The esport industry is an ever-evolving field for which students must have industry-specific skills and knowledge if they intend to secure career opportunities. Scholarly curricula and the associated experiential conduits are essential to the acquisition and development of such skills among students. The purpose of this study was to better understand skill and knowledge attainment via student experiences in an applied, experiential esports assignment. Applying Kolb’s experiential learning theory, students were given an assignment for which they would create, market, and stream 30 min of esport content, as well as critically reflect on their experiences. A thematic analysis of 152 journals revealed five educational themes: (a) streaming fundamentals, (b) social media marketing and promotion, (c) problem solving, (d) transferable skills, and (e) application of course materials. Through these themes, we elucidate the practical experiences, applicable learning, and prospective industry value of the experiential-learning-theory-based class intervention. In doing so, we provide evidence-based recommendations for the instructional implementation of esport and gaming in the classroom and considerations for future pedagogical development of such learning technologies and practices.
Karadakis et al. (2025) studied this question.