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3.4.4 Engaging learners through educational software.

It is long since I last blogged and I am happy to finally get back to this rather enjoyable activity; especially about what I am learning on the CCTI online course. Today I encountered applications in a way I had never done before. The evaluation of a particular application to gauge its suitability for the task at hand seems to really make one appreciate how much effort developers put into their projects to meet our needs as teachers. It is surprising that one app when evaluated almost seemed to meet all the requirements of not only my lesson but many other lessons I envisaged could be conducted to facilitate learning using this particular app (I am not surprised that it is not a free app).

Today, the favorite pass time of most of our learners (and even, surprisingly, some of their parents) is video gaming -- online video gaming to be specific. The sensation to win, discover, create, compare, anticipate, design, remain in suspense etc. lures these gamers to always want to go back to these video games and spend a great deal of their time reaching the next level of achievement. The fan is taken to the next level with the Sand box games which offer an infinite span of a world to discover without necessarily having to qualify for the 'next level' in the game. The gamer in the sand box game has full access to any part of the game and can create his own virtual world; fully bringing his imagination and intuition to an almost tangible but virtual world -- the pictures created in mind translating to the computer screen.


It therefore come by no surprise that a group of developers have made it possible to utilise the popular online game -- minecraft -- to bring about learning in the classroom. A modified version of the game, mnecraftedu, is now available on the link https://minecraftedu.com/. The game, which has a number of functionalities, can be hosted on their servers or even on a server at a local school. This rather intuitive game can further be customised to teach concepts in math, science, geography, English language, arts etc. In one of the modes of the game students are in a farm and use mathematical methodologies to find solutions to the challenges they have in the farm. In yet another scenario, students get to learn about geographical features as they find their way out of a volcanic island they are stranded on.

I think the minecraftedu guys have just paved the way for a new era of learning. I have interacted with many instructional games but, with all due respect, they do not measure to what this one can achieve if used appropriately.

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