Interview with Joel Levin of MinecraftEdu

We recently had the pleasure of interviewing MinecraftEdu's Joel Levin - better known as MinecraftTeacher - who gives us an in-depth look into exactly what MinecraftEdu is, some of the challenges they face and more!

Joel went on to say that MinecraftEdu is geared towards teachers who want to use Minecraft as a teaching aid in the classroom, with design features meant to facilitate ease of use and accessibility for everyone, regardless of technical background. With user-friendly interfaces and clearly explained features, MinecraftEdu sets itself up to be usable by a teacher the minute they pick it up!

Joel would like to thank Mojang and his partners at MinecraftEdu for the opportunity to help him bring this project to life, so that everyone may enjoy its benefits.

We here at Minecraft Forum would like to thank Joel himself for his dedication, vision and the opportunity to share all of it with us. We look forward to seeing MinecraftEdu take learning to a new level in the future! Feel free to take a look at MinecraftTeacher's blog right here!

___________________________________

Special Note - today is ez's birthday! Happy birthday!

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Oxydate
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#3 Oxydate

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Posted Nov 9, 2011
I'd love to learn more on the inner workings and code of Minecraft :biggrin.gif:

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RinArenna
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#5 RinArenna

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Posted Nov 9, 2011
You really have to respect a guy that wants to do something like this. It's really great to see someone trying to show that games can be great learning tools too, and designing something with schools specifically in mind. Heck, I wouldn't even use it for school, and I'd try it out!

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jefe
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
Awesome-o-possom

thanks for sharing this with us Sach!

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Matt_Damon
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#8 Matt_Damon

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Posted Nov 9, 2011
Who were interviewing Minecraft Teacher?

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Sacheverell
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
Quote from Hideki Ryuga

Who were interviewing Minecraft Teacher?

That would be me. :happy.gif:

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Darksage1396
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
As someone who know alot about Minecraft and has played since early alpha I couldn't just listen to the teacher about what to do. I'd be wanting realy to actually play the game.

Also , I'd like to say that with the graphics minecraft has it being implamented into a school system makes it feel like a cheap and horrible game , but its not..it's a EXCELLENT game.

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Matt_Damon
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
Quote from Sacheverell

That would be me. :happy.gif:

You have a nice voice. Relaxing to listen to. =D

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Ghiphos
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
Thank you Sacheverell now I understand this Minecraft Edu thing.

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DJDude97
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
Awesome, i wish we had those at my school...nice interview though

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Frostbreath
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
This is totally awesome. Might use this in my class once I am teacher... And when it is available in Dutch.

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Darksage1396
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
I play this at school...not during class though.

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Skaro
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
"Mute students"
LMAO

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Evolution_Zero
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
Next thing we know, students are carry cracked clients to school to supersede the teacher and destroy other students work.

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CptMitch
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
how desperate can some people get?

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kingm444
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
this is a great idea, and I like how they're playin a good PC game, cause at my school I think theres only 3 people that I know of who play MC

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Azmose89
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
Quote from Klofrd

I don't agree that this is a good tool for teaching children? I absolutely love Minecraft, its an amazing game but its not the right format to try an educate a child.

Children already spend massive amounts of time in front of computers at home, most adults spend alot of time in front of computers. Surely during the period of time when children are in school we should use that to get them away from computers? Teaching them face to face, interacting with them in person, get them to go 'outside'.

Minecraft is based on the world around us, why not take the opportunity to show it too them. Knowing that most likely they will go home and spend all night in front of a computer regardless of what they do during the day.

I don't want to sound like a hater because there are minor elements of this game that could be passed of as a form of creative learning but I can only see negative effects due to substituting a real class with books and pens for a game with a keyboard.

Sorry, just my opinion.

I agree. While MinecraftEdu is an interesting concept, I really do not think the game is classroom material. And also, despite Levin's attempts to keep his students focused, and him claiming they were focused, I really do not thing any student could possibly stay focused when playing such a wonderful game.

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GameGuy280
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Posted Nov 9, 2011
It would be funny if the teacher is showing the students redstone and physics and 1 guy is running away punching cows.

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IncredibleMeh
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#30 IncredibleMeh

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Posted Nov 9, 2011
As a student in high school, I am very interested in this. I have a few questions though.

If a student already has a Minecraft account, will they be able to use it? And if they use that account, will their skin be shown instead of the weird skin that's being used as a default?

Also, what kinds of tools would the teacher be able to use?

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Dannybud99
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#32 Dannybud99

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Posted Nov 9, 2011
Off topic, but the MC Forums should post that it's ez's birthday, says so on MC =3

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IncredibleMeh
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#33 IncredibleMeh

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Posted Nov 9, 2011
They did... Fail.

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