"Minecraft" Education Edition, by developers Microsoft Studios and Mojang AB, will reportedly make the rounds in schools soon. The testing for the "Minecraft" Education Edition, will be two-phased with a Beta version in May and an "early access" edition in June.
CNET reports that the "Minecraft" Education Edition, which is targeted to supplement education, will test the beta version with students belonging to as many as 100 schools. The second phase of the test will expand the availability of "Minecraft" Education Edition under an "early access" program.
The "Minecraft" Education Edition will support multi-language in readiness for the anticipated 41 countries that will use the game during the "early access" program. Because the target of the "Minecraft" Education Edition is to assist in educating and learning.
Microsoft will reportedly work closely with the teachers. "During the summer months, we are also going to be focused on working with educators on building out lesson plans, sharing learning activity ideas and creating reusable projects," Microsoft stated.
According to N4BB teachers and students, who use "Minecraft" Education Edition beta and "early access" versions, are expected to provide a full feedback on the new learning aid. The earlier incarnation of "Minecraft" Education Edition, which was known as "MinecraftEdu" had a successful test round internationally among both educators and students.
Microsoft hopes for "Minecraft" Education Edition to do as well if not surpass "MinecraftEdu." "Minecraft" Education Edition is Microsoft's answer to educators realizing that the game is a strong tool for education and learning. In the past year, Microsoft and Code-org collaborated under the "Annual Hour of Code" campaign, which aimed to teach young students how to code.
The attraction of "Minecraft" to teachers as an education tool is that it hits all the checkboxes from arts to STEM threads. Among students, learning becomes more enjoyable with "Minecraft," especially on the aspect of leadership.
Schools that are interested in the beta and early access program for "Minecraft" Education Edition may register with Education.Minecraft.net. Depending on the duration of the early access program, schools will be able to avail of the licensed version "Minecraft" Education Edition.