Keynote: Enriching Esports Based on Four Years of Research

Constance Steinkuehler is a Professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine where she researches culture, cognition, and learning in the context of multiplayer online videogames. She is an ADL Belfer Fellow, the chair of UCI’s Game Design and Interactive Media Program, Co-Director of the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Center, and Chair of the Annual GLS Conference. She teaches courses on games and society, visual design, and research methods. 

In her keynote, Steinkuehler will discuss qualitative and quantitative findings across four years of investigation that highlight student gains across domains including STEM, communication, social-emotional learning, 21st century skills. She will illuminate the growing evidence for academically enriched esports programs and contextualize the apparent effectiveness of enriched esports in the broader frame of reference of game-based learning, interest-driven learning, and authentic practice in education.