By jan lewis on January 7, 2019
For my Resoure Mining contribution to the Knowledge Mill I wanted to research more about how Microsoft’s work delving into using Minecraft: Education Edition on a mobile device (rather than a laptop or desktop) was coming along. I’ve only had experience using it with my classes on laptops and desktops running Windows10 and it’s worked very well but I’ve put in a request to our IT dept to install the app on our iPads after hearing how some colleagues in another school were using it on iPads.
I searched in google on my phone using the game name and the word “mobile” and the second hit was this: Minecraft Education Edition now available for iPad.
The things they shared didn’t seem much different than the laptop experience, and I supppse that’s actually the point because the game for education is not supposed to be about what tech tool students using to access it but about the becoming immersed in the planned learning environment itself, regardless of interface. So in this respect I guess M:EE can’t be considered a strictly “mobile” technology but they’ve done a decent job porting things over so the experience is almost as user-friendly as using a mouse or a game-controller. (Truthfully, no less a problem to what I’m doing right now, typing this post on the Safari word press page on my phone rather than the much easier keyboard on my laptop).
The thing that caught my attention and made me decide to share this on the Knowledge Mill was the bottom paragraph and the link it provided — goldmine! 
This link is value-added for those of us interested in researching and leveraging Minecraft and Game-Based Learning in the classroom. Three scholarlyc academic research studies and seven case studies related to the varied uses and value of Minecraft for GBL.
I have saved these for my own future research and highly recommend checking it out if you’re so inclined: How Minecraft Impacts Classrooms.
– Jan
Inside this tech is an app called Minecraft. I selected this app because how useful it has become and has evolved from being a game to a tool we use in the primary classrooms. Students love playing Minecraft and you can easily incorporate into todays curriculum allowing students to feel like they are playing a game when they are actually being educated. Students use this game as an educational tool now. Students can build communities, write about what they have built in the game, build words out of blocks, and interact with each other. There are many things Minecraft can do to be educational rather than just a gaming app. Networks allow Minecraft users to stay safe while in a world they have created. Teachers can host worlds that students populate so the teachers can oversee the progress the students are making and also making sure students stay on task. I find this very useful in my practice as it is a way to keep students motivated and learning at the same time.