NASEF SA: SUMMER BOOTCAMP SERIES BEGINS

Late venue changes and issues with sourcing lunch for all attendees were last minute worries that were thankfully, finalised the Friday before this inaugural Bootcamp event held at Parktown Boys’ High School, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

March 31 to April 4 witnessed a collective of thirty (30) learners and educators – with our youngest attendee being 10yrs old – being exposed to various aspects of the video game industry, including esports and the power of education through video games.

Day 1 was more of a concept introduction day, with the biggest learnings being the fact that more than half of the learners did not have an email address and as such had no idea about passwords and the concept of creating strong, memorable passwords. 

Learning Focus: Introduction to NASEF, Esports 101 and Esports in Education.

Day 2 was a deeper dive into potential career pathways, with a focus on professional gamers and game development. Our guest speaker was a local developer – Dylan Ramsden – who shared his experience, knowledge and insight into both the local and international game developer industries.

Learning Focus: Career Pathways with a focus on Professional Gamers and Game Development.

Day 3 focused more on education and content creation with the introduction of a brand new edtech platform – GameClass – and in collaboration with a soon-to-be-released supernatural game – Soul Walker – we launched a competition where both learners and educators could win fantastic prizes, sponsored by Matrix Warehouse.

Learning Focus: Tech Adoption, Tech Fluency, Content Creation (for both Learners and Educators) and Lesson Creation on Remarketing (for Educators). 

Day 4 highlighted the impact of data and data science within the digital realm and how data plays a pitotal role in the video game industry and within esports. 

All attendees spent their purposeful play session working on their assignments for the competition.

Learning Focus: Understanding data and how data can be used.

Day 5 featured a passionate discussion on toxicity in esports and, in particular, online gaming.  It was also the culmination of the Bootcamp with a recap on learnings over the 5-day period and the announcement of the 2 winners of Gaming chairs.

Learning Focus: All Minds, All Kinds! Highlighting the reasons for and actions that can be taken to distance oneself from toxic behaviour in gaming.

In summary:

• 5 Community-based organisations represented.
• 30 attendees.
• 150 meals served.
• Almost 30hrs of learning and gaming.
• 2 gaming chairs given away to education/content creation competition winners.

A HUGE thank-you to our event partners – Matrix Warehouse, AOC – and to venue hosts, Parktown Boys’ High School. The next event takes place in June. To find out more and to book your place, send an email to info@ruckusmedia.co.za.