EdTech Blog at Chatsworth

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Some thoughts on setting up Minecraft at school

A few people have been asking for some resources for Minecraft in education and I thought I'd post a few links here as well as a few reflections of my own.

First, if you're interested in Minecraft, you should be following these people on Twitter or on their personal blogging spaces:
@notch (Markus Persson - Creator of Minecraft)
@deangroom (Educator and part of Massively Minecraft)
@jokay (Virtual Worlds enthusiast and part of Massively Minecraft also)
@MinecraftTeachr (Joel Levin - Educator using Minecraft with kids)

These people are doing things on a much larger scale and with more ambition than we are...and are awesomely friendly and supportive people who love to play Minecraft too.

Similarly, if you haven't seen some of the amazing videos by Adam Montoya (@SeaNanners) you should start with the first video in this series. Note: Language may not be appropriate for younger viewers...but never offensive. It was this video series that got me into Minecraft.

(I've also posted a few months ago about Learning with Minecraft in another space on this blog - this post has a lot more links to videos and resources you might want to explore.)

Here are some of my own reflections and suggestions on how Minecraft can work in your own school environment. 
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1. Get a server (and have the bandwidth to connect to it)
It's absolutely crucial to have your own space to play around in. Minecraft on it's own is great, but the community aspect of multiplayer is astounding. In multiplayer mode, students can work together on projects, learn from and teach each other different crafting techniques, and inspire creativity. We were super lucky to have Redstone Host offer to host our server for free - and we can have up to 64 users at one time...mind you, we've never had more than 26 on during school hours. (Keep in mind the bandwidth you'll need to run this kind of enterprise and consult with your IT team ahead of time)

You can host a server yourself - it's free, but takes time to set up and you need some know how...which I don't have...hence RedstoneHost. Nice part is that you can modify the server to fit your liking. We originally started the server in Survival Mode - meaning players battle monsters, can get injured and have to look for resources in order to achieve some success. What we found really quickly was that students wanted to create a lot more, so most (if not all) of the players switched to Creative Mode and are just building whatever they can imagine. In the future we'll probably run two servers - one creative and one survival to give people a choice on how they want their Minecraft experience to be.

Another aspect of having a server is that it gives you ownership of the world you're in. Our server now has a Chatsworth logo in it, various flags from our various countries represented and we're working towards a 1:1 scale model of our school. Having this ability to own our space is crucial for the students, and they take care of it accordingly.  According to Notch, there will eventually be portals between servers - making school to school Minecraft experiences a reality. 

2. Designate student moderators with clearly defined roles
One of the hardest parts was to give students control of the server, but in order for this to really be a student experience - they need to be managing as much of the experience as possible, so we select student moderators each week (Ops or Mods). The Ops have quite a bit of power within the server, and can even kick and ban users based on their name or IP address. Some of the commands they have access to are listed here:

ban (Bans a player based on name)
ban-ip (Bans a player based on IP address)
delplayerdata (The most serious of commands...deletes a user and all of their work)
give (Gives materials to different users)
giveme (Gives materials to oneself)
giveto (Give materials to one user)
goto (Teleports the moderator to a certain user)
kick (Kicks a player off the server - player can return)
lookup (Looks up the number code for an item based on the name)
pardon (Returns a player who has been banned by name)
pardon-ip (Returns a player who has been banned by IP)
save-all (Saves the current world state)
say (Says...)
stats (Current world statistics)
summon (Brings a player to the moderator)
tp (Teleports one user to another)
whois (Gives the IP address, time playing and other info on a player)
creative (Gives a player Creative Mode)
survival (Gives a player Survival Mode)

Our Moderators rotate every week, and we're trying to have one from each grade level. In addition to running things within the server, Moderators are in control of our Minecraft CCA webpage also and are dealing with questions, comments and concerns posted by their peers. 

Part of being a Moderator means they also have to maintain the Announcements page - and write blog-style posts on their experiences. I'm hoping to see some screencaps there, even some video at some point...will depend on the comfort level of the Mods...but I think once one student starts posting - they'll all start adding their posts. Hoping...

It will be interesting to see how griefing issues are dealt with by the students...and who takes the plunge into banning someone. Student leadership skills are sharpened pretty nicely having this much power and responsibility within the community. 

3. Establish your Essential Agreements
In our first meeting we discussed how we wanted the server to run and which modifications we were interested in using - turns out most didn't want any modifications and wanted to run the server in vanilla mode...or as close to it as possible. Other discussions that came up were around the use of lava (which can be highly dangerous if not handled properly), and we agreed to just hold off using it for a while - at least until everyone is comfortable with the idea of using it decoratively. One or two students have had their houses torched by putting lava down and spilling it everywhere. 

Another agreement was that destructive behaviour would not be tolerated by the Mods...meaning abandoned villages and mines were not to be griefed unless a discussion happened with the Mods beforehand. TNT was also banned on the grounds that it's impossible to control. 

It's important to meet once a week and talk about issues that come up during regular play. Most of the creating happens during the week after school - so the weekly CCA meeting is usually to chat with other crafters, go over any issues and make some decisions for the server. Moderators are also picked each week at the meeting.

It's important to remind the students that it's THEIR world, and the teachers who are associated with it are merely observers in a supervisory role...then leave them alone as much as possible.

4. Have guests over for a visit
A great idea is to have other teachers, friends and even students visit the server and see what's going on. You can easily add some users to the server whitelist and give them temporary access. When @colingally (uber teacher from ISS), @TSherwood and Mr. Egmond Boon wanted to join, the students were really excited that other teachers were visiting and were proud to show off their creations. What happened rather quickly was that the teachers and students were crafting together...on the same projects, and the real-time collaboration was just awesome. 
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In the future, I'd love to see teachers and students from other schools around the world come in on virtual field trips and take a walk around our server - even take a walk around our school if we can actually finish it off. 

5. Anti Griefing software (Bukkit)
Having a server means having a community, and in any community you are going to have your little issues - Minecraft calls these people griefers. To grief in Minecraft is a really crummy thing to do - especially if you are all part of the same community and meet once a week. So, if you are concerned about bullying, griefing or just don't trust your students - consider some add on software from Bukkit - and you can spare yourself the headache. We haven't installed any anti-grief software yet, and I really don't want to get there...hoping we can continue to inspire students to maintain the state of things because they want to...not because they have to.

6. PLAY MINECRAFT
It is absolutely crucial that the teachers involved with Minecraft at your school are Minecraft players also. It just won't work with the same degree of success if you don't play. For some people, this will sound problematic...a lot of teachers don't have time to play video games. Yet, the students will engage more in the experience when they respect the fact that their teachers are players also...the level playing field makes more opportunities for deeper interaction.  

It's refreshing to walk through the canteen and talk to younger students about the Minecraft world we share, share crafting tips, and work on projects in the server. It's cool to nod knowingly at older students who just finished the Parthenon with you, but might not want to talk about it in front of their friends. 

There really isn't much grey area here...you simply have to play. Don't worry though, there are lots of resources to help you get started, and your students will teach you also. It's also hella fun.

RELATED: The question often arises - Are there any girls in your CCA? The answer is no, not yet. There was a female student who signed up, but had other committments and couldn't make it. There are also no female teachers associated with the CCA yet, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. I'd love it if @jokay paid a visit and looked around - the students love visitors. The primary CCA had a lot more girls last year, and I'm wondering what the difference is in Secondary...it would be interesting to see how different the world might look if there were female students crafting and building within.

Some final thoughts
I know it's still early, but I'm really excited about the potential for this amazing little game at Chatsworth. I'm looking forward to the student posts on the blog, looking forward to the new creations, and maybe the 1:1 model of the school. I'm looking forward to the challenges that come up - server issues, griefing, and Moderator conversations. I'm looking forward to other students and teachers getting involved, and connecting with other schools who are playing Minecraft also. 

But most of all I'm looking forward to how the relationships we're building with our students will shape our school community on a larger scale. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the server is open and the future is bright. 
Happy mining.

 

Edit: I was contacted by Joel Levin (The Minecraft Teacher) about his recent collaboration with Mojang and he had this to add.

"We have been given the incredible opportunity to work with Mojang AB (creators of Minecraft). Our goal is to get Minecraft into as many classrooms as possible, and to give teachers the tools to get the most out of the game!  We've started a company called "Teacher Gaming" and our main focus will be on "MinecraftEdu", the name of our various Minecraft-related offerings.  

In the near future we will be officially launching MinecraftEdu.com.

Here are the basics of what we will be offering:
  • Educational discounts on the game - We are able to sell Minecraft at up to 50% off the full price.

  • We are working on custom versions of the game designed specifically for teachers and students with many extra features that are useful in a classroom setting.

  • We are creating our own server that simplifies the task of getting a classroom server up and running and adds the abilities to load and save lesson activities.

  • And speaking of lesson activites... we are creating a free library of worlds/levels/activites that you can use in your classroom to teach a variety of subjects.

  • Onsite workshops and inservice training for you and your colleagues.
In a few weeks, we will have our website up and running to share more details and let you order the game and/or our custom software.  However, if you simply MUST have copies of Minecraft for your school now, I am happy to let you know that we can start selling the game at a discounted rate immediately!  Here are the details:
  • For right now, we are technically selling gift codes that can be redeemed at minecraft.net for the full game.
  • If you buy 25 licenses, we are allowed to sell them for $315 total.
  • Fewer than 25, are $15 each (so $150 for 10, $300 for 20).
  • You can install the game on as many computers as you like, so long as each game account is used only once simultaneously.

Skills Development and Motor Control with Minecraft

During the Minecraft CCA yesterday, I couldn't ignore the fact that some of the youngest students (Year 3) had difficulty coordinating their keyboard and mouse to move their character around the maps. There is a tendency for kids to want to either use the keyboard by itself, or the mouse by itself - it takes a lot of learned coordination to use both to look around and move their character.

My thinking is that this simultaneous use of keyboard/mouse has some specific applications - and most of them are gaming. For seasoned FPS gamers, coordinating the keyboard and mouse is like riding a bike: hands control the front wheel and feet control the back wheel. Yet, for young students - this coordinated effort in the gaming domain is a tricky skill to learn and master. I blame it all on thumb-dominant console games. ^.^

Sitting beside the Year 3 students, I explained to them that the keyboard and the mouse move different parts of the body. I asked them to imagine the keyboard moves everything from the waist down, and the mouse moves everything from the waist up (meaning the arms, head and eyes). Granted, they didn't get the hang of it right away, but the visual image seemed to help them, and by the end of the session many seemed to be moving their character around with a little more ease. These skills will have to be practiced (like any skill) in order to gain any mastery.

The Minecraft Teacher has an excellent post and video here on how he helps students learn basic movements by designing a map that students move through.

If you're using Minecraft (or any keyboard/mouse game) with younger students, try the imagery above and let me know how it goes. I'd be curious how you help students develop their coordinated keyboard and mouse skills.

Ciao Meow

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Learning with Minecraft

Hi all,

I've had a few people email and DM me about my Minecraft CCA after I tweet about it on Monday afternoons, so I thought I'd share a few thoughts here and get the word out.

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If you aren't familiar with Minecraft - it's a sandbox style game where users can mine for resources, create buildings, fight off monsters, and use their skills in crafting to make weapons, armour, tools for harvesting, and even rollercoaster-like mine carts. The game was designed by Markus 'Notch' Persson and it comes in a free online version and a paid downloadable game that has all the goodies you'd expect from a first person (sometimes 3rd person) FPS like game.

I originally got into this game because I love FPS like games - and people like @colingally, @TSherwood and @joramlh thrive in these sorts of environment in our 'downtime'. When I first saw the video of the dude who created a 1:1 scale model of the Starship Enterprise in Minecraft, I knew this game was something different. If people can invest the time and energy to create anything they can dream up...this MUST have applications in the classroom. After watching the hilarious (and sometimes NSFS) tutorial videos by Seananners on YouTube, I was hooked.

After playing for a little while, and getting some experience in the basics (building shelter, finding resources, fighting off baddies) - I decided to give it a try in the classroom in the form of an after school CCA. Honestly I didn't really know what to expect, but what I discovered was that the game really afforded some nice learning opportunities for the students. First, the kids really needed to know how to make decisions based on priorities. Is it more important to start exploring right away? How important is shelter? Should I kill all the cows and pigs around, or build a rudimentary axe and start collecting wood? How important is a torch on that first night alone in the wilderness?

It was really interesting to see how students made different decisions, and how they learned from each other which strategy worked better depending on what they wanted out of the game - most students quickly discovered that having a torch on the first night meant they could still work in their shelter, and there was no time wasted while they waited for the sun to come up. :) Maximizing efficiency...loved it.

Another thing that came out of it was how students quickly developed an appreciation for the value of hard work. It takes a significant amount of time to collect resources and build up your shelter...so when you start exploring more dangerous areas of the maps (which are all randomly generated BTW) you put yourself more and more at risk of losing everything, and having your hard work end up in disappointment. Now, this doesn't mean that students were playing it safe...in fact it was quite the opposite. Students were quickly realizing that in order to get to more valuable areas where more resources were - they had to plan and prepare. Torches are key, ladders for climbing out of pits, armour, weapons (even a bow to strike from a distance), having food as a backup in case of injury - they were planners like they were going on a long excursion, and it was wild to see some of them even making compasses and clocks so they knew how to get back home and what time it was on the surface while they explored the deep dark underground. Planning...loved it.

Lastly, as we started getting into the multiplayer versions of the game - it became clear (quite by chance) that the discussion around Digital Citizenship was more and more relevant. When students found themselves exploring a server (there are tons online) that had a large amount of work in it - they were faced with choices: Do I take these resources that were put here for everyone? If I take some, should I replace them with ones that I've got? Someone made this nice big glass wall...what would happen if I just broke one of the windows? I'll be exploring the multiplayer issues with the students more in the coming weeks, but I'm excited to tie this into the larger picture of how their choices online can have consequences - even when nobody's looking. I'm almost hoping for a student to get banned from a server for not contributing to the piles, or for griefing someone else's work - just so I can talk about it with them. Responsibility online - love it.

(I know I'm not even mentioning the incredible amounts of math you can get into when you start to talk about building plans. We're talking about endless opportunity here. I'm hoping someone like @davidwees will take the reigns on that one.)

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In closing, I think it's pretty obvious that I love this fantastic little game. In fact, it's not so little any more really...it's getting bigger and bigger, and I believe there were over a million users signed up according to stats on Wikipedia. I've played MW2 for months and months, F.E.A.R. 2, Batman Arkham Asylum and even Black Ops, but this is one of the only games in recent memory that can really get my heart racing as I explore underground mines and caves - I don't want to lose all my stuff. You can find out more about Minecraft at minecraft.net - and there are TONS of tutorials online on YouTube, etc. There's even a video of a guy who made a 16bit ALU inside the game - a computer, within a computer. This game is awesome...and I'd say check it out for some fun.

Oh, don't forget your torches.

Ciao Meow,
Rob.

Long Overdue Update

The last three weeks have been full of excitement, challenges, learning and collaboration as we've rolled out the laptops to Year 6, and have started moving the teachers to a full iMac environment. With Google Docs, the students have been collaborating on documents with each other, forms, and even drawing together. 

Another new technology the students are using (and loving) is Prezi...but more than Prezi - Prezi Meeting. While moving through their Unit of Enquiry on "Sharing The Planet", students have been collaborating on a Prezi that maps out relationships between various elements of different ecosystems. Students in groups of three and four have been working together on laying out their information, then deciding on how the path runs through it. By exploring the space BETWEEN elements - students are answering the question WHY they linked those two elements.

Prezi Meeting has been a very powerful tool so far, and seeing the level of engagement with the students has been very rewarding for the teachers. In fact, some students wanted to see their Prezi on the screen, so we hooked up their laptop and they started going through the Prezi...when break came, some students stayed in during break just to see their Prezi and learn more about that particular ecosystem. I was blown away.

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Ciao Meow,
Rob.

Laptops!

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Year 6 began their school year today with MacBooks. After a short discussion on the Acceptable Use Policy, students made their way back to their classrooms and opened up their cabinets.

The looks on the faces were enough to make us realize we have made the right decision.

Remote Desktop v3.3

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As we are moving towards 1:1 this year with Year 6, one of the most important questions on teacher and parent minds is, "How will you be monitoring what the students are doing?" It's a good question. Having 20 students in a classroom makes it difficult for a teacher, or even two teachers to be around the room enough to ensure the students are doing the right thing.

Besides monitoring students, having a system in place to help students work, transfer files, and differentiate instruction for classrooms is a priority. This is where Apple Remote Desktop comes into play. Using software that is purchased from Apple, teachers can install the management software directly on their Macbooks, and monitor every student at once. Not only can teachers monitor, but also interact through chats, share screens, copy files from one computer to another, and make the computers into a real network with some interesting possibilities for sharing.

Teachers can also shut down all the computers at the end of the day...or lock screens in the middle of a lesson to make sure students are on track and engaged.

Looking forward to showing teachers how to use this great software...and how to use it with students to facilitate safe and fun learning environments.

Why I'm excited about Google Docs

I've been working on a Google Doc with Chris Smith from www.shambles.net and it's been a nice experience to remind me how much I love collaborative documents. In the classroom context, Google Docs is a great platform for students to create documents together, and even better for teachers when it comes to assessments. There is a great option for seeing the revision history (see attached screencap) of the document. Meaning, teachers can see step by step how the document has been edited and changed...and also see who edited what and when.

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How many times have I complained as a student or heard students complain that group work wasn't really a true collaborative effort? With apps like this, the problems in assessing group work disappear almost completely. Students are much more accountable for the work they do, and as a result - the assessments are more accurate.

Looking forward to this...big time. Hoping it will blow some teacher's minds.

Why Google Apps?

Is there a good reason why I'm so interested in Google Apps right now? Well, as a platform for students - it's pretty easy. Admittedly, it's been hard to get things organized with our domain name, and DNS issues...but these are issues beyond the realm of Google.

Here's a video that I watched this morning (no doubt created by Google) about Google Apps in Education. I'll be looking to talk to other educators and administrators who are finding meaningful ways of using Google in their classrooms. It's more than just Google Earth. :)

Google Apps Challenges

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In a perfect world, Google Apps would work smoothly with the existing infrastructure already in place at your educational institution. However, as most of us in EdTech know, there is rarely a perfect world scenario. As far as I can tell, Google Apps is configured correctly. I've created all the necessary CNAME files, MX records, and created unique URLs for the Docs, Sites, Calendar and Gmail. I've even created a Wave CNAME, just in case we get to the point where we're using it for realtime chat.

However, when trying to access any of these apps from school - there is always an error. Unfortunately, we seem to be having issues with our DNS server. We have two - one for internal, and one for external - and they don't play so nice together. This is why we need an IT Manager who has some experience with this sort of thing. I wish it was easier, and I believe I've gone as far as I can with what I can do without having someone with expertise in this field.

Students can send and receive email - which was my biggest concern, but teachers can't send email to student Gmail accounts from the school webmail yet. Google is great...so far so good, but without having someone who knows what they are doing (and I'm not that person) - it's hard to judge if I'm having a success or a failure, and to what degree of each.

Hoping for the best...stay tuned.

Posterous theme by Cory Watilo