Key Points:
Just in time for back-to-school season, Verizon is launching a free high school esports league through its free Verizon Innovative Learning HQ portal.
Registration for the esports league opened in early August, and the league will run from September 23 to December 13. In partnership with nonprofit organization Games for Change, participating schools will receive free coaching from esports professionals to help prepare their teams in a variety of areas, from technical skills to gamer health and wellness.
Verizon Innovative Learning, an award-winning initiative from Verizon, is unveiling brand new learning resources that connect students to one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. – esports and gaming – and give teachers the tools to incorporate it into their lessons.
In addition to the new esports league, Verizon Innovative Learning HQ users will have access to professional development, lesson plans and other resources on esports and gaming to bring this exciting content into K-12 classrooms.
- A collection of professional development for teachers, principals, and district leaders, focusing on how to integrate esports, gaming, and game design into K-12 classrooms.
- Ready-to-use toolkits and lessons for bringing hackathons, game design challenges, and game clubs to your school.
- Immersive content and video resources showcasing careers in esports, including Voices from the Field, a collection of video interviews with esports and gaming professionals. Additionally, our partners at Arizona State University offer CareerXRcade, a gamified XR learning experience that gives students a real-world look into various careers in esports and cybersecurity, and Professional Pathways: Esports, a complementary curriculum that offers project-based learning for students to explore the esports industry.
Beyond esports and gaming, Verizon Innovative Learning HQ is also offering a range of back-to-school services through its partners.
- Discovery Education: The latest episode and four new lesson plans for the TimePod Adventures augmented reality (AR) app are now available at Verizon Innovative Learning HQ, allowing app users to travel back in time and return dinosaur eggs to their original location before they hatched.
- McGraw Hill: The global education leader is rolling out Spanish versions of all 30 of McGraw Hill's AR activities at Verizon Innovative Learning HQ. All 30 activities, spanning math, science and social studies subject areas, are now available on the app and web.
- University of Colorado Boulder's PhET Interactive Simulations: The University of Colorado Boulder's PhET Project will launch four new courses at Verizon Innovative Learning HQ, enabling math and science educators to leverage free PhET simulations in the classroom to help engage students in exploring mathematical and natural principles.
- Museum Initiatives: Verizon Innovative Learning is partnering with NYU Tandon School of Engineering to continually develop professional development modules and ready-to-go lesson plans from a range of museum and cultural institution partners, 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 has maintained an steadfast commitment to educators and students, making a lasting impact on nearly 8 million students nationwide. We continue to enhance and evolve our technology-centric curriculum, adding new programs, partners and content to give more students new opportunities,” said Donna Epps, Verizon's chief business officer. “As technology and innovation evolve, so does our support. From gaming to esports to immersive learning, our new free services continue to meet the demands and interests of today's students and ensure teachers have the tools to integrate technology into the classroom.”
Verizon Innovative Learning
Verizon Innovative Learning is investing more than $1 billion in market capitalization to support digital equity and inclusion in education across the U.S. This effort is focused on helping students develop the skills, knowledge and abilities to succeed, currently reaching nearly 8 million students across the U.S. and providing hundreds of Title I schools with the connectivity and next-generation technology to power innovative lesson plans.
Verizon is partnering with the nonprofit Digital Promise to expand its Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program by welcoming 34 new Title I schools, bringing the number of schools in the program to 626 nationwide. Students and teachers in this new cohort will be equipped with tablets, laptops and other devices, along with up to four years of data, to enable 24/7 learning in and outside of the classroom.
Additionally, Verizon is opening 18 new Verizon Innovative Learning Labs in Title I schools this school year, bringing the total number of labs nationwide to 161. In collaboration with nonprofit partners Heart of America and Arizona State University's J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute, the Verizon Innovative Learning Lab program provides students with access to robust hands-on learning tools, including VR equipment, 3D printing stations and AR apps, in custom-designed, state-of-the-art experiential learning environments.
This press release was originally published online.