MinecraftEdu Day - Puzzling Pyramids and Terrible Temples

A few months ago the boss asked me if I would run a 'Gifted and Talented' Minecraft day for our family of schools and I jumped at the chance.  The big day finally arrived on Friday when myself and four year 5/6 children were joined by 14 very excited children from three local schools accompanied by their teachers.

I've been a huge Minecraft fan for a few years now.  It all began when my son started playing the game and asked me if I would like to have a go.  I'll be honest, I was initially reticent, wondering what the point of the game was and admit to thinking I probably wouldn't like it.  I don't think I could have been more wrong and many game playing hours later was busy buying my own account and looking into setting up a server.  I now have two servers, one where my son and I are slowly creating a fairly sprawling city and another that my son hosts for himself and his friends to come together and play and chat.

How Web 2.0 Changed the World and How Educators are Slowly Catching On

10 years ago the face of the internet changed.  Although the term was first used by Nancy DiNucci in 1999, it was not until 2004 that changes in the way websites were created and used revolutionised The Net.  Social media such a MySpace, Facebook and Twitter; user generated WIKIs, blogs and vlogs; and virtual communities like Second Life connected people around the world and allowed for collaboration and interaction like never before.