Hello all!

Hello all!

This weekend sees the 9th edition of the Virtual Round Table Webcon and Minecraft MOOC will be present for a symposium. Our confirmed time and date is 5pm GMT on Friday, 5th May.

Obviously this is not far away! Jeff, Vance, and I will lead the session from our server (broadcasting live to Adobe Connect) and we would love to have as many Minecraft MOOC participants as possible join us.

It would be great if you could also share your experiences of playing the game, learning the game, and participating in the MOOC. Or, if you prefer, just join us for a tour of the server and to listen in.

Please leave a comment if you can make it. More detail about the conference (programme has not ben published yet) can be found here: http://www.virtual-round-table.com/events/call-vrtwebcon-2017)

Hope to see you on Friday!

Dave
http://www.virtual-round-table.com/events/call-vrtwebcon-2017

Hello all

Hello all,

As the sun sets on this year's EVO, I have agreed to write an article about what was learned from the session. I would like the write up to be more than just my voice so I would appreciate it if you could answer the following questions with a few comments:

1. What did you learn about during this session?
2. How did you learn? (Trial and error, seeking help/advice, trying to find your own way, watching videos, reading guides online, anything else?)
3. How do you envisage Minecraft potentially being used as a learning tool in your context?

Any other comments welcome!

I had the chance to interview former teacher and current gane developer Saul Muscat about Minecraft recently.

I had the chance to interview former teacher and current gane developer Saul Muscat about Minecraft recently. Interesting insights:

https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/elt-sandbox-interviews-saul-muscat/
https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/elt-sandbox-interviews-saul-muscat/

Hello everyone! Are we in Week 5 now?

Hello everyone! Are we in Week 5 now?

A hectic week at work and on-going connection issues have kept me off the server recently but I did find time to reflect on last week's streamed session. I was (and still am) fascinated by the different ways we all approach the same game!

https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2017/02/05/elt-sandbox-plays-on-the-evomc2017-server/
https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2017/02/05/elt-sandbox-plays-on-the-evomc2017-server/

In today's livestream Dakotah Redstone mentioned wanting to hear more about how people are using Minecraft in class...

In today's livestream Dakotah Redstone mentioned wanting to hear more about how people are using Minecraft in class with their students, so here are a couple of blog posts and a lesson plan about a couple of the ways I have used the game with ESL students:

https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/learning-to-learn-with-minecraft-dgbl-elt-lesson-plan/

https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/storycraft-using-the-world-of-minecraft-as-inspiration-for-writing/

https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/why-minecraft-may-well-be-one-of-the-best-games-for-language-learning/

And here's an interview with Rose about how she has used the game with her learners:

https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/elt-sandbox-interviews-rose-bard-in-minecraft/
https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/learning-to-learn-with-minecraft-dgbl-elt-lesson-plan/

Hey everyone

Hey everyone,

Unfortunately I am unable to connect to the server once again. I will keep trying to refresh the connection but that may delay/cancel my planned playtime tonight.

Time to go on an expedition!

Time to go on an expedition!

This evening, I am going to explore caves near my new base in the snow biome and I would like to invite you all along to make it a group quest. I will be online at 1700 UTC and Vance will hopefully join me. The more the merrier so please come along.

I scouted the entrances yesterday and placed torches to mark the safe areas. There is a lot of coal down there and some iron. Lava too so we'll need to watch our steps.

I also found an underground river and built a dam to open up a deeper area. That's when I took an arrow in my knee from the darkness beyond and decided to call it a day.

Bring your armour and iron buckets! Hope to see you online later :)

A write up of my thoughts about the EVO Minecraft experience so far and what it has reminded me about learning:

A write up of my thoughts about the EVO Minecraft experience so far and what it has reminded me about learning:

https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/what-playing-minecraft-has-taught-me-about-learning/
https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/what-playing-minecraft-has-taught-me-about-learning/

Yes!

Yes!

Logged in successfully and, a few minor crashes aside, had an uninterrupted couple of hours of play including:

- coming up through a trapdoor to find K4sons taking refuge. Zidkha later joined for an evening taunting the mobs from the rooftop deck.
- finding a creepy spider nesting right outside my front door.
- being stalked through the night by a creeper and deciding that the spider wasn't so bad after all.
- exploring into the snow and building a secondary base complete with tinted blue glass windows. There are caves and ravines galore nearby. Anyone want to join me next time for some mining? :)

Three snapshots before I lost my connection again:

Three snapshots before I lost my connection again:

1. A pen full of cows and... skeleton riders? Is someone trying to raise an army of the undead? I was attacked by a wizard while taking the screenie so had to run before I could get a closer look.

On the topic of cattle pens, I had a cow outside my house a few days ago (I even milked it so definitely a cow) but today it seems to have morphed into a horse!

2. This wasn't here three days ago! Posed for a pic with my fancy gold pants and have only just realised I am inadvertently paying homage to Homer Simpson by standing there with a piece of beef in my hand...

3. Quite a dramatic sunset. Strange hobby - I have a virtual collection of screenshots of sunrises and sunsets from various games.

Now to try and fix my connection again.

Hi folks.

Hi folks. I am having problems logging into the server. Last night I couldn't connect and today is the same. I keep seeing a red cross over the connection bar and a "Can't connect to server" message.

Has anyone else had a similar problem?

Break on through to the other side!

Break on through to the other side!

It looks like I have a neighbour in my mine :)

Now built a bigger base complete with rooftop terrace and underground link to my former home :)

Now built a bigger base complete with rooftop terrace and underground link to my former home :)

Photo of the day - think I'll stay inside for a while... :)

Photo of the day - think I'll stay inside for a while... :)

Just had my first solo run on the server (but was joined by Rose Bard for the last half hour or so).

Just had my first solo run on the server (but was joined by Rose Bard for the last half hour or so). Fantastic starting area that was literally a lifesaver until I got my little shack set up (just realised I forgot to take a screenshot of that though!)

I'll be back for more tomorrow:)

Hello everyone

Hello everyone,

My name's David Dodgson and I am the ICT Coordinator at the British Council in Bahrain.

I have a keen interest in games in language education and blog about it here: https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/

My interest actually began with Minecraft when I saw the amazing impact it had on my students when I worked in Turkey. Students who generally lacked motivation to learn and sue English were suddenly trying to read books and watch videos designed for native speakers to understand more about the game. Even better, they collaborated to form a common understanding of the language in front of them.

We later used Minecraft for projects and I ran a Minecraft club after school. I haven't used the game much since moving to Bahrain last year so I am hoping to get some new ideas from this EVO session.

Looking forward to it!
https://eltsandbox1.wordpress.com/