Our Server Has Arrived!

Ethan, Justice Lillian

The three students above hold a special place in my evolution as a teacher. They introduced me to Minecraft. In the fall of 2010 Lillian, Ethan and Justice agreed to teach me how to play and it wasn't long before I had my own account and was hooked. We began attracting others to our group and eventually had to shift to the computer lab because so many learners were interested. Our club, though, had 2 limitations: 

1. We couldn't engage in multiplayer.

2.  Not everyone had an account.

These problems have now been solved thanks to our Ken Spencer Award money and some of my husbands Humber College students.  We now have our own server!  It arrived today to great excitement.

Joel Attrell and Keinan Vella - Humber College students in the Network Support Technician Program
and their prof. Jeremy Brooks 

Keinan explains the components.
Joel gives the students a real world math problem: source the parts and find out the cost of our server.
Include HST.

Our first student logs in!

Spawned.

And then it became the wild west in my room. Shouts, hoots, laughter. Today, those who had their own accounts were able to access, but tonightI will purchase school accounts for our club members. They will be able to access the server any time during the school day from anywhere in the school.

Keinan instructed me on how to manage the server. I learned a great deal and am thrilled to have established this connection between college and elementary students.  More connecting needs to happen. College students have a wealth of expertise and this is a way for them to apply their skills in a meaningful, relevant and real world setting. My students are able to learn directly from highly skilled people. My role has been to facilitate the connection and Keinan and Joel will continue to keep an eye on our server.

What I appreciate about Keinan and Joel is that these are techies who can communicate. They provided clear explanations of complex technology in ways that we could understand. Both are excited about this project and the potential to assist more schools in bringing game based learning to the classroom. 

The server allows 100 players to play with no lag. It has the capacity to go much higher, but that is what we are starting with. It takes 1 second to log on. Info on the configuration of the server can be found on their Educrafting blog: http://educraft.blogspot.ca/ They can also be followed on twitter: @EduCrafting. 

Building Our Minecraft Server

We've begun spending our prize money for the Ken Spencer Award. 10 iPad2's have been ordered and the school has piggy backed onto the exceptional discount Apple is offering to educators right now; 20 more have been ordered thanks to the home and school and teachers purchasing for their classrooms.

My husband who teaches information technology at Humber College has connected us to some of his talented students who are building a dedicated Minecraft server for our club. We will be able to have at least 30 players on at a time. Once again, thank you Ken Spencer!  As I type, they are out purchasing equipment. You can follow the build in real time on twitter @educrafting

There has been intense discussion all week from the students in the club who range from grades 3 to 7.   The discussions have been sophisticated and thoughtful.  They've weighed pros and cons of various design options and are extremely curious about how the server will be structured. They've also identified risk factors and implications of decisions that we might make as a group and have begun to hash out conduct guidelines.  A chief concern is who will have administrative rights for the server. These are extremely knowledgeable and thoughtful students and I appreciate their guidance as I am, once again, the level 2 student in the group (well, if I'm being totally honest, level 1).


(cross-posted in The Amaryllis)

Hiroshima

Yesterday at Edcampto http://www.edcampto.org/  I had my most interesting conversation about Minecraft yet.  A teacher described what happened with Minecraft in his classroom. It was a powerful story.

In his class students built a Minecraft multiplayer server and then spent the entire year building and playing in that world.  Their heart and soul went into it.  For non-Minecrafters I don't know if you can fully understand what this means, but players will get it.   For Minecrafters the world they create is as real as the world they live in.  In some ways it is more real because players have a level of power, control and creativity that they do not have in everyday life.

One student played  for the entire year but never shared with the rest of the class what he was up to. At the end of the school year they found out.  The student had spent the entire year collecting enough dynamite equivalent to the force of the bomb that fell on Hiroshima and then he used it.  He blew up their world.  It took over 7 minutes and the entire class watched as their creation was destroyed.

I am in shock just hearing it.  That day in class ... what was it like?

I am looking for some insight into this part of Minecraft and what happened. Could players comment?
Keep in mind this is an educational blog seen by students.

Grades 4 and 5 Arrive

Minecraft for grades 4 and 5 has begun. I'm just going to record what I hear.

How do I build?
Who's building? Go watch him.

Ready. I've got the TNT. Watch this. (and the pure pleasure of destroying and rebuilding)

Can you help me? I forget how to...

(and from everyone a running record describing their decision making as they play)

I just found lava.

What is that?

Hold down the mouse. Go to.... put the wood here ...

Several students suddenly get up and gather around one all chatting in excitement.

It's starting to get dark.

How do I switch between two?

You need to go to options.

You have to update the Java.

Dude you're in ... there's a brick that turns purple.
Maybe it's obsidian
No it goes purple up and down.

You're launching.

One boy gets up to help another make a portal. Everyone leaps up to observe and then try it themselves.

Constant questions, teaching, observing, learning and celebration when someone masters a new technique.

The ebb and flow of natural learning.

I've got a portal. I've got a portal! I'm going through.

I've found a duck taking a bath.
No, that's just a chicken clucking around.
(disgust) He can't even swim!

And one boy who tries computer after computer trying to get into the game. Finally a girl suggests that he's trying to load the wrong version. Success.

And so it begins ... again.

This is our first true day of Minecraft Club. We ended up splitting the club into two sessions: one for grades 6 and 7 and one for grades 4 and 5.  Most students in the club are already Minecrafters and many have their own accounts.  Several, though, are playing on the free version.  While playing almost all players are describing what is happening on their screens while they play. They verbally identify a course of action and even though many voices are speaking at once ... if an interesting plan arises, it is heard because neighbouring students will pause and watch.

Back at It!

This summer I took a break from Minecraft, but now that the school year has started, I am back at it. Clearly, my students' return to Minecraft has been eagerly awaited; the one question that I am asked most frequently when walking down the halls of my school is, "When is Minecraft starting?" often by students that I do not even know! 54 students have signed up to date. For a club, those numbers are staggering. I think our original group was 4 and we could play in my classroom. I now may have to run 2 sessions per week to accommodate everyone. Gaming is social though and part of the process is gathering in groups, discussing, problem solving, suggesting - the conversation is as important as the playing and creating. Not everyone needs to be at the keyboard at once. This weekend I am participating in a global classroom for Minecraft. I signed up for two reasons: 1. I would like to learn more about the game 2. This represents a new model of learning: students logging in from around the world to participate in a self-selected class. I believe the event is running out of Australia, but I could be wrong. The event targets adults who wish to learn more about the virtual world in which their children create. This event once again demonstrates the power of twitter. Thank you @MissionVHQ for tweeting it; I would never have known otherwise.

I am in the Club!!!!

I don't know what is more exciting: that 3 grade 6 boys invited me to join their team to design a mod for Minecraft or that I understood what they were asking!!!

Grade 6 Girls Talk About Minecraft

Today I had the pleasure of sitting down with five grade 6 girls in our Minecraft club during Nutrition Break to discuss why they game.  I was stunned by the level of maturity in their discussion as well as their insights. I will blog in detail about what I learned, but I promised them I would post the interview today.  It lasts about 20 minutes and is well worth a full listen, particularly near the end when the girls discuss self-image. They blew me away!  

Voices of Gamers

There were over 20 students, male and female,  in the lab at Nutrition Break today playing Minecraft.  For those who think that gaming is an isolating activity, you're wrong. Gaming is intensely social. Players remain focused, on task and in constant conversation as they work to help each other achieve goals. New learning spreads rapidly and calls for help are immediately answered.  There are frequent moments of success and satisfaction as players continuously work to solve problems.

Ian Chia suggested I put a mic in our lab so everyone can hear what I am privileged to hear. I used audacity to record bits and pieces of our conversation and then uploaded the podcast to www.archive.org to get an embed code in order to post it in blogger. We are noisy, learning and having fun!  0

If You Could Hear What I Hear

I truly wish that all educators could be in our lab at Dundas Central listening to students discuss Minecraft.  It saddens me because I realize that in my 20 years of teaching, I haven't spent enough time just listening to my students.

YOU!!!!! Play Minecraft?

Still the most common reaction I get from students. Minecraft is spreading into homes. Siblings are beginning to play. We're in the cloud.

I Have Spawned Minecrafters

Today, in the lab at nutrition break there are suddenly 7 new minecrafters excited about the game. The longtime group is teaching the new group. Students working on other subjects are whispering and asking questions. Interesting. The best thing of all is that I get to observe how gamers teach each other.

Two Kinds of Teachers

Now that I am a student, I realize that I have two kinds of teachers and both are necessary.  One group of my teachers are the excited visionaries. They see my future and are eager to show me all that world of Minecraft can become. They enthusiastically race ahead into the realm of possibilities.  I frequently am unable to follow where they are going but I sense that their ideas are worth pursuing and am willing to persist because they know something that I want to know.

Then there are the logicians.  They are the calmer, sequential thinkers. They can shift down to my level and clearly explain my exact next step.  I rely on them to guide me and turn to them when I have questions.

I need both.

This leads me to consider just what a misguided effort it is to attempt to standardize the delivery of education.  The idea that one size fits all or that if we just develop the right program we can finally put an effective education system into place is a waste of time.  Just as students require differentiated instruction, teachers require recognition that different teaching styles exist and that one is not more valid than the other.  I would not want my own students to have a teacher like me every year.  I know my weaknesses and am grateful that there are other teachers in the school who compensate for what I am unable to do.  And I know that the way I engage with my students compensates for the weaknesses in their systems.   Each teacher has something unique to offer. It's time that the world of education recognized this.

I Can't Believe I'm Having This Conversation With You, Mrs. Siwak

This week, we've been back at Minecraft in my classroom.  I have some excellent teachers who are enthusiastic about helping me learn. I've made a craft table, collected wool, and now have a bed so that morning can come faster. I've learned the benefits of collecting cobblestone and of building a very tall tower so I can find my way back. I am the proud owner of, a spade!

Today we decided to move out of my classroom and into the computer lab for our Minecraft club as our group is expanding and there are not enough computers in my room.  In the lab, two grade 8 students were working on a language assignment and joined our conversation once they realized we were playing Minecraft.  The best way I can describe what happens when students discover that I am gaming is that an ignition fires and they come to life - the passive, uninterested, meaningless conversation that passes for dialogue between teacher and student is eliminated and real discussion occurs - the kind of discussion they might have with someone outside of school.  It is at a much more sophisticated level than anything I have experienced previously with students - and I have been teaching for 20+ years!

I learned a great deal from these students.  When one of them explained how to access the game from a different computer, I was pleased that I was able to follow in my head the sequence of steps he was explaining. There, tick it off the expectation list: student is able to give directions. Level 4 - the explanation was sophisticated, complex and sequential. It made sense.  Why should he have to bother writing directions for an invented assignment when he can do this already?

As the conversation continued, this student recognized the role reversal and remarked on it - that I was just another student learning to do something.  His estimation and respect for me went up, as did mine for him.  We were connecting on a level that does not usually happen in "school".   "I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you," he said.  I invited this student to join us on Day 5's at first and second Nutrition Breaks and to bring anyone else who might be interested.  Once again I am moving into new territory.  I am learning how to build relevant relationships with students - relevant to them and me!

I Survive My First Night

My teachers (they're 11) said I should really get the Beta version of Minecraft, that way I could save my game.  Always listen to your teachers!

This time it was easy to create a world and begin moving through it.  I was fascinated by all that I saw, but was primarily focused on motion control, which is thank goodness rapidly improving now that I'm using a mouse instead of the keypad.  After exploring this new world for a while, I knew that I needed to begin building and thought that I should start to place blocks. To my horror, none of the methods that I had learned in the first version of Minecraft worked. I was right back to square one.  This time though, I knew that there was a logic to the control panel and I just needed to figure that out.

I went back to the first tutorial I had watched on how to survive your first night in Minecraft . This time it made perfect sense.


All I needed to do was gather a few resources such as wood and coal, build a workbench, make some tools and find a place to shelter for the night before the night creatures found me.

As you can see from the bottom, I am gathering wood.

For those who have followed my struggle to determine simply how to move in this game,  you can imagine my sense of satisfaction that I had reached this point. After chopping down a number of trees,  I went on to find coal in order to make torches before it became dark.  It was so exciting to find the hillside with a large vein of coal. I proceeded to dig away, but unfortunately, did not pay attention to the time.  It suddenly began to darken and stars appeared.  It was really quite beautiful, but I knew I still needed torches and shelter. I began to feel anxious. What would happen?

I had no option but to continue to problem solve.  I returned to my craft centre and that's when I found out that I hadn't been gathering coal at all!  No! I had been gathering ...

GRAVEL????

I could not make a torch.  I had not built shelter. I had no other tools.  What to do?  

My husband who has begun to take a keen interest in my progress and is thinking of becoming a player too, whipped out his phone and looked for assistance - Minecraft Buddy.  He scrolled through asking what resources I had. Minecraft Buddy confirmed that I was stuck.

I thought that I might as well continue exploring this world at night and ventured forth.  The moon appeared; it was quite lovely, but then I spotted a Zombie. Panic. That's it. I ran for cover and hid in a tree; it was nerve racking as I had no idea how long night would last or if I would live to play another day.   It felt real and lonely. Eventually the sun appeared and it was with a great sense of relief that I saved my game for tomorrow.  

Sunrise. 

It is the not knowing what to expect that makes this game so captivating.  As adults, it is not often that we put ourselves into unfamiliar situations where we need to problem solve without schema to draw upon.   Usually when we encounter a difficulty, we apply  previous knowledge  in order to work through it.  In Minecraft I have very little schema. Every move I make, I am making it for the first time.   I have to say though, that I am hooked!

Minecraft has been Unblocked

I looked for the reason why Minecraft had become blocked.  It stated: games. I kid you not.  Fortunately, a simple email request was all that was needed to rectify the problem.  

Always Blame the Equipment

That was a piece of advice my brother-in-law offered my daughter when she began playing hockey many years ago.  It popped into mind today as I realized that part of my difficulty in advancing in Minecraft was due to my equipment.  Instead of using a mouse for maneuvering, I've been using the keypad on my laptop which made the task unnecessarily difficult.  I discovered this by accident when sitting down to a PC to play - with the mouse I was able to be more accurate in my movements. Such a simple thing. With the right tool, learning can now proceed.

This also made me think of how having access to the right tools allows learning to proceed among a group of students that we've really not been able to serve well in the past:  the learning disabled.  What a phrase!  It implies that these students are unable to learn. A more accurate description would be that these students learn differently and that traditional educational tools do not meet their needs. This, however,  is no longer the case as assistive technologies become more common in classrooms. Speech to text word processing, digital readers, and a host of other tools are slowly becoming integrated into teaching practice. Students no longer need to sit helpless and frustrated while everyone else moves forward..  The right tools are allowing them to get on with their learning independently.  Always blame the equipment, indeed!

Minecraft is Blocked????!!!!!!!!!!

I sat down with my 11 and 10 year old colearners (oh, let's be honest, teachers ) at Nutrition Break today only to find out that Minecraft has been blocked. I don't know why quite yet, but my students believe it is probably due to discussion forums using inappropriate language.  Discussion forums?

My learning was stymied. This was very frustrating, but led to an important question: if we are going to open our classrooms to multi-player collaborative on-line gaming, can the games not be designed from the outset to accommodate a school's needs.  Could there not be word recognition that automatically logged out players who begin using inappropriate language?  Surely with all the analytics being gathered a simple tool could be designed with this purpose in mind. If this happened, would it change the nature of the gaming experience?

Fortunately, my board has a fairly flexible unblocking policy.  I have sent in a request to have the site unblocked for my school and am optimistic this will occur.

Rousing Cheer: Blocks in Place - Oh Yeah!

Got it!

I've placed several blocks by accident thorough experimental use of key sequences,  but this is the capture of the first time I understood and deliberately placed blocks.  In hindsight I have no idea why this seemed so difficult, because it is really quite easy.  I suspect my students have found me somewhat peculiar as I asked for yet another demonstration of how to place blocks. Once I understood the logic and was able to complete the task,  I let out a rather loud cheer.  This was way more satisfying than any external prize could be.

Implications for teaching:  learners must be allowed enough opportunities to repeat a learning experience until the knowledge and skills have been internalized.  There really is no point moving forward to a next step when the previous step has not been solidified. Perhaps learning of skills needs to broken down into much tinier steps.  This is where I see a true usefulness for blended on-line learning. In-class time could be devoted to rich, highly engaging higher level thinking activities;  on-line time could be used for the individualized practice of  skills and concepts.  Just a thought.

Insight # 4: Gaming Alters One's Understanding of Location and Movement in the Real World

I hope this makes sense.

I've been very caught up with simply moving through space in Minecraft.  What I wasn't expecting was for this to alter the way I experience movement and location in the real world.  Suddenly, I'm not just driving in my car, but I am on an xy axis  within a cube and I can easily visualize myself at exact locations within it.  I am relating to my world in a different way.  I don't know if this is truly a new pathway in my brain or that it's simply that it has never occurred to me to relate to my world in this way.  Whatever has caused it, I am relating to and thinking about space differently. And, it seems very natural; I'm not being "taught" formulas for the cube;  I'm not using manipulatives to make discoveries about cubes; mentally, I am visualizing myself within the cube and that is new for me.

My hunch is that children who have grown up as gamers experience space and location in a different way from non-gamers.  They probably are not aware of this difference, but it has enormous implications for teaching.  If gamers experience space the way I am now experiencing it they should easily be able to understand concepts like area, volume, vertices, angles. They should have a natural ability to visualize these concepts and teachers need to approach learning by tapping into that innate knowledge. Does that make sense?