics Participation survey, found that 20,000 boys and 33,900 girls participated in esports during the 2022-2023 school year. Esports, in which people play video games competitively on teams, is gaining ground in K12 schools. Roughly 39% of school districts across this country have esports initiatives. Many school districts or incorporating an educational curriculum to go along with with after school esports clubs and teams. Students who participate on esports teams usually meet after school to practice and prepare for competitions statewide and nationwide. Through esports, children learn several soft skills including communication and collaboration. Over half of the students that participate in esports are usually not involved in other extracurricular activities at school. Esports seems to be a way to reach students that may not be reached any other way. One of the big challenges to building an esports program is the cost of the program. Gaming requires more robust computers and monitors. Other parts of esports programs such as marketing and live streaming also require specialized equipment and and districts networks may need to be reprogrammed to allow gaming. Another challenge is finding staff to coach the esports teams or to sponsor the after school clubs. The solution to this may be as simple as providing stipends for coaches. A different challenge may be that of perception. Districts often combat misconceptions about video games because there have been studies that link gaming to addictive and sometimes aggressive aggressive behaviors. Yet there are also studies that link gaming to better cognitive skills. In K12 Scholastic esports, students play age appropriate multiplayer games that don't feature violence. Coaches also train students on appropriate sportsmanship etiquette. Overall, the districts that have esports programs say that the benefits of outweigh the costs. District data show that students who participate in esports have improvements in attendance and behavior as well as higher scores on English Language Arts and math standardized tests. Competitive esports are on the rise in K12 because of young people's immense appetite for gaming in which they've established school based leagues and competitions. But one company, Elite Gaming Live, wants to take this competition offline. Curran Rent, the CEO of the company, wants to make sure the students get the benefits of competitive team sports including coaching and sportsmanship development. In real life, he has students compete in face to face head to head competitions that are hosted inside participating schools where his company provides all the necessary equipment and the schools provide a coach and a physical space. Elite Gaming Live isn't just about gaming though. In order to advance during semester long seasonal competitions, students have to complete online learning modules that provide introductions and overviews of the academic pathways that are needed to to get into video game related career fields such as audio engineering and virtual reality. As students progress through these learning modules, information on what each student has completed is shared with parents and school administrators. Mr. Rent's goal with having these in person competition is to help students learn to adapt to social experiences such as such as learning how to deal with losing. One of the long lasting aspects that he sees with the esports market is the opportunity to educate students on careers that could be of interest to them. The majority of students who participate in esports is mostly boys. However, as esports continue to evolve, girl gamers will start to catch up. Esports allows all students to play against each other while meeting new people. This includes students in wheelchairs, students with learning disabilities, as well as student athletes. What makes esports attractive is that over 70% of the students in most K12 schools are already playing video games. School administrators can leverage this as long as they package the opportunities of esports in a way that children understand. Esports clubs can be game changers in boosting attendance and reversing the student engagement slide that typically follows elementary school. Esports clubs seem to be effective in tackling chronic absenteeism, which is defined as missing 10% of school days or more. These clubs help students build a sense of belonging in school. Having something at school that students are really interested in helps them keep coming to school. And just so you know, chronic absenteeism remains a common concern across school districts throughout this country. During the 20212022 school year, chronic absenteeism reached nearly 30%. State data show schools have made some progress in reversing those numbers during the 2022-2023 school year, but chronic absenteeism remains well above pre pandemic levels in most states. Some esports clubs meet during the roughly 30 minute advisory period that kicks off the school day in most middle schools. Many esports clubs clubs even have jerseys just like students would wear for any sport and this swag helps students build an identity as members of the club. The games that are played in esports clubs are non violent with no realistic weapons, blood or gore. Students find these types of games less violent and they enjoy that because the games tend to be more engaging. The gaming aspect of esports may help prepare students for jobs in science, technology, engineering and math, all of which are growing at twice the rate of other jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Students learn it and problem solving skills as they troubleshoot the game's technology. In fact, all branches of the military have esports teams for service members. Esports are an activity that many students with autism spectrum disorder and other significant cognitive differences can participate in along with general education students. The Morris Union Jointure Commission School District, a specialized school district in New Jersey that serves 225 students with cognitive and or behavioral challenges. Built a 12 seat esport arena specifically designed for students with cognitive and behavioral challenges, particularly Autism Spectrum Disorder. This may be the only such facility in a school district in the country. Esports helps to develop soft skills, empathy, teamwork and critical thinking for these specialized students. When they play games, they can develop all of these skills. The district also has an esports training lab for kindergarteners through fifth graders so they can get used to playing games. The games help children grow from social engagement, emotional perspective, doing a lot of things that people never thought they were capable of doing. But if you think about it, although some of these children may look different or act different, at the end of the day, they're just kids playing video games. The game room has special consoles that accommodate players with fine motor differences and other challenges. The esports arena also has specialized keyboards that can be run through a dishwasher to keep the area as germ free as possible. Additionally, the esports arena has a shout casting station like an announcer's desk so that students with verbal capabilities can further develop their communication skills by explaining what's going on in the games, just as a sports broadcaster might do for a tennis match or a basketball game. The students who participate in this esports arena in the Morris Union Jointure School District are now able to play games with their neurotypical siblings, something that they may never have done before. This helps families, teachers and school administrators see the students as a whole person, not just their disability. Esports can provide college scholarships. Many are on the smaller side, around $5,000 a year or less, but some can cover a significant portion of tuition, even up to $20,000. Esports scholarships have made a college education possible for many students who never thought they would be able to go as far as equity and inclusion are concerned. Students who practice together at school can help level the playing field for students from different backgrounds. One of the most popular PC based games that many esports teams play is League of Legends. However, it requires a lot of previous gaming experience and can exclude students who don't have that much experience. It's especially important for to address issues of equity and inclusion at the high school level, where esports can be a powerful tool to engage students and reshape their relationship to school. So how does what I've just discussed apply to you? Here are the action steps you can take regarding this topic, but first a short story. Both of my kids played video games on the weekends while they were growing up. Weekdays were for schoolwork, but Friday afternoon to Sunday evening was free time. My son especially developed a keen interest in video games and still plays as an adult. I think if esports were available when he was in the public education system, he may have developed more interest in school. As it was, he was an excellent student. However, because the classwork was not challenging for him, he became easily bored. Esports may have been a better way to develop critical skills that would have kept him engaged in the classroom. If you've got teenagers who enjoy playing video games and who seem to be bored with school school, perhaps getting them involved with an esports club after school may be the answer. These clubs are certainly a way to keep students engaged, interested and excited about competing with other students and other schools. Check into your child's school to see if this is an option. It may be well worth it. Here are this episode's takeaways. Esports, in which people play video games competitively on teams, is gaining ground in K12 schools. Roughly 39% of school districts across this country have esports initiatives. Many school districts are incorporating educational curriculum to go along with after school esports clubs and teams. Over half of the students that participate in esports are usually not involved in other extracurricular activities at school. Esports seems to be a way to reach students that may not be reached any other way. Esports clubs can be game changers in boosting attendance and reversing the student engagement slide, and that typically follows elementary school esports clubs seem to be effective in tackling chronic absenteeism, which is defined as missing 10% of school days or more. These clubs help build students sense of belonging in school and having something at school that students are really interested in helps them keep coming to school. The gaming aspect of esports may help prepare students for jobs in science, technology, engineering and math, all of which are growing at twice the rate of other jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Students learn it and problem solving skills as they troubleshoot the game's technology. Esports can provide college scholarships. Many are on the small side, around $5,000 a year or less, but some can cover a significant portion of tuition, up to about $20,000. Esports scholarships have made a college education possible for many students who never thought that they did. You enjoy this episode? If so, go to my podcast website@k12educationuntangled.buzzsprout.com and leave me a text message about how you're enjoying my show. That's k12educationuntangled.buzzsprout.com go to the episode description and click on Send me a text message link again. It's k12education untangled.buzzsprout.com and leave me a text message today. If you like this podcast, click Follow on your podcast player of choice to subscribe and get the latest episodes. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel, K12 Education Untangled, to get the latest episodes. Thanks for listening today. I hope you come back for more K12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untangle. Until next time, aim to learn something new every day.

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