Introduction

Minecraft versus Minecraft Education

Before we begin, its important to understand the difference between 'Minecraft' and 'Minecraft Education'. This is particularly important when explaining why certain things look the way they do on Minecraft Education.

'Minecraft' is the original game produced by Mojang. Its players need to pay for an annual licence. This version of Minecraft is not supported by T4L.

'Minecraft Education' is owned by Microsoft. This has been developed purely for educational purposes.

The two Minecrafts do not 'speak to each other' and therefore, players cant play in the same world if playing on different Minecraft versions.

The Website

To commence, it is highty recommended that you go to the Minecraft Education website (https://education.minecraft.net/ ). This website is FULL of resources that will assist you and your colleagues as well as reassure parents that Minecraft Education (and gamification) is an essential technological tool in learning. Please have this open as you read this page.

Downloading Minecraft Education

The GET STARTED (purple) button allows teachers and students to download Minecraft Education. There are a few ways Minecraft can be downloaded:

1. If you are playing Minecraft Education at a T4L school that has devices for students, your TSO can push out the program through the software catalogue on the portal. This is the easiest way for uploading the program onto numerous devices.

2. If you are a BYOD school, your students (and teachers) can download Minecraft Education using this purple button. It is recommended that (if possible), it is downloaded at home as the process will be vastly quicker than downloading it at school.

About Minecraft Education

There is much information about Minecraft Education, explaining how the tool works and how it contributes to learning on the home page and in "How it Works". These pages are regularly updated with information each time the tool is updated.

Class Resources

This is perhaps the most valuable section in the website. It provides a thorough overview of of the capabilities of the tool as well as an insight into lessons and the worlds that are available in Minecraft Education. The most recent edition of Minecraft Education no longer requires you to download additional software to use when using Minecraft Education, so all of the resources found here are accessible within the tool.

The next two pages of this online workshop will discuss Worlds and Lessons. The other subsections - Distance Learning, Get Trained and Find Challenges is a great way to learn more about Minecraft Education (by playing by instruction), getting tech support and learning how to put a lesson together.

Community

This section provides teachers with the opportunity to get in touch with Global Minecraft Mentors and other teachers who use Minecraft Education in their classroom.

Support

This section provides teachers and students with technical and player support.

My Classroom

My Classroom allows you to keep a register of all of the lessons that you have created and delivered. This acts as a repository for all of your teaching tools.