Community reviews for MinecraftEdu

This was a great way to engage students who struggle in a traditional setting. The setup and maintenance are probably more than an average teacher would be able to handle. I also developed several learning tools to work in tandem with the gaming experience, so Minecraft was not the only teaching tool used. Students who are familiar with the game may struggle with limitations imposed by the curriculum. Younger students also struggled with digital citizenship skills, but that gave us opportunities to address them.

Although the applications are endless, I mainly use MinecraftEdu as a positive behavior tool. Obviously that is not the intent for this phenomenal teaching tool. This software can be used across the curriculum by any creative teacher. The resources that are already in the MinecraftEdu community are amazing and provide a starting place for beginning MinecraftEdu educators. The teacher console is easy to use and allows teachers to interact with the students in the virtual world. Teachers control weather, transport students to others, give necessary equipment or materials to students and even freeze student if necessary. Set up of MinecraftEdu took awhile. Even though they had complete directions, it took me awhile to figure out the server and setting up my lab. After the initial work however, it is working very smoothly with few problems.

I love this as a teaching tool. It is very easy to customize. However sometimes this can be very difficult as the Minecraft structure is tricky to mod and alter without express knowledge of how to navigate through the files and folders to ensure that you install something correctly. It is too easy to mess it up. Until Minecraft comes up with a more streamlined way to install mods and worlds, this will remain an issue. That being said, it is too powerful a tool to let one hiccup sway me from using it. It can literally be used for almost every single school subject when applied correctly. An important note for parents and teachers that are involved with this: PLAY MINECRAFT. Also you should be playing through all of the mods and worlds before hand so you know what to expect and can troubleshoot potential student problems and hang-ups. Don't be scared to try this in a classroom. It is not just a game, this is a sophisticated learning tool with infinite potential!

Once you can get the software up and running, it's easy. There is a great Google Group community called "Minecraft Teachers" that are extremely helpful and willing to answer any questions you may have. The biggest hurdle for me, as a teacher, is making sure students understand the difference between how they play Minecraft at home vs. how they are expected to play in school. Many students simply want to kill or be killed when they play at home, and my purpose for using Minecraft in school is very different. I want to get students to cooperate and collaborate with each other, solve problems, and be creative instead of "griefing" each other. Overall, the fact that I'm allowing students to use Minecraft in school has been highly motivating and engaging for ALL students.

The days of plaster and newspaper strips are over. Student can create models of places they have learned about demonstrate their reading comprehension.

Awesome, relevant, and current! Students want to use this tool! A little setup time for the technology setup time... server, bandwidth, hardwired connection... only on use on PC at moment.

My students love to learn in this interactive environment! MinecraftEdu combines the basic Minecraft game with specialized tools for teachers. These tools allow me to control the environment and guide my students in the learning process. With the teacher tools, I can give my students clear objectives for each lesson and monitor their progress. I like having the ability to create specific situations for them. As a MinecraftEdu teacher, I can fly around our digital world and change things to meet our current objects. I'm also impressed with the limitless possibilities that come with this game. It could be used for almost any academic subject! It's a flexible game that will excite students and challenge their thinking skills. My only concern is the slight learning curve for interested teachers. Teachers will need to be familiar with the game's mechanics before using it with their students. There is a great support team for MinecraftEdu, but I think more work should be done to help new users.

My students already LOVE this game, so using it in a lesson and for a group activity was just what they were looking for. They were thrilled that I took something they play at home and in free time, and applied it in ur classroom. I teach AU students, so this was something that they could relate to and talk about. We had the best class discussion after the lesson was over.

I think there is a lot of potential for MinecraftEdu to be used as a teaching tool, but I found that students needed structure for constructive gameplay to occur. Students tend to wander without a clear objective or learning outcome. I like that MinecraftEdu has all the same gameplay features as regular Minecraft, but gives the teacher more controls. I found the teleporting option especially helpful. Students can get stuck or lost within the world, so when this happens I can teleport them to a teammate. I also found the freeze option helpful for behavior management. The product could serve students and teachers better by having pre-made worlds made specifically for teaching and/or centered around subject areas or lesson plans.

In my game design and development class, we leverage the open ended sandbox format as a clean slate for designing games within the minecraft world. Students are so excited as they are intrinsically motivated by the fact that they already play and love minecraft. The students who are not familiar grow to love it based on the use in class.