Part 1 - Overview of Topic - Sports Fandom in the Digital Age What’s it like being a fan of a professional sport in the late 2010s? Is it any different than being a fan 20+ years ago? After all, the sports themselves haven’t changed too much in that time (i.e. a basketball season is still 82 games+playoffs that occur from October to June each year; a layup is still worth 2pts). The fact is technology has completely changed the way fans consume sports content. In particular mobile technology has enabled a vast range of ways to stay fully connected and up-to-speed on all things sports. Being a fan is all about learning, you are following current events and thus new information is available all the time (scores, news stories, analysis etc). This lesson will show how a sports fan can stay connected with all of the information they could want about their favorite professional league and team. Learners will have the opportunity to explore how different apps on mobile devices can serve distinct functions for their fandom. They will learn about the different types of sports media that is available to fans now, it's no longer the morning paper and sports center. This lesson would be best suited for the novice sports fan who really wants to stay in the loop about everything related to their favorite pro sport. This fan could be 13 years old or 45, it doesn’t matter as long as they are relative novices when it comes to sports fandom. The lesson is delivered virtually, with learners being able to control a lot of the pacing of the learning and activities. Part 2 - Design Components A. Learning Goals The goals for learners all center around the idea of knowing how to leverage existing mobile applications and media to get the information you seek as a fan of a sport. The goal is for learners to know how to get daily information on these topics: 1. Game scores and statistics from recent games 2. Information about a breaking news story 3. Discussion, breakdown, and analysis of how [well] a team is playing 4. Getting a sense of what other fans are thinking and feeling [during game and after] B. Learning Theory One of the central ideas to this lesson is the concept of seamless learning, further bolstered by mobile learning technologies. Wong and Looi ( 2011 ; MSL5 as revised by Wong, 2012 ) proposed 10 characteristics of “mobile-assisted seamless learning” (MSL): ● (MSL1) Encompassing formal and informal learning; ● (MSL2) Encompassing personalised and social learning; ● (MSL3) Across time; ● (MSL4) Across locations; ● (MSL5) Ubiquitous access to learning resources (online data and information, teacher- created materials, student artefacts, student online interactions, etc.); ● (MSL6) Encompassing physical and digital worlds; ● (MSL7) Combined use of multiple device types (including “stable” technologies such as desktop computers, interactive whiteboards); ● (MSL8) Seamless switching between multiple learning tasks (such as data collection, analysis, and communication); ● (MSL9) Knowledge synthesis (a combination of prior and new knowledge, multiple levels of thinking skills, and multidisciplinary learning); ● (MSL10) Encompassing multiple pedagogical or learning activity models. Many of these characteristics are present when a sports fan is engaged and trying to stay in the loop on their favorite sport or team. Some examples of these characteristics in action: ● MSL3, MSL4 are common for sports fans today, a fan will leverage their mobile device to stay up-to-speed on news and information at any time of day whether it be 12pm at work on their break or 11pm in their bed at night. Sports are current events and the information cycle is 24/7. ● MSL8 is also omnipresent for most fans, fans seamlessly pivot to gathering statistic information about their team to an online discussion about last night’s game ● MSL6 is particularly present for fans that are able to attend games. Fans in attendance at a game will often be checking in with social media and stat tracker applications on their mobile to augment their live experience ● MSL5 couldn’t be more true for engaged sports fans as this lesson will highlight. Information and learning resources are near boundless and it is learning to work within this web of numerous options that is one main focus in this lesson. Also present in this lesson is a strong theme of sociocultural learning. Sports exist on the field but a large part of fandom is interaction with other fans and the shared experience of being fans together. For example talking about the game the next day at work or on twitter afterwards can be just as fun and informative as the game itself. Each person brings unique experiences, perspective, and context to the table and that enhances learning. C. Lesson and Activity To begin the lesson each learner must choose a professional sports league to focus on. Recommended leagues would be the 5 major professional sports: Football (NFL), Basketball (NBA, WNBA), Hockey (NHL), Baseball (MLB), Soccer (MLS). The league does have to be actively playing games (so scores and stats can be current events) even though sports offseasons can themselves be a 24/7 news cycle. October is often a great month for this lesson as 4 of 5 leagues are active at this time (Baseball is in the playoffs, MLS typically starts at the very end or early November). In addition choosing a favorite team is recommended as it helps scaffold entry into the world of sports and provides context for other things going on in the league. For the purposes of this discussion I will give examples through the lens of myself as a learner and will choose the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles as my league and team. As a sports fan these are the authentic ways I engage in my chosen sport. The main idea for the lesson is for learners to learn to experience sports enhanced by mobile technology and its access to live information. Each week learners will focus on staying up-to- date on different aspects of the sport, leveraging different applications to do so (there will be some natural overlap due to the interrelated nature of the information). The teacher should provide assistance in learning how to use an application and giving context to how best to use them. At the end of each week learners will write a short reflection on their experience using the application. Each reflection should include likes/dislikes, challenges encountered, and a general outline of their experience. Week 1: Scores and Statistics The first mobile-assisted sports information task will be about keeping tabs on scores and statistics for games being played and for your favorite team. Learners should download an application to their mobile that provides live scores and stats. There are many of these apps and learners are encouraged to find one they like most. Recommendations include: ESPN, theScore, Yahoo Sports, CBS/NBC/Fox/ABC Sports. Most of these apps will prompt you to choose which leagues and teams you’d like to follow to streamline notifications and customized news dashboards. As a week of sports elapses learners will check in with the application to see scores for their team and other games around the league. As well as stats from those games (player stats can be looked at if desired too). Example: My favorite application for this is CBS Sports, mostly because I like their interface the most. On any given NFL week I will get notifications from the app about the Eagles and I will regularly open it up as games are played to keep an eye on games being played throughout the league. Week 2: Following Breaking News Stories There is sports news to follow everyday and it will run the gamut from minutia, which may only be interesting to you if its about your team, all the way to breaking news that is often major impact for the league and thus of interest to any fan (i.e. star player injured, major player trade etc). The methods used to stay connected with news share a lot of overlap with scores and statistics since they themselves have a “news” type feel to them [hence also being printed in a paper newspaper]. Thus all the mobile applications from Scores and Stats apply here. In addition, social media outlets become key sources of news stories as they often break there first before a short article can be swiftly written up and posted on something like ESPN. The king for breaking sports news is of course Twitter. Sports insiders [lots of league connections] like Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter make their living off of being the go-to news breaking twitter accounts for the NFL. You might see hints of news floating about before they tweet but until they tweet about it very few fans will take it seriously. Recommendations include: Twitter, Facebook, ESPN, Yahoo Sports, CBS/NBC/Fox/ABC Sports. Learners should follow any breaking news stories of the week, watching information unfold across different platforms and seeing the manners in which it is presented. Example: Let's say a major player is traded to the Eagles. Sometimes I get the news first from a notification or browsing an app like ESPN, if you find the news here it is almost always legitimately true [not speculation] but it also isn’t the first place for news to appear, I know I am late to the party if I get it here first. Alternatively I see information on Twitter or Facebook that indicates a trade MIGHT be happening, the whispers are starting to pick up steam.