Dan Davis

Emerging Technologies Assessment Project

ITEC7445

Shared Vision
Columbia Countys vision of empowering and inspiring ALL
learners to excel is met with the rigor, depth, and engagement
found in Minecraft Education Edition:

Teachers and students work together in Minecraft Education Edition (MEE)

Collaboration and communication in an online society is a key feature of MEE

Problem solving is built in to certain modes of MEE

Digital citizenship skills found in MEE teach students to respect and value each
other

Cost and Funding

Since the program is online and easy-to-access, overhead costs are low. The
program can be installed on any Internet-connected device.

Teacher and student accounts are priced a $5 per user license, although bulkpurchase pricing will apply. Pricing can be incorporated into 1:1 technology fee for
the 2017 school year.

A free trial version will be offered so that students and teachers can try out MEE
before license purchase.

The maintenance and facilitation costs associated with the program involve
managing updates on school-owned devices, typically paid for with the
instructional technology budget.

Implementation
Microsoft Office 365

MEE is easily accessed and

licenses purchased through the
Office 365 program package
The Columbia County School
System can add the license
agreement to its Microsoft
agreement starting in the summer
of 2016

Students can access MEE at home

using their Office 365 login

Training

Since Minecraft is in widespread use,

students and teachers can work
together to learn MEE

Books, videos, and online tutorials

make it easy to learn at any age!

Online sites such as Minecraft U,

Craft Academy, and MinecraftEdu
Google Group offer lesson plans and
training

Eliminates much of the need for inservice training and resource

compilation

Age and Appropriateness

MEE is used to teach Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics

standards (STEAM)

History and Social Studies concepts can be built and modeled in a functional
enviroment

Language Arts skills are used in discussion and explanations or writing about
creations

Minecraft is open and accessible to all K-12 aged students and all adults

Incorporating Minecraft just start crafting!

CCBOE Minecraft users will gain

access to their accounts with the
familiar Office 365 login
Minecraft is available to download
onto desktop or laptop (Windows)
computers in media centers,
computer labs, and classrooms
Students can download or sign in to
their account on mobile devices
running iOS or Android operating
systems

MEE has teacher tutorials, lesson

plans, and challenges embedded

Students can work independently, in

small groups, or as a whole class in
the MEE environment

Teachers set up assignments and

roles within the environment

Students provide seed numbers,

screenshots, or photos of their
creations for each assignment

Ethics and Legalities

Since students use a unique, recorded login through Microsoft

Office 365, accounts can be monitored by the county.

User license agreements are handled by Microsoft.
Cyberbullying over the traditional Minecraft platform is curtailed

due to the users being tracked by login account.

Minecraft Meets Standards and Goals

Language Arts Integration

Biographical features can be built to

lead discussions about notable
writers, characters, or the students
themselves

Recall and reflection writings help

strengthen crafting and writing skills.

Additional standards correlations can

be found here from MinecraftEdu

Math Integration
Minecraft addresses concepts such as:
Counting
Volume and Area
Scales and Proportions
Multiplication
Higher Order Skills:
Computing
Coding
Engineering

Science Integration
Witness Life Science interactions
between plants, animals,
humans, and the Minecraft
environment.
Every major Earth biome is
presented in Minecraft, each with
unique resources and Earth
Science topics.
Higher Order Skills:
Physical Science students can
craft topics such as cells, proteins,
molecules, and organs using
Minecraft.

Social Studies Integration

Use real-life images and
locations to reconstruct
geography and history
concepts.
Higher Order Skills:
Build and explore to see the
effects of humanenvironmental interactions.
Craft future plans to help
guide rural and urban
planners and community
leaders.

Differentiation and Diversity

Minecraft Education Edition offers full differentiation in terms of student

personalization and diverse student populations.

The program is accessible on school and student devices

Teachers assign individual or small group activities to meet all IEP requirements

Students can take photos to provide evidence of their learning and building and
share them with their teachers and other Minecrafters

The open world format allows users to craft at their own level, from absolute
beginner to master Minecrafter, thus giving a leveled approach to the program

Promotes higher order thinking skills, problem solving, and collaboration from all
learners.

Minecraft Facilitates Communication

MEE takes a high-interest gamification scenario and turns it into a functional

teaching tool.

Students and teachers communicate through open dialogue channels integrated

into the program user interface.

Students can transfer knowledge from MEE into classroom and family discussions.

Many of the skills learned within the program have real-world applications.

Parents can track the progress and crafts of their students to monitor

Technical Support

Since the 2014 purchase of Minecraft,

Microsoft has developed a mentor
program to allow educators to have a
skilled partner in implementing the
program into a classroom

Mentors have a proven background

record of using Minecraft in an
educational setting

Mentors are available by common

social media and by Skype

Technical Support on the MinecraftEdu Wiki

What Does the Research Say?

Video games are a great way to engage students
and personalize lessons. They provide an
opportunity to focus our energy, with relentless
optimism, at something were good at (or getting
better at) and enjoy [McGonigal, 2011].
Researchers in 2013 found that 30 minutes of daily
video game play led to increased brain plasticity
along with additional development in areas crucial
for spatial reasoning, strategic planning, working
memory, and motor skills [Kunh, 2013].
from Minecraft Education Edition FAQ
Scientific American declared not only is Minecraft
immersive and creative, but it is an excellent platform
for making almost any subject area more engaging.
From EdTechReview

Reflection
Minecraft is the number three top-selling video game of all time, with millions of
users in the United States alone. Minecrafters come from every age, race, gender,
socioeconomic status, and student learning level found within Columbia County.
The purpose of this emerging technology assessment was to prove how
incorporating Minecraft Education Edition within the Microsoft Office 365 suite
would benefit the countys educational services.

Since its creation in 2011, Minecraft has shown to increase engagement, creativity,
problem-solving, communication, and collaboration amongst its users.

References and Resources

Kuhn, S. (2015). Playing Super Mario induces structural brain plasticity. Molecular
Psychiatry, 19, 265-271.

http://education.minecraft.net

https://minecraftedu.com/

http://services.minecraftedu.com/wiki/Main_Page

https://sites.google.com/site/kidsnetsoftminecraft/resources

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2010/09/the-true-story-behind-the-amazingminecraft-enterprise-d/