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What’s Next for Esports and Higher Education?

Colleges are offering casual gamers, aspiring pros and those who plan to spend a career in esports the technology, instruction and decked-out spaces they desire.

Adam Stone

Adam Stone writes on technology trends from Annapolis, Md., with a focus on government IT, military and first-responder technologies.

No longer viewed as mere video gaming, collegiate esports are now an integral part of campus life at colleges and universities nationwide.

To understand the changing esports landscape and the role of top-notch equipment in a competitive program, EdTech: Focus on Higher Education talked with Joey Gawrysiak, associate professor and executive director of esports at Syracuse University, and Danielle Rourke, national esports manager at CDW.

EDTECH: How has esports in higher education evolved over the past decade?

GAWRYSIAK: The biggest trend has been in how we create esports programs for learners of all abilities and styles on college campuses. We’re trying to find new educational opportunities through this lens of esports and video games.

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It has evolved immensely to include academic programming, enhanced club participation and using esports as a recruitment and retention tool. We are finding opportunities to engage in ways that weren’t previously there. The evolution includes what games are being played, how many scholarships are being offered, the types of facilities being constructed and also community and student engagement.

Now we’re getting into the academic programs as well, including full-blown academic majors, graduate programs, certificates, minors and more.

ROURKE: We’ve definitely seen esports and competitive gaming become much more accepted in higher education overall. We’re having fewer discussions about “Why would we ever do this?” and more discussions about “How do we do this, and how do we make sure it aligns with our educational objectives, as well as the needs of our student body?”

EDTECH: What role does state-of-the-art equipment play in a competitive program?

GAWRYSIAK: We want to make sure we always have the fastest and the best equipment for our gamers, PCs in particular. We need to keep up with the processing power that’s needed at the highest level of competition.

In our facility here, we just did a refresh with Lenovo Legion equipment to make sure we had that higher processing power, the high refresh rate on the monitors. We want to make sure that their ping rate is as low as possible, so that our students don’t have a disadvantage — that they have the best chance possible to compete.

With the Lenovo Legion line, they’re able to compete with the highest refresh rate possible, no screen blur and no motion blur. We have hardwired internet into all our machines to make sure that their ping rate is as low as possible. This equipment allows us to play at the highest level.

ROURKE: Devices like Lenovo Legion also allow give colleges and universities the flexibility to use their labs and the equipment they are purchasing for multiple purposes.

That often drives easier acceptance and approval from administrators and budgetary bodies because they can take that same equipment that they’re purchasing for esports and use it for career and technical education. They can do architecture, statistics and higher-level computing research. Devices like the Lenovo Legion give them that flexibility.

We intentionally build our facilities in heavy-traffic areas on campus to make sure we’re maximizing that student engagement … We use it very intentionally for community building.”

Joey Gawrysiak Associate Professor and Executive Director of Esports, Syracuse University

EDTECH: How does the rise of the “esports arena” factor in?

GAWRYSIAK: Syracuse has made an investment to have best-in-class facilities. We have one arena, we’re about to open the second and are starting to plan for a third. Our chancellor has made it very clear that he wants to set a standard for how esports arenas and facilities can be used on a college campus, not just for competition but also for student engagement and community-building, as well as for research and academic purposes.

We intentionally build our facilities in heavy-traffic areas on campus to make sure we’re maximizing that student engagement. They’re open to all students on campus, completely free, and they can be in there for up to three hours per day. We use it very intentionally for community building.

ROURKE: An esports arena helps the colleges and universities connect with a different demographic of students than they normally do, which supports recruitment and retention.

And while it can be a free, open place for community, it can also be a self-sustaining revenue driver, with schools charging very low, nominal fees for students and also opening it up to the community at an hourly rate for people to come in and use this very high-end equipment.

EDTECH: Going forward, where is esports headed? What should schools be thinking about?

GAWRYSIAK: It’s heading toward a holistic look of what esports can be on a college campus. It’s not just about competition, not just about bringing in high-level players to compete for a championship. Esports and video games can offer opportunities to learners of all abilities and all interests, to help them with professional development, with 21^st century skills and with social-emotional learning.

Higher education has to adapt the model so it’s not just a place to play video games, but one that offers programming through this lens of esports and goes far beyond gaming.

ROURKE: We’re also starting to see these gaming lounges and esports arenas become a focal point for campuses to introduce emerging technology.

A lot of colleges and universities are looking to these spaces to implement augmented reality and virtual reality, simulation, all kinds of new technologies. In the past, those technologies maybe were used only in very specific classes. Now they can be much more accessible to the broader student body and to the staff and faculty as well.

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