Minecraft: how to get started

[podcast]

In this snippet from the Using Technology Better Show, we chat with Wicks from Thinkfizz.com.au about how to effectively use Minecraft in Education.  Tim gives some great advice about how to get your students onboard, how to set guidelines and parameters.

Tim will also be speaking at the Using Technology Better Conference in Sydney & Adelaide this September and October. He’s covering game-based learning in particular, Minecraft in Education.

For more details about the conference, you can go to using technology better conference

Below you will find the recording of the video and the transcription.


TRANSCRIPTION:

Mike: She’s asked this question, which I think is a question that lots of teachers would ask.  She’s going how do you or do you need to walk that fine line between gamification for the sake of gaming and that engagement side of things and the learning.

Tim:  What was her name?

Mike:  Sarah.  I mean is it gaming for the sake of it or is it learning?

Tim:  You know what, it’s the question.  It’s not a it’s the question.  Look, I don’t think you need to walk a fine line.  I think that it has been a really common part of what I have spoken about this session, it’s structure.  If you take your kids outside to play and you’ve got no structure, what happens?  They run amuck.  It’s exactly the same in Minecraft.

If you’re going to take the kids into a Minecraft environment, you need to have some structure.  You need to know what outcomes you’re working towards and you need the kids to understand that this is a lesson.  If they want free time, they’re going to get it at home or you model out some free time at school.  I’m not necessarily for that.  I think you use it as an educational tool.  Have some structure around that.  That’s going to lead away from the play for play sake and if you use that 27 Stella Street, as an example, that session went for two hours and we did not have like even one minute of free play.  It was all around that lesson and the kids loved it.

Mike:  The whole thinking is knowing your outcome, have a structure and it’s not like go build this and then we’re mark it at the end.  You actually have to put in some structure in place.

Tim:  Isn’t that the same in everything we do in education?  If you just throw it out there and hope it happens, those are the results you are going to get.  Minecraft is the same and because the kids are so, so entertained and so fired up and engaged, it’s actually really easy.  You’ve just got to be really strong about what it’s for.

Tim: That’s the way they wanted to play the game and it spoiled it.  That spoiled it for a lot of kids.  What I do is I get my head around the concept.  You don’t have to learn that much about Minecraft.  You just got to have your head around how it works for you as an educator.  I am almost the opposite of a control freak in the classroom but with Minecraft you go in and start with some sort of control.  What I’ve learned is that when you are using Minecraft and you don’t have structure, and you don’t have that form of control, there will be tears within three minutes easily.

The kids that have that desire to sort of have power over others in the game will find ways to frustrate, annoy and what’s called grief other kids.  So if you set a structure up and it just has to be a basic sort of structure and the kids understand it and they understand the game is going to be taken away if we don’t all play right and also show them what’s coming.  Show them.  Here’s the leadership model that I want to introduce.  Here’s what I where I want you guys to fit in.  This is how I want you to be a part of it.  It will take no time at all for you to go from that point A to point B but I really think as the teacher you need to take some responsibility for knowing about the game and how you want it to look.

Mike:  That’s going to be really good.  One of the things that we wanted to let everyone know as well as that in September and beginning of October this year we’re running a conference called The Using Technology Better Conference and the conference is going to be built around the whole concept that you pick a strand and you stick with it all day and this is a perfect example of why we’ve designed a conference like this.

Tim is going to be speaking at both of those conferences, the one in Sydney on the 29th and 30th of September and also in Adelaide on the 2nd and 3rd of October.  You’re going to get five hours, four and half five hours, to sit with Tim in a small group and just get this stuff sorted.  Step one, right through to the end, understanding how servers work, how to avoid all the pitfalls and so on.

It’s just highlighting to me once again only just the slightest understanding of how this goes.  You certainly picked my interest but I guess my initial response is gosh it sounds so good but I don’t know where to start.  We’ll put some links into the show notes.  Obviously not everyone can attend that conference but I would even say to people overseas like September is a beautiful place to be in Australia.

Tim: I’m really excited about the – I’m calling it UTB.  I am really excited about the UTB conference and the reason being that I actually did a – I was at a Google Apps for Education summit and I did one of those one-hour sessions on Minecraft.  I’ve done lots of different sessions at the guest summits.  The one I did on Minecraft people were flowing out the doors.

It was just that much interest, which I thought there would be, but it was for an hour, man.  All I did was pique people’s interest and probably like what we’re doing now.  Just getting them interested enough so that they can ask more questions but at that UTB conference, man, we are going to drive there.  I’m going to bring computers along. I’ve got 24 laptops so anyone that wants to actually jet – the idea will be is that we’ll actually do some stuff in the game.

I am going to show them, we’re going to walk around my server because it’s really cool, but we’re also going to fire up Minecraft Edu and we’ll have a look at that because it is different and what we’ll do is we’ll have a look at how to get it set up but we’re also going to like piano lesson together and I am also going to teach a lesson so they can be the students and master it that way as well.  So we’re really going to drive down into it.  Ask questions all day.  I actually think that this is going to be the optimal way of getting a head around Minecraft in education.

Related Post

How well do you use the
Apple Apps Google Workspace Microsoft 365
tools in your workplace?

Find out if you’re working with the tools OR if you’ve got the
tools working for you.

What Industry Are You In?

Using Apple Apps, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?

What Type of user are you?

🫣 Entry User | 🤹 Skilled User | 👑 Elite User

Take the quiz to find out. 

Privacy Policy

Using Technology Better Privacy Commitment

Introduction

We hold the privacy of your personal information in the highest regard.

Using Technology Better regards customer privacy as an important part of our relationship with our customers. The following privacy policy applies to all Using Technology Better users, and conforms to Internet privacy standards.

This policy will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices and our customers’ needs.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact the support team on our Contact Us Page.

Collection of Information

In order to use the Using Technology Better website, we may require information from you in order to provide the best service possible.

All correspondence may also be collected and stored, particularly in regard to sales, support and accounts, including Email.

Any information collected by Using Technology Better is collected via correspondence from you or your company. This may be via the telephone, Email, mail, fax or directly through our website.

Visitors and customers of japan.usingtechnologybetter.com will have their information shared back to DAIWABO INFORMATION SYSTEM CO., LTD. and DIS Service & Solution Co., Ltd.

Use of Collection Information

Any details collected from Using Technology Better customers is required in order to provide you with our

products and/or services, and a high level of customer service.

Correspondence is recorded in order to provide service references, and to assist in our staff development.

Web Site Use Information

Similar to other commercial Web sites, our Web sites utilize a standard technology called “cookies” (see explanation below, “What Are Cookies?”) and web server log files to collect information about how our Web site is used.

Information gathered through cookies and Web server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our Web site, and the Web sites visited just before and just after our Web site.

Storage of Collected Information

The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card numbers) on our website, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).

When Credit Card details are collected, we simply pass them on in order to be processed as required. We never permanently store complete Credit Card details.

We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it.

If you have any questions about security on our Website, you can email us at <ContactEmail>.

Access to Collected Information

If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire our service, you may correct, update, delete or deactivate it by emailing us at <ContactEmail>.

Orders

If you purchase a product or service from us, we may request certain personally identifiable information from you.

You may be required to provide contact information such as:

Name

Email

Postal address

Your school or organisation

Financial information (such as credit card number, expiration date, name on card, card billing address).

We use this information for billing purposes and to fill your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we will use this information to contact you.

Communications

Using Technology Better uses personally identifiable information for essential communications, such as

Emails

Accounts information

Critical service details.

We may also use this information for other purposes, including some promotional Emails.

If at any time a customer wishes not to receive such correspondence, they can request to be removed from any mailing lists by contacting support.

You will be notified when your personal information is collected by any third party that is not our agent/service provider, so you can make an informed choice as to whether or not to share your information with that party.

Third Parties

Using Technology Better may at its discretion use other third parties to provide essential services on our site or for our business processes.

We may share your details as necessary for the third party to provide that service.

These third parties are prohibited from using your personally identifiable information for any other purpose.

Using Technology Better does not share any information with third parties for any unknown or unrelated uses.

What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a Web site, that site’s computer asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies.

Each Web site can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a Web site to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.

Browsers are usually set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive cookies, you may alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies.

If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our site will not function as effectively when viewed by the users.

A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive or pass on computer viruses.

How Do We Use Information We Collect from Cookies?

As you visit and browse our Web site, the site uses cookies to differentiate you from other users. In some cases, we also use cookies to prevent you from having to log in more than is necessary for security.

Cookies, in conjunction with our Web server’s log files, allow us to calculate the aggregate number of people visiting our Web site and which parts of the site are most popular. This helps us gather feedback to constantly improve our Web site and better serve our clients.

Cookies do not allow us to gather any personal information about you and we do not intentionally store any personal information that your browser provided to us in your cookies.

Legal

We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Website.

Links

Links on the Using Technology Better site to external entities are not covered within this policy. The terms and conditions set out in this privacy statement only cover the domain name of usingtechnologybetter.com

Changes to Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it periodically. If we make material changes to this policy, we will not use the personal information you have submitted to us under this Privacy Policy in a manner that is materially inconsistent with this Privacy Policy, without your prior consent

Delivery Policy

Most goods are digitally delivered instantly via email.  Our services may be delivered either via an online medium or live in person.

For our online delivery see below.  For services delivered live onsite, please refer to our speaker agreement form which is emailed to you on confirmation of booking.

Refund Policy

We do not offer refunds or returns unless we cannot supply goods or services or the goods or services are not delivered as promised.

Australian law is the governing body for all work, goods and services supplied by Using Technology Better.

Marketing Release

Using Technology Better (UTB) may film, record, and photograph me (the results of which are the “Recordings”). UTB may also incorporate into any production(s) any separate content (e.g., quotes, testimonials, biographical information, profiles, photos, videos, sound recordings, artwork, etc.) I provide to UTB or approve in writing (“Materials”).

1.License

I grant to UTB an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to, in its sole discretion, (i) edit, translate, and modify the Recordings and the Materials, (ii) attribute the Recordings and Materials to me by my name, age, and city and state of residence, (iii) incorporate the Recordings and the Materials into content to promote UTB, its programs, or products (“Content”), and (iv) publicly use, distribute, reproduce, create derivative works from, and perform/display the Content, and any excerpts thereof, in any language.

2. No Compensation.

I grant this permission without any financial or other obligation of any nature.

 

For any issues or concerns please contact us