Verizon Innovative Learning brings esports to the classroom

Key points:

In time for back-to-school season, Verizon is launching a free esports league for high schools through its free platform. Verizon Innovative Learning Center portal.

The esports league opened for registration in early August and will run from September 23 to December 13. In partnership with the nonprofit Games for Change, participating schools will receive free mentoring from esports professionals to help prepare teams in areas ranging from technical skills to player health and wellness.

Verizon’s award-winning initiative, Verizon Innovative Learning, is introducing new learning resources that will connect students to one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S.—eSports and gaming—and give educators the tools to incorporate it into their classrooms.

In addition to the new esports league, Verizon Innovative Learning HQ users have access to esports and gaming professional development, lesson plans, and other resources to bring this exciting content to K-12 classrooms:

• Professional development collections for teachers, school leaders, and district leaders focused on how to integrate esports, gaming, and game design into K-12 classrooms.
• Ready-to-use toolkits and lessons to bring hackathons, game design challenges, and gaming clubs to schools.
• Immersive content and video resources showcasing careers in esports, such as Voices from the Field, a collection of video interviews with esports and gaming professionals. Plus, from our partners at Arizona State University, CareerXRcade, a gamified XR learning experience that brings the various careers in esports and cybersecurity to life for students, as well as Professional Pathways: Esports, a supplemental curriculum that offers project-based learning for students to explore the esports industry.

Beyond esports and gaming, Verizon Innovative Learning HQ includes expanded back-to-school offerings through its partners:

• Discovery Education: The last episode of the Adventures in TimePod The augmented reality (AR) app and four new lesson plans are now available at Verizon Innovative Learning HQ. App users can go back in time to return a dinosaur egg to its home before it hatches.
• McGraw Hill: The global education leader is launching Spanish-language versions of all 30 McGraw Hill AR activities at Verizon Innovative Learning HQ. All 30 activities across the subject areas of math, science, and social studies are now available via the app and web.
• PhET Interactive Simulations at the University of Colorado at Boulder: The PhET project at the University of Colorado at Boulder is introducing four new courses at Verizon Innovative Learning HQ that will enable math and science educators to leverage free PhET simulations in their classrooms to help engage students in the exploration of mathematical and natural science principles.
• Museum Initiative: Verizon Innovative Learning, in partnership with NYU Tandon School of Engineering, will continue to develop professional development modules and ready-to-teach lesson plans for several partner museums and cultural institutions, including The Franklin Institute, Liberty Science Center, Children's Creativity Museum, Providence Children's Museum, and Belle Isle Conservancy.

“For more than a decade, Verizon’s steadfast commitment to educators and students has had a lasting impact on nearly eight million students across the country. We continue to grow and advance our technology-focused curriculum – adding new programs, partners and content – ​​to ensure more and more students can access new opportunities,” said Donna Epps, Chief Commercial Officer, Verizon. “As technology and innovation advances, so does our support. Our new free offerings continue to meet the demands and interests of today’s students – from gaming to esports to immersive learning – and ensure educators have the tools to integrate technology into the classroom.”

Innovative Learning from Verizon

Verizon Innovative Learning has committed more than $1 billion in market value to support digital equity and inclusion in education across the country. Focused on helping students develop the skills, knowledge and capabilities for success, the initiative has already reached nearly 8 million students across the United States and provided hundreds of Title I schools with state-of-the-art connectivity and technologies that bring innovative lesson plans to life.

In partnership with nonprofit Digital Promise, Verizon is expanding the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program with the addition of 34 new Title I schools. This brings the program’s total reach to 626 schools nationwide. Students and teachers in this new cohort will be equipped with devices including tablets and laptops, as well as up to four years of data, enabling 24/7 learning in and out of the classroom.

Additionally, Verizon is opening 18 new Verizon Innovative Learning Labs in Title I schools this school year, bringing the total to 161 labs nationwide. In collaboration with nonprofit partner Heart of America and Arizona State University’s J. Orin Edson Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Verizon Innovative Learning Labs program gives students access to robust, hands-on learning tools such as virtual reality equipment, 3D printing stations, augmented reality apps and more in a custom-designed, state-of-the-art experiential learning environment.

This press release Originally appeared online.

The eSchool Media staff covers educational technology in all its aspects, from legislation and litigation to best practices, lessons learned, and new products. First published in March 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information needed to help K-20 decision makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and universities and achieve their educational goals.

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