After reading the Wired article “Minecraft is changing school education,” I downloaded and tried out Minecraft: Education Edition. Since our university has an Office 365 subscription, I already had an account, so I could use it for free during the trial period. Oh! It actually authenticated! I was surprised (lol), and it is also available in Japanese.

That nostalgic pixelated feel! It’s great. It reminds me of the Famicom. Now, regarding the controls… it’s difficult without a controller. Keyboard controls are tough. Even just walking… I need to get used to these controls first. A tutorial here would definitely be necessary.

Since it is the Education Edition, regarding its use in education, the Minecraft: Education Edition page features lesson plans tailored to different age groups. I think it could lead to some interesting things if designed to require various information resources and interaction between learners during the process of understanding natural systems, architecture, and building a world together. I believe that by creating a community, various types of learning will emerge (you can also chat). It could also be used for cross-cultural exchange with schools overseas. Collaborating with students from overseas schools in a virtual space, or expressing and showing each other’s cultures—I feel like there are many possibilities for development. As for features, it seems to include classroom collaboration, blackboards, and camera and portfolio functions. The camera and portfolio functions are essential for measuring the results of learning using Minecraft. It would be great if these were linked with Office 365. It might be even better if a simple LMS like Google Classroom were created for Office 365, linked to it, and allowed for class management. I have high expectations for the future.

Starting from the second semester of the 2016 academic year, it will become a paid service, even for those with Office 365 accounts, at a price range of $1 to $5 per person/year.

Minecraft: Education Edition
http://education.minecraft.net/

Gigazine: Minecraft: Education Edition, a version for school education that grows creativity and problem-solving skills, has arrived
http://gigazine.net/news/20160120-minecraft-education-edition/