#FCGamingStories: EdTech to Esports
Mar 22In mid-February, FC Gaming launched #FCGamingStories - a chance for us to hear your esports in education stories, with a chance to be featured on our blog. After some careful deliberation, the team at FC Gaming wanted to highlight a school that’s hit the ground running with their esports club this year! A familiar face in the FC Gaming community, we’re highlighting Dean Vendramin, and the amazing work he’s done at his school, Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Catholic High School. Please introduce yourself, and tell us a bit about how you got into esports!My name is Dean Vendramin from Regina, Saskatchewan blessed to live, learn, and do esports on Treaty 4 Territory, traditional lands of the Nêhiyawak, Nahkawé, and Nakota, the homeland of the Métis, Lakota, and Dakota. I am grateful to teach at Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Catholic High School in the Regina Catholic School Division. I teach Grades 9-12 Math, Robotics, and Social Studies. To learn a bit more about me or to connect reach out on Twitter @vendi55 or visit my e-portfolio. I have always been a fan of video games even from back in the ‘old arcades’ days. I have enjoyed many a time playing, learning, competing, and having fun through video games throughout the years. Fast forward to having kids of my own and seeing the evolution of video games in complexity, strategy, collaboration, and creativity, evolve into esports. Watching my own kids engage with others in this environment led me to understand there are many crossovers to traditional sports. Having conversations with students coupled with the knowledge I have gained from my personal experience, has convinced me that we need esports opportunities at our school on a club level. “It’s a fun place to hang out with your friends. You can play games, eat, or interact with others. ” — Abraham B. When did you start your esports club?We have had a tech club that tinkered with robotics, had access to laptops and iPads, and other maker space opportunities for a few years now. But about three years ago, we made a conscious effort to make the jump into offering esports for those involved in the tech club and any students that wanted to be a part of the team. We started two years before the pandemic started and we were gaining momentum, and our esports space was bustling. But even the pandemic didn’t totally stop our esports program as we became the only extracurricular program to continue throughout the pandemic. We were able to stay in touch through Discord. Students set up some of their own events and fun activities, and we participated in a few North American esports leagues and had the only extracurricular award winners in our school. This year has seen the comeback and rise of esports as a lunch- and afterschool-extracurricular activity become face to face once again. It has been such a great opportunity for so many students to compete, make new friends, and learn so many social and emotional skills. What was the process you went through to start your club?We did have a bit of a base with the tech club that we had established, but it grew into esports with a simple request and support from my school’s administration, which saw the potential and need for this to grow in our school. I was also lucky that there were a couple of students that were keen and took on leadership roles (another huge benefit to offering esports). So with an investment of a couple of Nintendo Switches and a few titles, our esports club began to grow. Soon students were having meetings about organizing the club, developing a code of conduct, and creating Discord accounts and servers to communicate with our esports club took off, and quickly grew into a club with about 30 members that continues to evolve. “Being in esports means playing games with my friends. I think it’s important for schools to have esports clubs because it helps people get involved in activities they enjoy. Competing against other schools brings all of the schools closer together and brings fun and friendly competition.” — Zech S. What does the structure of your club currently look like?Our club is inclusive and has opportunities to participate on many levels. The majority of the members compete daily against each other in various games. It’s amazing to hear the excitement and energy daily coming from our esports club. We have competed face-to-face pre-pandemic with another school in our division which was extremely successful. This is something I’m trying to establish once again with at least the other three schools in my division. This year (thanks to our IT department) we were able to do some friendlies with another school in our division. This was a lot of fun and it was an opportunity to compete and represent our school that many of our members would not have had the opportunity to do so. We have participated in a couple of the North American High School esports leagues (PlayVS and HSEL). We had some good experiences overall with these as there were some opportunities to join for free at the time. We are not quite there yet to compete with some of the elite programs (it would be amazing to have a student get a scholarship offer through this one day) that were there but it was still fun for students (especially during the pandemic) and something we will continue to explore (there are some challenges like cost depending on the game, game times, or set up, but these can be addressed and worked around). One esports league that we have participated in this year is Esport Canada. There are not a lot of schools set up yet, but the organization and mission of this league fosters more of a casual and fun community. They are only offering games right now that are free like Rocket League, Brawlhalla, and Minecraft right now. Speaking of Minecraft, one of the cornerstones of our club is Minecraft: Education Edition. We have been involved in many worldwide Minecraft projects/competitions and our students have had a blast creating solutions based on the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals, Logics Canadian Minecraft Competitions, NASEF, and more. There are many leadership opportunities from promotion and marketing, communications, and organization to general protocols and clean-up. The leaders of our club run the organization of daily activities, whereas smaller leadership groups for specific activities like organizing an in-school Mario Kart Tournament to raise money for our club are established. We are active on Discord and the students have set up a multitude of channels to discuss a variety of topics about all things esports and more. It has been great to see how respectful the community has been, being built in this platform. We are part of our school’s extracurricular programs and offer MVP opportunities to outstanding leaders of our club. How did you get the required technology set up? What did that process look like?With growing numbers and opportunities for students to participate in an esports club, it was a relatively easy sell to administration to invest in this program. We decided to go with Nintendo Switches based on the titles, ease of setup, and ability to have multiple players playing at the same time. So it was basically plug-and-play. We started with two Switches but have since been able to purchase two more and the EYES program (STEM-based workshop outreach program from the University of Regina) has loaned us three more devices for a total of seven devices that are available to our students. Our IT department has also been supportive by allowing these devices on the school wi-fi and opening network ports to allow us to play against other schools online. For some of the competitions after hours, members have used their own computers or Switches to compete. We usually set up a Discord channel for specific teams and I’ve been able to watch and talk with students during these competitions which has been great. We have access to Minecraft: Education Edition on the laptops in our esports lab and students can also access Minecraft:EE free at home with their school accounts to work on these. Sometimes collaboration using this can be difficult but there are solutions like learning how to use port forwarding. How did you and your students decide on what games to play?We wanted to stay away from first-person shooter games and games that may have some questionable content, so we went with the Nintendo Switch. Students enjoy competing in Smash Bros (this is our most popular title), Rocket League, Mario Kart, Splatoon, and even have access to Mario Party for some fun (I even got a few copies of the game Civilization VI to use in my Social 9 class and EYES helped us out with some Nintendo Labos for some maker opportunities). Minecraft: Education Edition is available on school devices and at home. Students still love doing some Minecraft even in High School and esports is becoming a big part of how people are seeing and using Minecraft: EE. Down the road, we may expand to some PCs to offer League of Legends and other PC esport titles. What are some recommendations for educators out there that want to start their own esports clubs?You don’t have to be an expert gamer to be a coach or to start a club. Start by providing a place for students to gather and build a community. I’d highly recommend taking the FCL Esports coaching clinic. So much is covered and one can see that you can start small but can grow esports to whatever heights you and your students would like to take it, from casual in-school competitions to competing in national and international events with scholarship opportunities on the line. Minecraft Edu also has a great esports clinic that I’d also recommend. Tap into the experts you have in the room. Your students will have lots of ideas, an understanding of esports, and the ability to organize and lead the community. Also, leverage the power of social media like Twitter and communication hubs like Discord (join the FCL Gaming Discord!) to build community and share ideas and resources. Esports are gaining momentum and will continue to be part of society for a long time. I have heard that esports will be part of the Olympics one day and data shows that more people watched the League of Legends World Finals than the Super Bowl. There are many esport related careers available other than playing, such as broadcasting, hosting, promotions, and more that clubs can offer and provide students with excellent skills and experiences to add to their resumes. Esports is a multi-billion dollar industry that will only continue to grow, so it is important to provide students with positive and organized activities and events to make sure this growth is positive. But when it boils down to it, it’s just great to provide students with an opportunity to be part of a community and let them play.
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AuthorDean Vendramin has been Educator for over 20 years. He is the 21st Century Education Leader at Archbishop M.C. O'Neill Catholic High School. He has a passion for all things in education with emphasis on technology integration, assessment, professional development, and 21 Century Education. Archives
April 2022
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