Prodigy Learning Officially Partners with Minecraft Education

At the heart of this partnership is a shared commitment to empowering educators and engaging students. Minecraft Education’s game-based learning platform, which offers a built-in coding feature, and Prodigy Learning’s global expertise in credentialing come together to create a comprehensive educational experience that builds critical pathways from classroom to career. These products will now be offered for licensing through Microsoft and channel resellers worldwide in addition to existing Prodigy Learning channels.

How Coding in Minecraft Works

Coding in Minecraft by Prodigy Learning is a Computer Science (CS) credential program, delivered through Minecraft Education. The program engages young and diverse learners through game-based learning in an immersive CS and coding curriculum and rewards their learning with industry recognized credentials. The learning pathway is comprised of a series of courses, which immerse students in a Minecraft Education world to develop and prove their coding skills using MakeCode and JavaScript or Python. Coding in Minecraft is an easy to teach solution enabling educators with little or no CS experience to deliver a standards-aligned CS curriculum. The comprehensive solution includes curriculum (including Minecraft Education worlds), assessments, capstone exams and credentials; supported by comprehensive educator resources and professional development.

Coding in Minecraft enables students to gain critical skills such as computational thinking, reasoning and problem solving for in-demand job roles, building the workforce of tomorrow and creating economic opportunity. A recent Microsoft UK report on LinkedIn showed that those individuals with an industry recognized certification or badge are 2.4x more likely to get hired for a job using technology than those who do not hold an industry recognized certification. Providing Coding in Minecraft for all K-12 schools in a state or district gives each student equal opportunity to get engaged in CS and achieve industry recognized credentials aligned to CS standards, as well as starting pathways to employment opportunities. The proven system-wide deployment model supports implementation of CS policy at scale.

Educators can now access a wider range of resources and tools to facilitate learning and assessment. The partnership will provide licensed customers with professional development, curriculum alignment, and a robust support community to ensure educators are equipped for success. It is easy for educators of any CS background to use Coding in Minecraft in their classroom to empower every student to master coding skills.

The partnership will officially kick off with the launch of the first two credentialing products, Coding in Minecraft (CiM) and a new Cyber product, in Fall 2024.

These offerings are just the beginning, with more innovative solutions on the horizon.

Building Pathways for Computer Science

Prodigy Learning has made impact with Coding in Minecraft for more than five years. Learn more about how school systems around the globe have implemented this Computer Science pathway to drive student learning outcomes:

• Washington (US): State-wide deployment to all K-12 schools as part of the State’s information technology certification program. The program has seen rapid uptake since commencement in the 2021-22 school year and has reached many rural schools, transforming the opportunities for students in those areas.
• North Carolina (US): State-wide deployment to all middle schools supporting the rollout of the NC CS Standards. The program has been included as a course on the CTE Essential Standards and in the Career Pathway Model for pathways in the CS and IT Education area and meets the CS graduation requirement.
• Alaska (US): State-wide deployment to all K-12 schools as a workforce development initiative championed by Gov. Dunleavy. Within the first year of availability in the 2022-23 school year, 50% of the State’s schools registered to use Coding in Minecraft.
• Northern Ireland: Multi-year rollout to K-12 schools with the Northern Ireland Education Authority C2k network to support delivery of the Northern Ireland Computer Science Curriculum.
• New South Wales (Australia): NSW Department of Education adopted Coding in Minecraft in 2023 as part of their Regional Industry Economic Partnerships program.

If you are interested in learning more about Coding in Minecraft by Prodigy Learning and this new partnership with Minecraft Education, we encourage you to register for our digital event taking place on June 5, 2024.