Tensions of Growth in Collegiate Esports

Looking at collegiate esports, the space is filled with a diverse array of programs growing at different rates and all finding legitimacy and recognition in different ways. However, many programs are faced with a specific tension between the flexibility of a grassroots club and the rigidity of university organization. This chapter will look at one particular program at the University of New Mexico and how it has been navigating its own identity as an affinity space and how its growth into something more may have unintended consequences that should be considered for any similar program. Specifically, the chapter will focus on what it means to be an affinity space, how UNM esports fits into that category, and what gets lost when attempting to integrate with different institutional-level structures.

Player Agency, Team Responsibility, and Self-Initiated Change

An important aspect of what constitutes beginning gamers' learning trajectories is guidance from experienced players. However, there is little educational research on these processes within a competitive gaming scene. In this chapter, the authors analyse the mentor-apprentice relationship in a team in the multiplayer FPS CS:GO within an esports and educational context. By assuming a dialogic approach to agency and meaning making, they analyse how the team orients towards the apprentice's agency and how the apprentice responds to these orientations. The other players' orientations towards the apprentice's decisions indicate that support diminishes, and responsibility and expectations grow over time. Communication and collaboration appear to be an inherent part of functioning as a team and teaching others in the team, and all players are expected to develop agency and reach a level of independence. In the chapter, they show and discuss how this happens.

Game-Informed Cooperative Assessments and Socially Responsible Learning in Public School Math Classes

This chapter draws upon data from an ongoing seven-year study of game-informed and game-based learning in public high school math classes in the northeastern United States. The researcher has worked closely with the same math teacher and his students to develop and refine a cooperative testing approach piloted and integrated into in the teacher's math classes since 2017. For this study, data from students' post-cooperative assessment reflections, along with hundreds of hours of classroom observation and eight student interviews, suggest that the cooperative features inherent in videogaming and esports can support a revised approach to assessing learning, one which honors social responsibility and meaningful learning.

The Role of Minecraft Build Challenges in Esports

In this case study, a team of educators explored the power of Minecraft Education so that students could advance their learning in core academic subjects. This study examined what happened when students utilized Minecraft Education challenges and scholastic esports in a classroom, across a school district, and around the world. The authors share a variety of challenges that demonstrate the power of Minecraft esports as a powerful pedagogical strategy for engaging students and building an interest in STEM-based initiatives that align with the National Council of Teachers of English and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. As Steve, Erik, and Laylah worked to create challenges for students to compete in Minecraft, Rick and Miles examined the participation of each event, examined the quotes from students, and analyzed the data for clues into what phenomena or processes occurred as students navigated Minecraft challenges. This study examined the evolution of competitive Minecraft challenges during its early phases of integration.

Urban Education Esports for Equity and Access

This chapter dives into the real-world experiences that one educator experienced in his 14-year career teaching and mentoring students. The chapter explores using video games to connect and educate students as well as the use of varsity esports programs to drive student interactions during extracurricular activities. Through the chapter, the author will progress from the start of his career to finding new affiliations to help build a successful esports program within a high school setting. The anecdotal experiences will serve as a case study to help other educators find resources and develop a pathway to create esports opportunities in their own schools.

Connecting Students to School Culture and Career Opportunities Through Broad Access to Esports and Gaming

It is important to offer students an esports program that maximizes participation by the large potential pool of gamers. Such inclusive programs include clubs, intramurals, and/or courses in addition to a varsity team that competes with other schools. The benefits of such programs include building skills in digital citizenship and global professional skills (GPS) such as collaboration, communication, problem solving, and creativity. Areas in social emotional learning (SEL) can be well served through esports programs as there are many students who build positive relationships with peers, adults, and with their academics as studies have shown. This chapter explores three areas regarding esports: building a sense of belonging in school culture, developing digital citizenship skills through esports, and focusing on esports programs not esports teams.

Integrating Video Games and Scholastic Esports Into Preservice Teacher Experiences

This four-year study explored a multiple case study about how four preservice teachers spent an entire school year with students, developed their teacher identity, designed lessons, played games, and coached scholastic esports. What started out as a culturally responsive gesture to include video games and competitive esports into the classroom turned out to be what both the middle school students and the teacher candidates needed to push their learning experiences forward in meaningful ways. Teacher candidates gained valuable experiences from the integration of video games and scholastic esports through a wide variety of teaching strategies. Teaching candidates answered five questions about their experiences using video games and esports in the classroom. Five major themes were identified through the reflexive thematic analysis: developing relationships, understanding games and scholastic esports, teaching in new ways, perspectives and attitudes about games and scholastic esports, and the integration of games and scholastic esports.

Video Games and Indirect Learning

As a result of rapid technological advancement, educators are turning to alternative pedagogy to instill valuable knowledge and transferable skills to their pupils. Esports and video games are being examined as a potential avenue. This research, backed by empirical data, explains how the content of particular games can indirectly teach players real-world skills and advanced academic concepts. Five different soft skills (responsibility, communication, teamwork, problem solving, leadership) and two core academic areas (mathematics, language arts) are examined using in-game elements of the following 12 video games/video game franchises as evidence to support claims of video games being a source of indirect education: Neopets; League of Legends; The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim; Overwatch; Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; Tetris; Portal; Fortnite; Assassin's Creed; World of Warcraft; No Man's Sky; and Spyro.

Communication, Cooperation, and Competition

While scholars have examined various ways that video games can promote learning and influence communication, limited research has examined the literacy and communication practices of esports teams. This study utilizes a content analysis methodology to examine the literacy and communication patterns of two esports teams who competitively play the popular video game Rocket League, a soccer-like game in which players control vehicles and try to hit a ball into their opponents' goal. Findings demonstrate that the esports teams utilize both oral and written communication in a variety of ways in their esports endeavors. The primary types of oral communication the teams used related to strategy, encouragement, and general commentary, and the primary types of written language included pre-game schedules, in-game and post-game chat, and post-game stats. Ultimately, this study demonstrates how esports teams engage in communication and literacy practices as they cooperate with their teammates and compete against their opponents.

The Implementation of an Academic and Applied Esports Program in Higher Education

Drawing on sociocultural theories of learning, this case study describes how a small liberal arts university, steeped in a tradition of innovation and discovery, developed and introduced an interdisciplinary academic and applied esports program. The study describes the importance of a multi-interdisciplinary approach to program development and building community, drawn from the voices and expertise of interdepartmental stakeholders including administration, faculty, staff, and students. The authors share the timeline of events and lessons learned in launching a successful esports program by applying an entrepreneurial mindset and accepting an appropriate level of risk.