Notes

Minecraft To Launch Education Edition

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



19 January 2016



Microsoft will launch an "education edition" Minecraft.



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



Microsoft paid $2.5bn (PS1.8bn) for Mojang Minecraft, Minecraft's Swedish creator, in 2014. In the last quarter of 2014 it purchased the four-year-old MinecraftEdu version of the game from Finnish-based independent developer TeacherGaming.



It's possible to add features now however, schools may face additional costs.



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



"Teachers are using Minecraft for so many things," Anthony Salcito (Microsoft's vice president of worldwide education) told the BBC.



"Once we make it easier for schools to access and use the tools, I think you'll see that the amount of classrooms] grows quite quickly."



Camera in game



MinecraftEdu already allows teachers to modify the content of the game, and also access a shared library of education-themed assets.



Microsoft is promising to improve user experience:



Children's characters to retain their character traits between sessions



Students can take "photos" of themselves using an in-game camera and then placing them in an online journal with their notes. They can then serve as tutorials for other children or be used by teachers to assess their progress.



permitting children to download software that will allow them to continue playing the educational version of Minecraft outside of school without having to buy their own version of the game.



Teachers and children need to have their own Office 365 ID to access the service. This ID can also be used for access to the cloud-based productivity software offered by Microsoft.



Microsoft says this will allow teachers to reduce the number of online accounts they'll need to manage.



It could also assist the company promote its word processing, file sharing, and email apps over other services like Google and others.



Microsoft plans to charge a per-year fee of $5 (PS3.50) for each teacher and child.



This could be more expensive than the current setup which requires schools to pay a one-time cost of $14 multiplied by the number of users they wish to allow to login at the same time in addition to an additional $41 for server software.



Deirdre Qarnstrom is the director of Minecraft education, stated that "we believe we are adding value".



"On on top of having a permanent identity, players will also have access to the most up-to-date version of the game.



"MinecraftEdu was one of the mods, along with other Minecraft mods. This was 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 he works at uses MinecraftEdu to teach its students about A Midsummer Night's Dream. minecraft packs He requested them to create a Shakespeare-inspired performance within MinecraftEdu.



He said that other teachers should be aware of the limitations of the software.



"Technology can lead to extraordinary learning, but it must to be utilized in conjunction with other tools" he said.



"If all you are doing is sitting them down and allowing them to experience Shakespeare through Minecraft You are doing something wrong.



"Dance art, drama, and music remain the most effective ways to educate children.



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



Microsoft has announced that it will allow teachers to begin "beta-testing" Minecraft's education edition "in the summer" without charge, ahead of the official rollout.



Minecraft used to teach Chemistry



5 November 2015



The schools using Minecraft in their lessons.



20 June 2014



Minecraft



MinecraftEdu



Lings Primary School


My Website: https://minecraft-texture-packs.net/