Notes

Minecraft To Launch Education Edition

Minecraft will launch an education edition of Minecraft By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor



19 January 2016



An "education version" of Minecraft is to be launched by Microsoft.



Teachers will discover new ways to utilize this world-building game in a variety of subjects.



Microsoft paid $2.5bn (PS1.8bn) for Mojang Minecraft, the game's Swedish creator in 2014. It also purchased the four-year-old MinecraftEdu game from TeacherGaming, a Finnish independent developer.



It's now promising to add more features, but schools may face additional costs.



It is reported that more than 7,000 classrooms around the globe are already using Minecraft in some form.



"Teachers are using Minecraft to do a myriad of things, such as teaching science, math, religion and poetry," Anthony Salcito, Microsoft's vice-president for education around the world said to the BBC.



"Once we make it easier for schools to have access to and use of the tools, I think you'll notice that the number of classrooms increase rapidly."



In-game camera



MinecraftEdu already gives teachers the possibility of editing content and access a library that contains educational-themed resources.



Microsoft promises to improve the experience by:



Children's characters to maintain their unique characteristics between sessions



letting pupils allow students to take "photos" of their progress via an in-game camera, and then store the images in an online book together with their own notes. These can later serve as a guide for other children, or be used by teachers to assess their progress.



Children can download software that lets them continue playing Minecraft in a classroom setting outside of school. They don't have to purchase the game.



To use the service, teachers and children each need their own Office 365 ID, which can be used to give access to the Microsoft cloud-based productivity software.



Microsoft claims this will help teachers reduce the number of online accounts they need to manage.



It may also help the company in promoting its word processing, file-sharing, and email apps over other platforms like Google and others.



Microsoft will charge a fee of $5 per year (PS3.50) per teacher and child.



This could be more costly than the current setup, which is $14 plus $41 for server software.



"We believe that we can bring added value," said Deirdre Quarnstrom director of Minecraft education.
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"In addition to having a permanent identity and a permanent password, players will also be able to access the most recent version of the game.



"MinecraftEdu together with other Minecraft mods, was one to two releases behind due to the nature of the development process.



"We are also replacing the need for schools to maintain separate servers."



Virtual Shakespeare



Leigh Wolmarans (head teacher at Lings Primary School, Northampton) welcomed the new features.



The school already uses MinecraftEdu to teach pupils about A Midsummer Night's Dream by asking them to create a performance of Shakespeare's work within the game.



However, he said other teachers should be aware the software had its limitations.



He also said that technology can be utilized to enhance learning, but it should be used in conjunction to other tools.



"If all you're doing is sitting them down and allowing them to play Shakespeare through Minecraft you are doing something wrong.



"Dance, drama and art are the best ways to teach children.



"But technology can add to that as an additional tool."



Microsoft has announced that it will allow teachers to "beta-test" Minecraft's education edition for free at some point during the summer, before its official rollout.



Minecraft was used to teach chemistry



5 November 2015



Minecraft lessons in schools



20 June 2014



Minecraft



MinecraftEdu



Lings Primary School


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