Esports and Education: how to develop managerial skills in a playful environment

The author of this article is Andrea Di Mario, H-FARM Senior Digital Marketing Consultant

Would you like your children to engage in a social activity, in which they will learn about task division, roles, and responsibility of collaborating in a group while being encouraged to communicate in English with people from all over the world? If you are interested in this type of experience and think these skills will be useful for their future, let them play. Are you familiar with Esports in education and the skills related to it?

Video games help children develop a wide array of different skills, but gaming is only beneficial if it’s approached in the right way. The playful part needs to be inserted within an educational programme that includes physical activities and raises awareness regarding the risks of a sedentary lifestyle.

During our Esports Academy, created jointly by Acer for Education and H-FARM, students from 14 to 16 years old made a deep dive into the gaming industry, going beyond solely the viewpoint of a professional player. They learned about the characteristics of games that rise to the level of being considered “esports”, they focused on esports history and the dynamics of the main competitive games, while exploring the different roles of the esports ecosystem such as team manager, analyst, caster, and head coach. 

Esports in Education: from skills to careers

Today, competitive video games offer players the possibility to create a professional career. In several countries, a football player or a “League of Legends” jungler are respected in the same way, as top-tier athletes of their (e)sport. Nevertheless, pro players are just the tip of the iceberg. In our academy, frontal lessons were combined with team-building experiences to develop trust and group dynamics. Eye-hand coordination exercises were used to improve reaction time, multitasking and coordination but students had also the opportunity to develop their analysis, logical reasoning, and public speaking skills, all using videogames as didactic tools.

In conclusion, esports represent a very resourceful medium in the hands of teachers to engage students through technology. Beyond its entertaining aspect, fostering skills with Esports in Education opens the doors inspire promising careers.

Following the Esports Academy project, we created a bundle of training materials, content lessons, and classroom activities for teachers (more info below).