After a summer of test runs, the full version of Minecraft: Education Editionwill officially launch on November 1st. When it goes live, the service will require a $5 yearly membership per user or a district-wide license, but the Early Access edition is still free until November.
According to the MinecraftEdu team, over 35,000 students and teachers around the world have been playing around in Minecraft’s sandbox since the program went live at the beginning of the summer. With the official release, the team has built out a few new education-focused features like a “Classroom Mode” that offers a top-down look at the Minecraft world via a companion app. In the app, teachers can manage world settings, talk to students in-game, give out items or teleport their kids around the map from a single interface. As the main Minecraft world evolves and gains new features, so will the education edition, and educators are encouraged tosubmit feature ideas and feedback.
Finally, for any teachers who haven’t stepped into Minecraft‘s blocky world yet, education.minecraft.net offers some starter worlds, tutorials, free lesson plans in subjects ranging from storytelling to city planning, and a mentoring program to connect them with other educators. At launch,Minecraft: Education Edition requires OS X El Capitan or Windows 10, plus a free Office 365 account to use.
[Source:-Engadget]
