I set myself a target of three hours to create something that was multi purpose and could be used in several different Literacy lessons to pursue various learning outcomes. Thanks to the amazing Adam Clarke his “101 Ideas for Minecraft Learners” section of his YouTube channel, I discovered some gems and set about experimenting. So I looked for tools that could speed up the process of building. I looked into the sale of maps in order to fund the build and discovered that the Mojang EULA prohibits this explicitly. I explored avenues such as commissioning build teams to realise my vision on my behalf but the cost was prohibitive (hundreds of hours of building are needed for a quality build).

Some months ago I set about the challenge of simplifying the process for teachers. I am two years into my own Minecraft journey of discovery (18 months spent developing Minecraft in the classroom) and my build skills are mediocre at best. So how can teachers quickly and efficiently create immersive experiences for their students? Teachers simply don’t have the time needed to invest in the development of their Minecraft skills in order to create the type of immersive experience that students can download for fun at home. The community is five years into it’s evolution and development. Our students may be thousands of hours into their Minecraft journey. However, as the teachers in the room were enthusiastically building dirt shelters, I couldn’t help taking a step back from the situation and taking stock. Adults took advice from the child experts circulating the room to troubleshoot problems. The “Just One More Block” infection reached epidemic proportions. The enthusiasm spread throughout the non Minecrafters in that session like a wildfire. Minecraft is an amazing, immersive platform on which to build camouflaged learning.As I sat in the training sessions provided for us on the Sunday afternoon (expertly led by Stephen Reid and Sarah Guthals several things solidified in my mind: Some had never placed a block in their lives others were several years into their Minecraft adventures. I was privileged enough to attend along with a group of other educators as a guest of Microsoft Education to experience the event and think about how Minecraft can play an ongoing role in education. Ten thousand Minecraft enthusiasts from all corners of the planet converged on the ExCel Centre in London for the world’s largest ever convention for a single video game: Minecraft.

Literacy Blocks 3: The Future Of Minecraft In Education – Part 1

Minecraft education edition blocks