Wow! Danelle and I were so thankful to have Ted Kidd and Dylan Chapman join us for this is a jam packed eSports episode of the EdTech Loop Podcast. If you are at all curious about the eSports phenomenon this is a must listen as our guests break down almost any aspect you could think of concern the sport. As the TechNollerGist would say, "Play a game today, it's good for you."

 

Full Show Transcript:

Dylan Chapman 0:00 Yeah, I've got you loud and clear here.

Danelle Brostrom 0:07 We lost Dylan

Ted Kidd 0:08 He's frozen

Danelle Brostrom 0:09 I know. Awe,

Dylan Chapman 0:10 Hi, sorry about that. I got myself kicked out I think.

Danelle Brostrom 0:13 Larry. Are you ready?

Larry Burden 0:15 We are ready.

Larry Burden 0:21 It's Episode 95 of the EdTech Loop podcast. My name is Larry Burden and she'll choose Yoshi over Mario every time. It's Danelle Brostrom. For the first time ever on The EdTech Loop podcast we are joined remotely by the heroes of Michigan High School eSports, Dylan Chapman and Ted Kidd. Before they joined us in our endless quest to level up, we've already discovered this week's Moment of Zen.

Moment of Zen 0:47 Time passes, people move, like a rivers flow it never ends, a childish mind will turn to noble ambition.

Larry Burden 0:58 Danelle has taken over the cooking duties and has barred me from the kitchen so she could remotely prepare this week's meat of the show. The Rise of Esports.

Danelle Brostrom 1:19 So Ted, can you give us a little introduction on who you are?

Ted Kidd 1:22 Ted Kidd work at Pinckney Community Schools. I'm the Director of Technology Operations and which is kind of a glorified network janitor job.

Danelle Brostrom 1:31 And Dylan?

Dylan Chapman 1:32 I'm a high school social studies teacher at Grass Lake High School.

Danelle Brostrom 1:35 Tell me what is eSports?

Dylan Chapman 1:37 eSport s is competitive online video game play. It's a multi-billion dollar industry, and it's being played at everywhere from the high school, even middle school level, all the way up to collegiate, and professional play.

Danelle Brostrom 1:50 How long have eSports been going on here in Michigan?

Ted Kidd 1:52 At the high school level it's, this is kind of the fourth year. In our experience we've seen some competitive tournaments happen at Lawrence Technical University, they started that about three years ago, and then just recently, Dylan, myself and a few others in the state of Michigan have formed a organization called MiHSEF or Michigan High School eSports Federation, to allow all high school eSports programs to compete against each other for free.

Danelle Brostrom 2:24 Nice. What kind of benefits are the kids getting from eSports? Like how, how are you selling this to families because I guarantee you there's probably a lot of moms that are like, no that's not a real thing honey, go back to doing what you were doing before.

Dylan Chapman 2:34 Some of the things that are like life skills or lessons that students learn are things like, communication, teamwork, sportsmanship. In a lot of ways, it's like traditional sports and then a lot of other ways it's not. But they learn a lot of the skills that they would on the football field, but in a just a different environment. So some things that are different that I think that they learn, are things like self learning. They're definitely motivated internally, like by themselves to push themselves further. The players participate as coaches a lot more than, than traditional sports and that gives the students a sense of leadership and control.

Ted Kidd 3:12 The thing about eSports versus traditional sports, because you kind of mentioned as well, is the esports can be played all year round. So kids don't just play for, you know, a six week period and then leave. Some of them will play all year round. So they really get a sense of community when they enter an eSports program.

Dylan Chapman 3:34 As far as communities that are in doubt that eSports is something t