Travel Recap

SAI 2016 STEM-ATEM-ICEM Joint International Conference

December 2016
Share |

Seoul, South Korea– September 23-25, 2016

Submitted by: Ruben Garcia, SHSU ESPORTS President

SHSU Esports was invited to attend the SAI 2016 STEM-ATEM-ICEM Joint International Conference to prepare an exhibition, and an oral and poster presentation regarding Esports. The theme of the conference was “Interactions with Media: Intersecting the World of Language and Learning On and-Offline.” Although Esports is well-known in South Korea, Esports organizations are not prevalent at a collegiate level. The SAI Conference invited SHSU Esports to share their knowledge on starting and validating an Esports Organization on a college campus. The exhibition was a 5 vs. 5, 3 vs. 3 League of Legends match between SHSU Esports Officers, and the League of Legends team from Kookmin University. Spectators had the option to either watch the match in person, or live stream it on Twitch.

The poster presentation offered by SHSU Esports, gave an explanation about Esports, the League of Legends, a214872_SAI group picturend evaluated the impacts the game has had on society. The oral presentation described the steps in starting an Esports Organization and how to legitimize it as an organization. The steps described in the presentation included, developing a purpose, a constitution, selecting club members, advisors, and officers. The next steps we covered in legitimizing an Esports Organization leadership, marketing, partnering with university, community involvement, diversity, and unity. Many of the participants that attended this session had never heard of Esports, and offered a lot of feedback and expressed gratitude for learning about the world of Esports.

Some of the guest speakers included: Otto Benavides (NASA Educator Resource Center at Fresno State, USA) – “What Technology Has Given us: Were Predictions Correct? And The Future?” Hannah Gerber (Sam Houston State University, USA) “Into the Meta: Using Social Media Analytics to Explore Informal Literacy Practices Within Gaming Communities,” Makoto Kurata (Kyoto Univ. of Foreign Studies, Japan) “Some Linguistic Tips Through Movies,” Johnathan Rochelle (Google, USA) “The Future of Education: How Machine Learning Will Inform Human Learning,” and Jason Yun Joon Lee (Duksung Women's Univ., Korea) “Connecting the Dots with Language, Culture and Media: What

Does the Geek Culture Tell Us?” These wide range of topics gave participants some insight on how technology has progressed over the years, how you can learn from meta data analysis, learn English from watching movies/shows, how movies intertwine into society’s culture, and why creativity needs to be encouraged in the classrooms. Being able to see the professors give their presentations really inspired SHSU Esport members to continue with graduate school to be able to do the same one day.

While in Korea, participants were able to experience a bit of the culture; learning a few basic Korean words, trying out various foods, learning about the history of Seoul, making traditional bracelets and necklaces, fashion, and transportation methods. Attendees also had the opportunity to network and meet professors from Japan, Singapore, England, Portugal, and other parts of the USA, as well as interact with students from Kookmin University and local citizens in Seoul.

Return to Travel ReCap