Microsoft Launches Minecraft Education Edition For $5 Per Month In 50 Countries
Minecraft: Education Edition is “an open-world game that promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in an immersive environment where the only limit is your imagination.” Students will be able to collaborate with the fellow classmates on projects, ask “tour guides” for help, document and share their work. Teachers will be able to communicate their learning objectives within the game, assess students, and guarantee that the students are working in a secure environment. Educators will also be able to give items to students, “teleport” students, and manage settings in the environment.

Over 50,000 educators and students participated in the early-access program and provided feedback to the developers, and many of the game’s features were available with early access this past June. The full version includes the “Classroom Mode” companion app which offers a map view of the Minecraft world, a list of all the students, a set of world management settings, and a chat window.
Minecraft: Education Edition will also be updated in order to match Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition beta. These changes include leads and horses, additional player skins, and a limited amount of Redstone functionality.

The game is available for $5 USD per user, per year, or through a district-wide licensing model in fifty countries and eleven languages. Computers must be updated to Windows 10 or the latest OS and users must sign-up for a free Office 365 Education account using their school or district email. Educators can find tutorials, lesson plans, starter worlds at education.minecraft.net.