This session will invite interested teachers to join us in playing Minecraft, learning all we can about playing alone and together, and how Minecraft is being used effectively in language learning. We'll learn by doing and from one another. 

 

We'll start here: http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume18/ej70/ej70int/

 

 

Target audience: 

Teachers with a gaming problem / gamers with a teaching problem / teachers of gamers with a learning problem

 

 

Sponsor:

TESOL CALL-IS

 

Session objectives: 

By the end of the session, participants will have:

• explored and played with Minecraft
• shared their discoveries with other participants
• created spaces in Minecraft where desired learning outcomes can be promoted
• shared what they have accomplished in MC
• curated resources related to MC

 

Session participants will learn about Minecraft in the same way they would expect students to figure it out and adapt it to their own learning goals; that is, we will learn by playing and sharing what we discover. We will learn, as Joel Levin puts it, how to 'limit' the game; that is how to create spaces there where we can promote desired learning outcomes. We will point each other to resources (there are thousands of them, so we'll have to curate for one another). We can create YouTube channels for our work and create videos showing what we accomplish in MC and how we might use the worlds we create with our students. Kids do it, so someone in our group might set up a server we can all play on (if not, we'll get a kid to set one up for us - there are YouTube videos to show us how).

 

 

 

Syllabus: 

The EVO MC MOOC session breaks down logically along Cormier's 5 steps for succeeding in MOOCs

 

Week 1: 

Jan 12-18, Orient - figure out who we are and why we are here. Buy Minecraft from http://minecraft.net. Serious participants will have to invest $20 to stay in the game through to week 2.  Grab a space in https://www.canvas.net/courses/minecraft-for-educators before it fills up (the beginners' session closed out 2 months beforehand; week 1 was about setting up a server :-)

 

Week 2:

Jan 19-25, Declare - Still with us? Announce what we individually figured out in week 1. Start your blog or wiki and share your experiences with Minecraft and how you intend to learn more. Tag your posts (relevant to this session) #evomc15

 

Start crafting and get ready to engage with the Canvas Minecraft MOOC starting Jan 26, https://www.canvas.net/courses/minecraft-for-educators
More on Minecraft MOOCS
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/08/12/instructure-launches-minecraft-moocs-for-k12.aspx

 

Learn how to create YouTube videos from captured Minecraft activities

 

Week 3:

Jan 26-Feb 1, Network - Get working with one another. Network with the Canvas Minecraft MOOC starting at the beginning of Week 3

 

Our syllabus goals starting this week will reflect those of the Canvas MC MOOC

(for those in EVO MOOC not enrolled in Canvas we will port what we are doing there to our Google+ space for this week)

• Introduction to Minecraft and MinecraftEDU

• setting up your own server

• Managing classes

• creating context and subject specific materials

• explore example lesson and curriculum plans on Canvas

 
EVOMC15 participants continue to blog and share builds and YouTube video embeds with one another

 

Week 4:

Feb 2-8, Cluster - this describes what happens when participants identify others in the MOOC with like goals and start working in subgroups within the MOOC. Our syllabus will again reflect what is happening in Canvas. EVOMC15 participants continue to blog and share builds and YouTube video embeds with one another, and share what they are learning in Canvas with those in the group not in Canvas

 

Week 5: 

Feb 9-15, Focus refers to individualized plans for carrying the work started here beyond the current EVO session and MOOC.

Participants can hold a showcase event hosted by http://learning2gether.pbworks.com 

(EVO ends this week; the canvas MOOC runs through March 13)

 

Media: 

 

• Interactive space
• Discussion group Google Plus Community 
• Forum Google+
•  Content space
• Google+ Community
• All participants keep blogs or wikis, and blog posts from participants are aggregated on #evomc15 tag
• Social Learning Platform YouTube
• Virtual Environment Minecraft ($20, not free, that's the way it is :-)
• Live meeting space http://learning2gether.net   

 

Other technology tools: Video capture for upload to YouTube 

Moderators: 

 

Name (last, first)	Email address	Location (country of residence)	Biodata (not more than 50 words)
Stevens, Vance	vancestev@gmail.com	UAE	EFL teacher in Al Ain, founder of the CoP Webheads in Action, and coordinator of the weekly podcast series Learning2gether. Also On the Internet editor for TESL-EJ http://tesl-ej.org where he recently co-edited an article on Minecraft and Language Learning
Marijana Smolcec	msmolcec@gmail.com	Croatia	Co-author of the article mentioned above
Filip Smolcec	email confidential	Croatia	Also co-author of the article above, in which his expertise with Minecraft was featured
Dustin Stevens	stevens.dusty@gmail.com	Qatar	Plays Minecraft, plans to assist as a PD opportunity for his EFL teaching job in Qatar
Bobbi Stevens	bobbi_stevens@hotmail.com	UAE	Retired KG1 educator
Jeff Kuhn	jkuhn72@gmail.com	Ohio	In early January is facilitating an online course on Minecraft with K-12 teachers in Ohio, will share syllabus and materials
David Dodgson	dave.dodgson@gmail.com	Gabon	A language school coordinator who started using Minecraft for kids’ project presentations and now runs a GBL club for ESL students. He has presented sessions on GBL and Minecraft at various online events and blogs on the topic at eltsandbox.weebly.com

 

 

 

How to join this session

 

To join this group:   From January 5 to 11:   Go to: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/112993649763396826671                                                                           Click on "Join this Group".  You're in !    The action starts on January 12, 2015!