This is a recent update on the evolution of the community of practice that has developed after two years of EVO Minecraft MOOC. This documents to some extent how a community has truly formed and is gearing up for EVOMC17.
3. What is Minecraft?
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
A foreboding but benign view from Jeff’s castle on the EVO Minecraft MOOC creative server
4. Minecraft basics
Creative
Users can fly
Unlimited inventories
(build anything, try anything)
Monsters are benign
(no risk of sudden death)
Fanciful builds are possible and
common (examples follow)
Survival
Users can jump, no flying
Players harvest resources to
get sticks, make planks, crafting tables,
larger objects,
Mine for resources to craft weapons,
pickaxes, supply light and power
Must devise shelter for night to avoid
monsters (cause you to respawn)
You must maintain health by eating and
avoiding pitfalls
Players enjoy challenge to survive;
other players prove helpful
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
Each user purchases a user ID for less than $30,
User and server software is free to download
The game has two modes, creative and survival.
A night / day cycle is 20 minutes
http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/10208/are-the-
days-and-nights-in-minecraft-of-equal-length
5. How can Minecraft support education?
Unlike other computer / video games, Minecraft is
Player vs. game (not player vs. player)
Infinitely Creative – (unlike Second Life, everyone is a builder there)
Minecraft has been called a TOY for
embedding content in a gamified matrix
learning languages; see …
Smolčec, M. and Smolčec, F. (2014). Using Minecraft for Learning
English, with an introduction by Vance Stevens. TESL-EJ 18, 2:1-15.
Available: http://tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej70/int.pdf and http://www.tesl-
ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume18/ej70/ej70int/
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6. Marijana and Filip Smolčec, co-authors
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Filip Smolčec developing his presentation skills by
presenting his YouTube videos on Minecraft
at the age of 11 at 2014 RSCON online conference
https://sas.elluminate.com/drtbl?sid=2008350&suid=D.
3F83255C4DDFF6BD54C70F58111C4E
7. EVO Minecraft MOOC’s hidden agenda
EVOMC16 is not so much about
Minecraft as
It’s about gamification
EVO Minecraft MOOC session lets
educators experience
being in a game that that looks
like Minecraft,
but is in fact a Game space
where they can
meet other educators who are
learning how their students can
benefit from gamified
environments
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
8. Big G and little g games
From Gee, J.P. (2008) “Learning and games.” The ecology of games: Connecting youth, games,
and learning. Edited by Katie Salen. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (pp. 21-40). Available:
http://ase.tufts.edu/DevTech/courses/readings/Gee_Learning_and_Games_2008.pdf
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
■ The little g game is “the
software in the box and
all the elements of in-
game design”
■ The Big G Game is “the
social setting into which
the game is placed”
(p..24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnEN2Sm4IIQ
9. How EVOMC16 inculcates gamification
EVO Minecraft MOOC participants learn through a model that
includes
Going to a Google+ community “game board” and figuring out from there what
they have to do to play the Big G Game of EVOMC16
Practicing in the little g game of Minecraft in creative mode,
Then graduate to honing understanding of Big G Gamification by coping with
survival and cooperating with other players in the more challenging little g game
environment.
The 'aha' moment occurs when the players succeed and realize that if what
they were trying to teach were placed in such a context, it would not only
become more engaging to the learners, but their students would be taking
their own learning into their own hands. This can create a powerful learning
environment, and educators need to experience it for themselves in order to
understand its implications. (Stevens, 2016)
http://advanceducation.blogspot.ae/2016/01/week-3-playing-big-g-game-of-evo.html
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
10. How to play the Big G Game of EVOMC16
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
The Google+ Community
“game board”
(explained in next slide)
11. How to play the Big G Game of EVOMC16
Start at http://evosessions.pbworks.com and find EVO Minecraft
MOOC http://evosessions.pbworks.com/w/page/103533067/2016_EVO_Minecraft_MOOC
This points you to the Google+ Community
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/112993649763396826671
Find the sidebar to the right of the community page.
Here you can figure out how to:
Access the syllabus http://tinyurl.com/evomc16-syllabus
Enroll in the course: http://goo.gl/forms/zALHMWsPGX
This is essential in order to be whitelisted on the EVO Minecraft server
Find your missions to accomplish each week
http://missions4evomc.pbworks.com/
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
13. Big G Game Missions Accomplished
Those participating are able to find this sheet and play the Big G Game by filling it in with
links pointing to evidence of their EVOMC16 missions accomplished
As they accomplish missions, they record them on our open Google Doc spreadsheet
http://tinyurl.com/evomc16-badgetrack
Accomplishments are openly viewable, links verifiable, badge criteria credible
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
14. Big G Game Endgame:
Accomplish Missions,
Earn a Badge
Weeks 1-2
Orient, Declare
Introduce yourself on our Google+
Community
Install and enter Bb Collaborate
Fill in the Google registration form
Reflect on your activities for Weeks 1-2
Join our Missions Accomplished Google
sheet
Join us in Minecraft creative mode
Weeks 3-5
Network, Cluster and Focus
Explore networks in Minecraft
Reflect on experience in Minecraft -
Last week in Creative Mode
Engage survival mode in Minecraft
Final reflection on your experiences
Contribute to a crowd-sourced
document of resources
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
15. Examples of potential for learning
Sun Jan 17 - Jeff Kuhn on Minecraft: An Introduction to What's Possible
http://learning2gether.net/2016/01/17/learning2gether-with-jeff-kuhn-on-minecraft-an-
introduction-to-whats-possible/
Sun Jan 24 - Bron Stuckey and EVO Minecraft MOOC: Projects and challenges –
designing and building http://learning2gether.net/2016/01/24/bron-stuckey-and-evo-
minecraft-mooc-projects-and-challenges-designing-and-building/
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
16. Thorsten Groß's students conduct tour of
Ricarda-Huch-Schule for EVOMC16
http://learning2gether.net/2016/01/31/thorsten-gross-students-conduct-tour-of-ricarda-
huch-schule-for-evo-minecraft-mooc/
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
Shows evidence of student learning of
micro skills necessary to
• plan and construct complex build
• organize and sustain the project
• Communicate in English on a world
stage about their accomplishment
https://paradigmagnus.wordpress.com/
2016/01/14/minecraft-mooc-tumbling-
down-the-world-of-cubes/
19. Mircea in early stages of building
his Amazing Roller coaster
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20. We ride on participant Mircea Patrascu’s
Amazing Roller Coaster
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
https://youtu.be/nJQhvLjtQn0
https://evominecraftmp.wordpre
ss.com/2016/01/28/a-day-in-
evo-minecraft-world/
21. Mircea’s presentation on March 6, 2016 on
Learning2gether
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https://youtu.be/RbWvZF_hCHA
22. Linda Gielen’s nurturing abode
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https://youtu.be/tyngfA_e0XQ
23. Playing the little g game of Minecraft
on the EVO flat map creative server
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Jeff’s castle, view from fire cluster on top
24. EVOMC16 Participants in the little g game
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https://plus.google.com/10989461802
0189345959/posts/epWNDxXccVG
25. Participant Yvonne Harrison
Yvonne Harrison
documents some
impressive
structures on her
Flickr feed, linked
from here
http://yvonneh.e
dublogs.org/201
6/01/26/evo_mo
oc-minecraft-
server-5/
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
29. My son Dusty and
Dad build a house
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
This one was designed and mostly built by
Dusty, who was responsible for the pool and
very very hot tub. Dusty is over 30 years old.
Dad learned properties of liquids in Minecraft
by helping to add those substances
Minecraft is an excellent toy for parent-
child creative collaboration
32. Survival and Gamification
Survival helps us understand gamification
When you enter survival mode you learn important life skills
You assist and are assisted by others in world
With cooperation and help you stay alive and learn
So gamification turns out to be learning through
teamwork
mutual support
meeting challenges
and achieving your goal, whatever it is
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
33. Why is EVO Minecraft MOOC a Game?
The Big G Game of Minecraft MOOC has rules with
Flexibility,
Goals
Challenges
Awards in the form of badges
Participants have to figure out these rules,
The Game is designed to let them to figure it
As in any game, it it's more fun if it doesn't play out
the way anyone especially anticipated.Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016
34. In this game you set your own goals
By achieving your goals in the game
Light bulbs go off in your head and light your way
to some realization of
how what you are learning in EVOMC16
might work to meet your real world challenges
Vance Stevens TESOL Arabia March 11, 2016