Do you use MinecraftEDU with your students?
I'm wondering how many NZ primary school teachers are using MinecraftEDU in their classrooms. I'm looking at getting started. Tracy Tindle was a great person to touch base with. My next step is to figure out where to get some money and equipment from and get this ball rolling.
Replies
- Michael Fawcett (View all users posts) 17 Mar 2013 9:08pm ()
I used the mobile minecraft on idevices and androids last year. Looking to get started on MinecraftEDU this year. Keep us updated with your progress and happy to join in with anything you suggest :-)
- Carol Kendall (View all users posts) 17 Mar 2013 9:36pm ()
Great! What sorts of things did you have the students do? Was it a class thing, or a club group?
I want to purchase the MinecraftEDU bits and pieces - that's the first hurdle (but I may have a solution there...). Next issue is hosting. Apparently hosting it on our school server isn't an option. I don't (think I) have another computer to use for hosting. So, then I need to look at external hosting - maybe Crafting Young MInds or Snapju? Enquiries to the latter enlightened me to the fact that there are already schools in NZ using their services. There is a monthly charge.
So far I've only purchased Minecraft on my iPad and had a little play - I am a real newbie! The children are very eager to teach me, and to have something happening at school!
- Michael Fawcett (View all users posts) 17 Mar 2013 9:56pm ()
It wgroup group of 8 or 10 students. They set to build a model of the school. Only got as far as 6 classrooms and the hall, but was a good experience, for them and me. They dreated trotters for the devices, group roles, designers/builders/checkers/fixers etc. a great learning experience... and one to build on for this year.
Have you looked at getting server time from some of the Aussie servers Like http://massively.jokaydia.com/
- Monika Kern (View all users posts) 17 Mar 2013 10:31pm ()
I have no experience in using it, though I hear "Minecraftish" at home all the time. You would have at least 2 out of my 3 sons hooked just by mentioning the word "minecraft" :-)
However, I believe there is huge potential in using sth. that clearly engages students in an education context. I have thought for a while that if you want to teach e.g. about Hone Heke's pa, students could rebuild it in minecraft, look at how much excavation needed through the stacks of soil they dig out, check how hard it was to attack it by e.g. building a mine cart track - does it need redstone to power it up the hill? Then it would have been an immense effort to pull canons up to an attack position {hey, some of the lingo obviously got stuck!}.
Good luck, can't wait to see what people come up with to engage young people, esp. boys, via Minecraft!
- Annemarie Hyde (View all users posts) 18 Mar 2013 1:34pm ()
I have been keen for a while, to find out how we could use Minecraft as a mode for learning. On day 1 when we were all introducing ourselves (I'm DP and E_Learning Leader), I mentioned to the new Year 7s that they could join our Tech Wizards group and that we might explore Minecraft. Well...! The first lunch time meeting brought in 40 students!
I had children begging me to hold the first meeting, nagging, coming up to me in the office or in the playground, to offer their services, and yes, mostly boys!
I did some exploring, asked questions on Twitter and from there, had an offer from a friend to host a Minecraft server. He lives in the next town so I suppose he could do this remotely. I just had to mention Minecraft at Dick Smith, in conversation, and all the assistants flocked to my side, with their experiences. I'd never had so much help in there! One had set up a server at home.
So...then thought about a server we had in the cupboard that had never been used that had been obtained for archiving then deemed unnecessary. I thought, if Dick Smith dudes can set up a server, so can the techie we hire in. And yes! So he set up the server, I bought an account for about $30, and now we are just working out how to download the software onto other laptops. The techie had to write some script and this week a student who worked with him, all of 12, will get us going in a multiplayer environment, working offline.
I believe that we need to look at Creative mode and the first plan is to create the school and then use this existing structure to build in the changes the students will envisage in 100 years. They can't wait.
The raison d'etre is to see how we can use it as a way to teach measurement, may be a reason to write, and overall to hook students into learning. And the students know that's what we want to do.
I'll let you know our next steps.
We didn't get MinecraftEdu though...can you tell me the difference?
I suggest that you try and locate a server that a business is getting rid of because they are upgrading in size. Or a techie somewhere that wants to help for the fun of it. I am a little lucky in my find!
- Marielle Lange (View all users posts) 19 Mar 2013 1:34pm ()
If you are after a cheap solution, apparently, you can serve minecraft edu from a raspberry PI - https://github.com/EduMake/RPi-WaterbearNodeJS.
I recently played with a raspberry PI but haven't tried that.
- Monika Kern (View all users posts) 19 Mar 2013 7:56pm ()
My 12y old (very able Minecraft fan) has tried Minecraft on his Raspberry PI but tells me that this is still lacking the functionality the iOS or the Windows version have.
BTW, visited one of my schools today, I briefly showed VLN welcome page where this discussion is featured. As a result a 10y old son of a teacher was asked to join the staff meeting and tell the teachers about Minecraft :-)
- Monika Kern (View all users posts) 20 Mar 2013 9:02pm ()
I just came cross this article about minecraft in teaching and learning through twitter; includes some interesting suggestions what to use it for http://t.co/d1F0U9wG6H
- Monika Kern (View all users posts) 20 Mar 2013 9:15pm ()
I just had above mentioned 12y old Minecraft fan look through the minecraftEDU website, he thinks this looks like a good solution for schools. He is very clued up about computers and virtually lives and breathes minecraft (much to his mother's despair) and started telling me what the advantages were beyond lower cost but lost me lol. I would be interested to know what if any support they can give our local schools, e.g. re setting up server? 12y old says he thinks it's LAN based (see, he lost me!)
- Carol Kendall (View all users posts) 21 Mar 2013 11:43am ()
There's an interesting article (very timely!) on Stuff today, in the technology section: Minecraft in Schools? It pulls together a lot of ideas from around the world.
- joleneb (View all users posts) 01 Apr 2013 10:26pm ()
I am exploring using mindcraft with my class also at the moment. Have neever used before mself but know I have the knowledge in my class to make it happen. Since mentioning and sharing the interface article on mindcraft with my class to get their opinions many of the boys have been meeting me after school to upskill me they are so excited to have the possibility of it at school.
One hurdle I thought might be the price so one of the students came to me with a free version he recommended. has anyone used Roblox before and have any thoughts on how it compares to Mindcraft?
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