Important Update To Minecraft:EE To Support Coding

A couple of cool things happened on the Minecraft:EE front for me this week:

1. The Verge tech blog picked up on my earlier blog post about the release of the Redmond Campus for Minecraft:EE and shared this to a huge audience – read their post here.
2. The release of the updated M:EE app occurred to build the Code Connection app directly inside the main M:EE app itself – meaning no more toggling between apps.

I was excited to see that this week a major update was released for Minecraft:EE that provides a significantly improved user experience when using the Code Connection tool inside the game.

Full details of the update are available here.

This is a relatively small tweak to the User Interface (UI) but has a large impact on the User Experience (UX) as I have seen numerous younger students struggle to switch between the two apps previously. This is also important because it opens up coding on the iPad which was previously not possible.

Other Updates In This Release:

• The Library (beta) – an easier, “in game” way of loading additional worlds into Minecraft. Rather than going to the official home page to find new worlds, you can now search directly inside the app.
• Deep Links – this is the ability to ‘deep link’ to content in the Library from outside the game, for example, here is a deep link to the Chemistry Tutorial world.
• On Screen Control Guide – showing the key layout to move around inside Minecraft:EE on the screen itself – a huge help for newbies to the game (and teachers!)
• Educator Resources – If signed in as a teacher, there is a link on the homescreen to options around professional development, training, lessons and the active community

It’s awesome to see this long awaited update finally released and I encourage you to update the app to get the benefits of this. Again, do check out the official release of this update here. Happy Coding!

Tips For Getting Started In Coding:

• If you are looking for an easy lesson in which to practice your coding skills in Minecraft, download this giant aquarium world. Students will have fun using commands in Code Builder to decorate and populate their aquarium with marine creatures.
• Check out these standards-aligned lessons across subjects and learn how to apply computer science throughout your curriculum, whether you teach geology, math or chemistry.
• Explore Building Blocks of Code, a free set of courses empowering educators to bring computational thinking to their classrooms and explore the open world only Minecraft can bring.
• Just starting your coding journey? Try Hour of Code! Nearly 100 million Minecraft Hour of Code sessions have been completed, and this year we launched the fourth Hour of Code tutorial. Learn more about the Voyage Aquatic and plan an Hour of Code in your school this Computer Science Education Week.