Academic esports in Minecraft Education
Educators familiar with esports won't be surprised to learn that Minecraft isn't a typical esports title. In fact, if you ask students if they've used Minecraft to play esports, they're likely to tell you that isn't what Minecraft is for! Why then, are we introducing Minecraft Education for esports?
Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time and students are familiar with playing it. They understand the in-game mechanics and have mastered the basics of navigation and building. This familiarity creates a safe space for learning new skills and a great practice ground to fail forward.
Minecraft Education is available on a variety of devices, including Windows computers, Apple Macs and iPads, Chromebooks, and Android devices, allowing more students to participate in your esports program (whether in the classroom or extracurricular).
In Minecraft esports, one of the popular activities is the Build Challenge. A Build Challenge in Minecraft is like a creative contest. Players receive a topic or an idea and their task is to create a building or a scene in the game that represents this topic. It's a way for students to demonstrate their creativity and building abilities within a set amount of time. This activity encourages creativity, teamwork, and critical thinking among students, making it a valuable educational tool.
Build Challenges may be asynchronous or head-to-head. We break these down and describe their implementation throughout this module.
