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DA District Administration
Growing a community of educators around scholastic esports
NASEF's Scholastic Fellows Program offers a strong support network for those who reach and teach students through video games.
By: Jorrel Batac
June 10, 2020
As educators in a progressively digital learning landscape, we must
embark on a journey into the unknown and embrace the world outside of
our comfort zones to discover new ways to effectively support our
students.
As both the esports and gaming industries continue to rapidly evolve
into our cultural mainstream, it becomes increasingly important that we
provide opportunities for our students to grow their interests, develop
their strengths, and build safe and inclusive learning spaces for them
to explore the potential career pathways scholastic esports has to
offer.
The adoption of video games in the classroom as innovative pedagogy can
be challenging when many educational models are grounded in traditional
principles and practices that may not know the value of game-based
learning.
Without a clear path ahead, educators who are courageous enough to
implement scholastic esports need more than just digital platforms,
lesson plans and resources – they need a community of support to join
them on this exciting adventure of integrating esports into education.
In Fall 2019, I was given the amazing opportunity to support the
development and implementation of the North America Scholastic Esports
Federation’s (NASEF) Scholastic Fellows Program which consists of 25
educators across the United States who are pioneering what scholastic
esports looks like in their educational programs. The Scholastic
Fellows Program is unique in that it spans across grade levels,
educational institutions and time zones, providing educators with a
professional community of practice, tools, resources and instructional
coaching.
Many educators applied, and the Fellows were chosen through a
competitive process. They made a commitment to leading the growth of
scholastic esports in their communities throughout the academic
year. We meet once a month virtually to exchange successes,
challenges, and best practices around integrated esports curriculum
development and instructional strategies. Most importantly, the
professional learning community provides a safe space to learn from
each other (especially our failures!) and collaborate on innovative
ways to support student learning.
Cultivating a learning community of people from diverse backgrounds,
varied experience, and who may rarely step into the same physical space
together, is challenging to say the least! We spend much of our time
using digital platforms such as Zoom and Gotomeeting for synchronous
discussions and Flipgrid for asynchronous share-outs, but no
technological tool can ever replace the authentic relationships that
transcend the confines of our digital boxes and continue to grow around
the shared passion of integrating esports in education.
When each of us experiences a great success – there is a common energy,
enthusiasm, and excitement knowing that we are all boldly exploring a
new frontier with potential risks lurking in every corner. And when we
were all suddenly stopped in our tracks due to a novel virus affecting
millions of lives, there was deep reflection and compassion knowing
that we all share the same struggle.
With the world turned upside down and students in isolation, our time
together quickly transformed into sharing our strategies around
continuing to connect with our students and collaborating to develop
various online opportunities for our communities to get together and
play.
In uncharted territory, the Scholastic Fellows are truly the
educational leaders that are navigating potential pathways for others.
Starting in Fall 2020, this year’s Scholastic Fellows will have the
opportunity to progress as Scholastic Mentors, providing direct support
to a new cohort of educators entering the program. (If you’re
interested in applying – let us know by filling out the NASEF
Scholastic Fellow Program Interest Form). The mentors will use their
experience to teach-back what they have learned and help the next group
of Fellows in their pedagogical exploration.
The various program models, shared best practices, and curriculum they
have developed will serve as a foundation for other educators to build
their programs on.
As scholastic esports continues to expand globally, we will have the
opportunity to bring new perspectives from educators abroad with unique
opportunities for students to creatively connect through learning and
intentional play.
This is truly only the beginning of what we can accomplish as a scholastic community.
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