SYMPOSIUM Minecraft

[Heike Philp]

Moderation: Vance Stevens

Priscila Mateini

Engaging (Special Educational Needs) students with Minecraft

RECORDING (34min): http://lancelot.adobeconnect.com/p9sf5qrgdsb7/

This presentation will show how a Project Based Learning (PBL) using Minecraft video game engaged students of 8th grade in a Private School in the outskirt of Rio de Janeiro – Brazil,  with special educational needs in an inclusive environment. The project is working with Minecraft during their English classes as a tool of communication, learning and interaction with the whole classroom. The idea of storytelling in a virtual world is to motivate the students to create their own story, share with their classmates and discuss how the game helped them to work as a team. The aim of this project is to raise awareness about inclusive education; motivate social skills, authenticity and reflection with the whole classroom.

Priscila Mateini has 9 years' experience in teaching EFL to children, teenagers and adults in Brazil. She holds a B.A. in Languages, TKT-KAL certificates. She has been involved in Special Educational Needs for 7 years. She has been already given workshops in the field of Special Needs in Brazil and participation in some International Conferences, forums, webinars, blogs and talks about teaching SEN and Inclusive education in Brazil, Japan, Croacia, UK, and Belgium including (British Council (2014, 2017) iTDi summer course (2014, 2015) and ETwinning inclusive group Europe (2015, 2016, 2017).  She is currently MA researcher on Inclusive Education on focus on adapted material for SEN. She teaches at UFRJ and lives in Rio de Janeiro.

Vance Stevens, Jane Chien, Mircea Patrascu, Dakota Redstone

Preparing Teachers to Engage Learners with EVO Minecraft MOOC

RECORDING (51min): http://lancelot.adobeconnect.com/p5g9gnagqi6l/

Electronic Village Online (EVO) is an annual, free, series of 5-week sessions where teachers share with other teachers how they can improve their skills in a wide variety of aspects of their craft. EVO Minecraft MOOC has been a TESOL Electronic Village Online session since its inception in 2015. Having just completed its 4th consecutive year as a viable and expanding EVO community of practice, co-moderators and participants in EVOMC18 will conduct participants via Adobe Connect on a virtual tour in Minecraft to convey an impression of what this community looks and feels like when it assembles virtually in-world. At our presentation they can learn how Minecraft enables language learning, have their questions answered, or even join the community if they wish.

Vance Stevens, Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE is an EFL teacher in Al Ain, founder of Webheads in Action, He is an EVO coordinator (since 2002), founder of the podcast series Learning2gether, and On the Internet editor for TESL-EJ where he and co-moderators have co-authored an article on Minecraft and Language Learning.

Jane Chien, who has taught pre-service EFL teachers for 12 years, is an assistant professor at the National Taipei University of Education. She is currently a visiting scholar at UCF, Orlando. She advocates that learners' agency in Minecraft promotes English language learning.

Mircea Patrascu is an IT professional teaching kids to code during his free time. He loves to play Minecraft, but he also uses it as a learning environment for Scratch and JavaScript.

Dakota Redstone's real-world avatar was an Instructional Developer at a state university for 15 years, supporting faculty use of technology in the brick & mortar and online classrooms. His interests run the gamut from A to Z and go back to punched paper tape storage, pencil and paper role playing games, and painting on cave walls by torchlight.

For more information on this presentation, see

• We are constantly dabbling at our slideshow in progress https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1AO0XB2h-eEJxRyLHOeMuuexBhG6fpj9Ot3Oep8WpTrk/edit?usp=sharing
• Jane and Vance presented EVO Minecraft MOOC on-site at TESOL Chicago 2018; archived here
  https://learning2gether.net/2018/03/28/tesol-2018-chicago-preparing-teachers-to-engage-learners-with-evo-minecraft-mooc/