Notes

Minecraft To Launch Education Edition

Minecraft to launch education edition by Leo Kelion Technology desk editor



19 January 2016



An "education version" of Minecraft will be launched by Microsoft.



Teachers will find new ways to employ this game that builds worlds in a variety of areas.



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



It's now promising to add features however schools could face extra expenses.



It is reported that more than 7,000 classrooms around the world already use Minecraft in some way.



"Teachers are using Minecraft to do a lot of things," Anthony Salcito (Microsoft's vice president of global education) told the BBC.
Just Another Wordpress Site


"Once we make the tools more accessible for schools to gain access to and utilize I believe you'll see the number of classrooms] grow quite quickly."



Camera in game



MinecraftEdu already gives teachers the ability to edit content and access a shared library with education-themed assets.



Microsoft promises to improve user experience through:



Allowing characters created by children to retain their character traits between sessions



letting pupils let students take "photos" of their progress via an in-game camera, and later keep the images in an online book along with their own notes. They can be used to instruct other children or by teachers to track their performance.



allowing children to download software that will allow them to continue playing the educational version of Minecraft outside of school, without the need to purchase their own version of the game.



To access the service, students and teachers have to each have their own Office 365 ID, which can also be used to grant access to Microsoft's cloud-based productivity software.



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



However, it could help the company to promote its word processing, email, and file-sharing apps over rival services from Google and others.



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



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



Deirdre Qarnstrom, director for Minecraft education, said "we believe that we are adding value".



"On top of having a recurring identity, 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 development process.



"We are also replacing the need for schools to have and maintain separate server hardware."



Virtual Shakespeare



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



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



However, he added that other teachers should be aware that the software was not without its limitations.



He stated that technology can be utilized to improve learning, but it should be used in conjunction with other tools.



"If all you do is put them in a chair and let them to experience Shakespeare through Minecraft, then you are doing something wrong."



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



"But technology can be added 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 in 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


Here's my website: https://a1cdn.net/