Description
'Minecraft: Education Edition' Launches In Early Access
A new version of Minecraft developed for the classroom is now available for early access. Minecraft Education Edition was announced back in January, along with Microsoft's acquisition of MinecraftEdu an organization that had already been tweaking the game for teachers. The new version will be available for free this summer, before a per student pricing model is introduced for academic year. Microsoft has provided MinecraftEdu customers a year's free access to Education Edition as a thank you. MINECRAFTSERVERS The offer will likely kick in when the trial is over.
Education Edition has some advantages over the vanilla version of Minecraft. Right off the bat, up 30 students can be taught and collaborate in the same virtual world which eliminates the need to establish a private server through a service like Minecraft Realms. Teachers can create non-player characters (NPCs) to create a more guided experience, and provide them with links to the internet to allow students access additional resources. Also, there's a chalkboard for displaying instructions and cameras that students can use to take pictures of their work, creating an in-game portfolio in the process.
Microsoft claims that it is still working on other features requested by the community. The new interface offers teachers an interactive map with markers for each student as well as the ability to teleport users (should anyone wander off or make a mistake), and a chat window that can be used to manage private and class-wide conversations. Minecraft has already proven itself to be a very effective tool for education. It can teach the arts, geology, and coding. There is an official version available for schools.
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