-Part one: (100 words) Discuss what the criteria are for an effective lesson in Minecraft education.
In order for a lesson to be effective in Minecraft education it is important that the following elements are present.
Agreed parameters and rules need to be agreed with the children in relation to using the Minecraft Education World for learning.
Respect and collaboration amongst the students in their groups
Defined roles for the children
Allowing the children to explore and create in a safe space where they can learn from their mistakes and failure and call upon their group to solve problems and work through bugs they may come up.
Knowledge of the commands and functions in Minecraft need to be taught in order for the the students to navigate through the Worlds
21st Century skills – using technology and game based learning to enhance their holistic skills.
The teacher is important in the aspect of aiding and giving guidance and direction to the students for their projects or subject learning in Minecraft Education.
-Part two (100- 150 words): Discuss your schools current level of ICT. Make reference to teacher use, student use, hardware, digital content and school emphasis on integrating ICTs into teaching and learning. Is your school equipped for Minecraft education and how might you introduce it.
In my school, we are still at the fledgling stage in relation to Digital learning. A lot has been accomplished in relation to the infrastructure over the past year to year and a half.
We finally saw the introduction of a Wi-fi network in early 2019 which then allowd us to introduce tablets into the schools and the classes.
We also introduced Microsoft 365 into the school last year in September 2019 (after a lot of behind the scenes work by myself, assigning accounts and setting up MS Teams during the Summer months)
The advent of the school closures helped to bring MS 365 and Teams into practice with teachers using it to communicate and collaborate in class groups and as a whole staff)
The students are using the tablets but not in a cohesive manner and or in a whole school way.
With Microsoft’s Minecraft Education I would see a huge potential for the students to use this medium to experience a more immersive way at looking at and enhancing their school based offline learning in a creative way that uses this medium of GBL to give the students the all important 21 century digital skills.
I would hope to roll out teacher tutorials to show them the value of using Minecraft Education in the classroom with the children.
I would say we are equipped to introduce ME but there needs to be more teachers in the school willing to use the medium for teaching their students using Game based learning and MS Minecraft Education.