Microsoft has announced it will officially launch Minecraft: Education Edition for the PC on November 1. This is a special version of the popular sandbox game that's designed to be used by schools.
Microsoft previously released a free beta of Minecraft: Education Edition for schools to try out before its official launch. The final version will include some new features, including a "Classroom Mode":
A companion app for Minecraft: Education Edition that enables educators to manage world settings, communicate with students, give items and teleport students in the Minecraft world. It displays a map view of the Minecraft world, a list of all the students in the world, a set of world management settings and a chat window. There is even a Minecraft clock to show time of day in the world. Classroom Mode offers educators the ability to interact with students and manage settings from a central user interface.
The game will continue to be updated with features that are already available in the regular versions of Minecraft:
All the latest updates to Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition beta will be included, such as leads and horses, additional player skins, pistons and the remainder of Redstone functionality and an updated user interface.
Microsoft will charge $5 per year for each user of Minecraft: Education Edition. It will also be available to purchase via a school district licensing deal, but detail have yet to be announced.
Reader comments
Minecraft: Education Edition officially begins its lessons on November 1
I like that this is available, however I don't see the educational aspect of it. Their Minecraft offering on Hour of Code is something I am trying to get the school to adopt, but I don't know what angle to use for this.
It's the job of the teacher to make it educational. Minecraft is a tool. For a technical class, a teacher could develop a lesson plan on Redstone circuitry. For a science class, a teacher could develop a lesson plan on renewable and non-renewable resources. For an art or music class, a teacher could have them create pixel art or music. For an architecture class, a teacher could have them work together to design and construct a building. And so on.
All this time, and I still haven't seen a single reason as to why exactly Minecraft could be useful in an educational setting.
"I love how working in Minecraft makes my students engage in, reflect on and talk about history – or any subject, really!” -Katja Borregaard"
The teachers are seeing it, so something might be there.