The Wow Factor
A year in the life of an esports teacher (Part 5)
This is the fifth in a series of blog posts by lecturer, consultant, and teacher of esports, Nik Turner.
In an educational setting the mere utter of the phrase ‘esports’ often results in two polar opposite reactions: the first, one of excitement and the second, one of fear. Both exist at whatever level in the hierarchy the respondent sits.
Lecturers and teachers may be super excited at the prospect of taking on esports and delivering to the students while colleagues may scour at the thought due to a fear of the unknown. The same can be said for senior management, some (and many have) grabbed the opportunity with both hands and set the wheels in motion for its introduction, while others have been wary due to a misconception of what it is, how it works and how much is it going to cost!
Whatever the reaction, the one thing that can’t be ignored is the emergence of esports within education which has been extraordinary over the last few years. What started out as a snowball has gathered momentum and grown into an avalanche of interest and implementation. But it’s not just the educators who have contributed to the phenomenon, industry have played their part too and I’ll come back to that later.
But let’s start with the title of this article, ‘The Wow Factor!’. I’m sure most of you will have already guessed where I’m going with this. Esports offers an amazing opportunity to create that wow factor in education. Here at Queen’s Mary College in Basingstoke we are very fortunate to have established an esports facility that simply inspires both learners and teachers alike. Every time we welcome new students or parents to the building we witness the response, jaws drop, the phrase ‘wow’ is commonly used and simply ‘poking the head around the corner to have a nose’ isn’t enough, they want to explore the arenas, see what’s streaming on the large screens, question what the yoga and palates room is there for and that’s before they’ve seen the streaming lab!
To continue reading this article on the Pearson website click here
