Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition Now Available
Hello! It’s been quite a month for Minecraft: Education Edition. On May 2, we announced Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition, a free one-year subscription to Minecraft: Education Edition with qualifying purchases of Windows 10 computers and tablets, and updates to both in-game features and Classroom Mode for Minecraft. In just two weeks, thousands of you downloaded the Code Builder Beta and are already creating with Tynker, ScratchX, and MakeCode. Please continue to share your creations on Twitter and follow the conversation by following @playcraftlearn.
Today, we are excited to announce the Code Builder Update for Minecraft: Education Edition. This includes general availability of Code Builder along with updates to both in-game features and Classroom Mode. Let’s dig in to the details: Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition is a brand-new extension that allows educators and students to explore, create, and play in an immersive Minecraft world – all by writing code. Connecting to learn-to-code packages like ScratchX, Tynker, and a new open source platform called Microsoft MakeCode, players start with familiar tools, templates and tutorials. And, Code.org will bring Code Studio to Code Builder later this year to support even more learning opportunities. For assistance with Code Builder, we have published a full set of training materials available on the education.minecraft.net community site. Today, we are also releasing updates to Minecraft: Education Edition. Command Blocks allow players to attach Minecraft commands to activated blocks within the game. You can create teleport stations, give items, change the weather, and more. To utilize educator-focused features, we introduced Worldbuilder ability with Education Edition. We’ve shortened this command to /wb for ease of use, and added others like /clear to empty your inventory and /position to display coordinates. New blocks like Terracotta allow for amazing design possibilities and villager trading brings even more economics into the game. Find out more about this release at our changelog page. Classroom Mode for Minecraft has also received updates based on educator feedback. We heard loud and clear that educators are using the toggles available to monitor and support learning but wanted more opportunities to streamline the game experience. As of today, you can install the updated Classroom Mode which includes new controls for weather, destructive items like lava & TNT, mobs, muting chat and immutable world.
Next month, the Minecraft Education team will be at ISTE 2017 in San Antonio, so make sure to sign up for updates at education.minecraft.net and find out more on the Microsoft Education blog. For more information about the one-year subscription for Minecraft: Education Edition with qualifying Windows 10 device purchases, head to our offer page here. If you’re near a Microsoft Store, you can check out our demo station featuring Code Builder as well. Oh, and one more thing. If you are looking to try your first lesson with Minecraft: Education Edition, we have hundreds available from educators on education.minecraft.net. Here are ten more ideas you can try with your students:
