After a summer of test runs and testing, the full version of Minecraft: Education Edition will officially launch on the 1st of November. The service will require a five-dollar annual membership per user, or a districtwide license. However the Early Access edition will still be free until November.
According to the MinecraftEdu team, more than 35,000 students and teachers have played in the sandbox of Minecraft since the game was launched at the start of the summer. The team has added a few education-focused features to the official release. This includes the "Classroom Mode" which gives a top-down view of the Minecraft world via an app that is a companion to the game. Teachers can manage world settings and interact with students in-game and give out items or teleport their kids around the map using one interface. As the main Minecraft world grows and gets new features, so does the education edition. educators are encouraged to submit ideas for features and feedback.
Rock it like a hurricane
Finally, for any teachers who haven't stepped into Minecraft's blocky world yet, education.minecraft.net offers some starter worlds, tutorials, free lesson plans in subjects ranging from storytelling to city planning, and a mentoring program to connect them with other educators. At launch, Minecraft: Education Edition requires OS X El Capitan or Windows 10, plus a free Office 365 account to use.
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