Esports Education Learning Center and ViewSonic Bring the Magic of Esports to a Broader Audience

Apr 12, 2023

CASE STUDY

Esports Education Learning Center and ViewSonic Bring the Magic of Esports to a Broader Audience

CUSTOMER PROFILE

Esposure is a global education technology company focused on increasing access and opportunities for future innovators seeking careers in the esports industry. Esposure has built an Educate to Entertain (E2E) ecosystem that connects immersive learning experiences with proprietary gamifi cation technology.

Esposure’s Global Learning Experience Platform, DEEP™, helps educators, parents, and STEM professionals prepare learners for the future by developing skills and creating opportunities to engage and contribute to the growing demand of digital professions of the gaming and esports industry.

“Being able to view the content together, to interact as a group instead of in silos, really brings everyone together. The ViewBoard display lets everyone visualize the same content at once and creates more dialog around the topic being presented. This helps teachers, administrators and parents learn about the value of esports and draws them into the excitement their students are feeling about the industry.”

— Brittney Seals, Esposure COO

THE CHALLENGE

Esports is a rapidly expanding $1.38 billion-dollar global industry that encompasses over 200 related digital careers including front-line pro gamers and a huge range of behind-the-scenes roles like talent manager, tournament promoter, shout caster and digital marketer, to name just a few. Regrettably, for both aspiring young people and an industry in need of talent, these opportunities are not widely recognized.

Increasing awareness of esports career prospects and training students in the corresponding skills is exactly what esports education company Esposure is all about. Founded by a mother-son team with deep experience in technology and gaming, Esposure highlights core esports career areas and helps students build related skills through a variety of educational resources. CEO Danny Martin entered the collegiate gaming scene when he became the go-to console repair person on his college campus. Martin’s mother and Esposure CTO, Rose Johnson, owned a technology consulting firm for 30 years.

“Through his connections at school, Danny learned who was playing which games, and he started creating tournaments, first in the dorm, then the student center, then business locations in and around San Antonio,” said Johnson. “He became known as ‘Esports Danny’ and his dorm room served as the breeding ground for talent, and esports organizations started asking for his recruiting expertise.”

In the early days Martin mentored talent, facilitated tournaments, and grew his esports network. Johnson began exploring ways to use technology to build a much-needed ecosystem to support the gaps of the industry. Then came Covid.

“Schools started contacting us, saying football is out, basketball is out, volleyball is out – what can we do with esports?” said Johnson. “The global pandemic exposed the learning gaps with traditional classroom environments that became evident with the abrupt transition to online learning. The opportunity to bridge the technological gap presented itself and we were able to deliver a solution to create more engagement in education.”

The first component of the solution was to build a digital learning experience platform that could be used from any location. The result was a program designed to grow awareness and build competencies by combining education with entertainment in a way that engages and empowers learners. The second component turns knowledge into experiential learning, with a communal online space that allows learners to create, share their work, and connect with likeminded peers in a secure environment. The final piece was to create a physical space for hands-on and immersive learning plus workforce development.

“Ultimately we wanted to focus on providing fun and engaging experiences for students,” said Martin. “We understand the value of classroom education, and learning through our digital platform, but more importantly, we understand the value of hands-on experience in the industry.”

THE SOLUTION

Today the company provides services from an 8,000 square foot facility conveniently located just off a main highway in the Dallas suburb of Duncanville, TX. This custom-built space has allowed the founder’s dreams to flourish.

“Our Esports Studio and Education Center brings it all together: the curriculumbased learning, the digital collaborative workspace, and the hands-on experience,” said Martin. “We have 20+ pro-gaming stations – plus a shout caster booth, production booth, video editing equipment, and a podcast room, along with classroom spaces – everything needed to learn, produce, manage and participate in esports.”

What they realized was missing was a way to maximize the learning experience platform in a physical environment. The solution became clear when they connected with ViewSonic team members at an Esposure Discovered LIVE experience.

“We learned about the ViewSonic ViewBoard interactive displays, tested them, and ultimately integrated five IFP5550 ViewBoard displays on mobile carts throughout our facilities,” said Martin. “They’re exactly what we needed – the magic sauce that connects the digital platform with in-person engagement and collaboration.”

THE RESULTS

Even in a facility decked-out with high-end digital and production equipment, the ViewSonic ViewBoard displays quickly stood out as a game-changer.

“Esports is all about the entertainment and the experience,” said Brittney Seals, Esposure COO. “We designed our competitive space to deliver a truly immersive experience that conveys this excitement. The ViewBoard displays allow us to bring that feeling to every learning area by enabling a larger number of people to see the content and to work hands-on with the collaborative features.”

For example, Seals also stated that “when a student is working with a large ViewBoard display in the arena or any other learning zone, peers are more engaged and excited to get involved, interact, and learn along with a team.”

The same goes for students reviewing their digital portfolios. When their work is displayed on the big screen, conversations begin, feedback flows, and peer-to-peer learning is in full force.

“The peer learning model works,” said Johnson. “Using the ViewBoard displays with our curriculum allows students to be much more interactive, to learn from each other, and to collaborate. And it’s much more immersive.”

Along with amping up the interaction at their facilities, the Esposure team now takes a ViewSonic ViewBoard display with them for their off-site experience across the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area, in what they call “activations.”

“Schools ask us to bring our mobile interactive experience to their location, and we work closely with the Dallas Independent School District, which is huge,” said Martin. “They have partnered with us to visit more than 200 DISD schools by the end of 2023.”

It was at his first activation using a ViewSonic ViewBoard display that Martin had a powerful “ah-ha moment” about the value of the interactive displays. “We were at Austin ISD and the students were engaged in our ‘Test Your Knowledge’ esports quiz, which invites learners to showcase their knowledge of the industry. It was at that moment I realized the value and impact we can make with a ViewSonic ViewBoard. It was actually enlightening for me,” said Martin.

“We have activated many Discovered LIVE experiences before but none that brought the experience to life until we integrated the ViewBoard.”

In the past, a student would tackle the quiz on their individual laptop, a purely solo endeavor.

“The ViewBoard display allowed the experience to become interactive and collaborative,” Martin said. “There was a group surrounding the student, helping with the quiz, learning together. The use of the ViewBoard display was critical to elevating the experience, which elevates the learning. It was a profound moment for me.”

What’s more, Martin was able to witness the impact and excitement among educators observing the engagement and interaction fostered by the use of the ViewBoard display.

Seal agrees: “Being able to view the content together, to interact as a group instead of in silos, really brings everyone together,” she said. “The ViewBoard display lets everyone visualize the same content at once and creates more dialog around the topic being presented. This helps teachers, administrators and parents learn about the value of esports and draws them into the excitement their students are feeling about the industry.”

Along with the collaborative big-screen benefits brought by the ViewBoard displays, the Esposure team was thrilled with how easy they were to set up and use.

“The ViewSonic team was going to send someone out to help with set up, but we didn’t need it; everything was very intuitive,” said Seals, adding that using the displays has likewise been easy and intuitive.

Furthermore, the Esposure team noted, they appreciate the aesthetic appeal of the ViewSonic ViewBoard displays – from the crisp, clear graphics to the ViewSonic brand cachet and the sleek product design that compliments their modern facilities.

“We love the way our platform looks on the ViewSonic ViewBoards; it looks digitally superior, and the colors are crisp, clean and engaging,” said Johnson. “The ViewBoard displays amplify our highly digitized user interface. Students get excited about using the LXP because the crisp and clear display on the ViewBoard doesn’t make it look like a traditional learning management system – it looks more like a fun game.”

And that, the team agrees, is exactly what they needed to bring the magic of esports – and its vast career potential – to their learners, their community, and beyond.