Heading a Thursday panel at the Future of Education Technology Conference in Orlando, Fla., Robbins recommended that attendees survey students and parents to gauge their interest in esports, get administration and IT to buy in, and waste no time or ambition in setting up clubs accordingly.
WHY ESPORTS?
In answer to the common question, “Why waste money on video games,” Robbins offered several answers. One was personal, as he recalled bonding with his son through gaming, after noticing his son was constantly communicating with friends online that way.
Another answer had to do with the nationwide increase in student absenteeism and behavioral issues — evidence that traditional education isn’t working or attracting some of those kids. Like athletic sports, Robbins said, many esports programs give students an incentive to maintain their grades, because, as in the case of his own district, they have to maintain a 3.0 GPA to stay on the team.
“All our esports kids have not gotten in trouble to this day for the rest of the year,” he said. “Why? [Because] they don’t want to miss it during the school day when they have an opportunity for recess time, whatever it may be, and they sure as heck don’t want to miss the afterschool [sessions], and more competitive matches when they’re on the team, because they feel responsibility there.”
“A local publication put it out there, and everyone who were staunch enemies, who were against me at that point, were now sending me emails — ‘Good luck, kick some butt, beat those high schoolers,’” he said.
Robbins added that esports can also pique students’ interest in higher education by giving them an experience they want to have, associating it with school, and allowing them to travel to college campuses where some of the competitions are hosted.
“When we took the kids up to Kean University in New Jersey, some of these kids never even thought about college before,” he said. “They’re in middle school. Parents are looking at me going, ‘We never thought we’d even be close to being on a college campus, and now it opened up a whole gateway.’”
Another panelist, Esports Lead Director Steven McHale at Orange County Public Schools, Fla., a self-described “Ted Lasso of esports,” recounted the story of a good kid who he’s convinced would not have graduated if not for esports. Now that former student works in cyber networking.
The panel’s moderator Brian Cohen, vice president of the Center for Digital Education*, shared a similar story about a young autistic relative whose experience of school was changed by esports.
“Esports unlocked his ability to socialize in a space he felt more comfortable socializing in. He couldn’t sit in a room here and talk to you, but he could definitely engage with you online in a game room or a chat room, and that’s where he felt safe,” he said. “I think that’s a really important feature, especially in today’s age when we’re going to see more students in these types of situations. Not to mention how to build a team, how to do teamwork, how to be respectful.”
Robbins said finding a good coach is critical, because part of the value of esports is teaching students “cyber etiquette” — how not to be the kid screaming into a headset.
“When we first started … I went to our crew coach, who I knew was a gamer, and said, ‘Can you help these kids with sportsmanship, academics, proper hygiene, proper eating — what would you do with your athletic team, and how would you set that up with these esports kids?’” he said. “That’s made a world of difference.”
HOW TO GET STARTED
As the conversation shifted to how schools can go about setting up esports teams, advice focused on leadership, infrastructure, buy-in and scale.
McHale emphasized the importance of doing preparation and research, but not being afraid to be ambitious if the interest is there.
“You have to get IT involved, your shareholders, financial development … . Make sure you do the leg work up front, but don’t be afraid to take the leaps,” he said. “Don’t take steps, take leaps. Don’t be afraid to go out there and try something or have a new idea. Bigger is not a bad thing.”
McHale later qualified that statement by recommending starting small in terms of choosing which games will be involved.
“I know I said jump in the deep end, but that’s not what I was talking about. When you’re building a program, start small,” he said. “Survey your students and your parents, because if you don’t have the buy-in for the game — you might love this particular game … but when you get students that come in, they’re [interested in] all different things.”
Offering a superintendent’s perspective, Robbins said consulting with the IT leadership is of “monumental” importance, both for laying the groundwork with sufficient infrastructure and managing accounts associated with different games.
“If you don’t have the correct infrastructure to deliver it, and the correct budget tying along with that, you already struck out,” he said. “When we put this brand-new system in, we started updating everything, and they were like, ‘Woah. We need more juice coming in.’ … So we drastically changed our pipeline coming into the building. We had to have those conversations about, do we let the kids have a bunch of different monies on their personal accounts, and what do we siphon onto our school account? Those conversations have to take place.”
To get buy-in from teachers, Robbins said his district uses professional development days to bring teachers into the esports room and let them play against each other.
McHale recommended getting teachers involved as coaches, as they are, in his words, “the heartbeat of the school.”
“We survey the teachers, we survey the students, and we survey the parents,” he said. “They give us the heartbeat of what’s going on, to let us know what direction to go in.”
*The Center for Digital Education and Government Technology are both part of e.Republic.
