Week 1 Readings

During the last 3-4 years I have thought at length about the myriad themes discussed in the EVO Minecraft MOOC readings as can be seen from my previous blog pages and some of the presentations I have made to colleagues at conferences and Teachmeets in my local area. As a lifelong learner I hope to keep on finding and trying out new ideas.  Common themes emerge such as engaging in online spaces, collaboration and discussion with colleagues and using games for learning. Learning in such spaces is ongoing and interactive – though a lot of the time I have spent in online spaces has, of necessity, been on an individual basis due to the time zone I inhabit. However, at various times of the year when I am on vacation I meet educators from across the globe – depending on the hours I choose to be online. To date I have met with educators in World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Second Life and Quest Atlantis – searching for the right place to incorporate into student learning. My instinct now tells me that Minecraft is the vehicle – especially since I have an active server on my school network. However, I still want to incorporate the superior tools in Open Sim as I believe they would greatly assist older students in the understanding of physical properties and the mathematics of 3D shapes and the XYZ planes of a 3D space. There is a whole world of resources centred around Minecraft and I have only just skimmed the surface of learning about how it works – having just this week purchased and tried out the littleBits cloubit tied in with bitcraft – a Minecraft mod – to see how it works through completing the initial tutorial supplied in the bitcraft world. Step by step I feel I am inching closer to having Minecraft accepted as a project space for learning during school time as well as after school. Minecraft accommodates learning across all learning areas and provides a safe space for students in my school to learn about becoming digital citizens and collaborating with others in an “online” community.

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