Minecraft is one of the most popular games on the planet that’s available on a wide variety of platforms. Its developer Mojang was acquired by Microsoft so it’s a Redmond property now. The company has shaken things up a bit ever since it acquired Mojang and now it’s making an effort to bring Minecraft to schools, and for that purpose it has introduced a new edition of the game called Minecraft: Education Edition.
There is nothing really fundamentally different about this edition as opposed to the Minecraft game that millions have been playing for years. However the education edition does have some features that are focused on ease of use, such as an in-game camera, a scrapbook to take notes in, improved mapping features and giving teachers the ability to lock in certain resources for their students.
The message that Microsoft is sending out with this is that Minecraft is still well and truly a game and not a full-fledged educational product, however, it can play a positive role in the classroom, which is why it has come out with a special edition just for schools.
So instead of exploring mountains and caves, students will use Minecraft: Education Edition to explore places that actually exist in reality, places like the pyramids of Giza and ancient Greek temples.
Microsoft won’t really be building worlds and lessons on its own, instead, it’s setting up a website where teachers can contribute worlds and lessons, hoping that this will get a robust community going that’s eventually going to become very beneficial for students.
Minecraft: Education Edition will be released over the summer.