Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Don't be a Jerk - Minecraft Edition

It seems that when you give someone a computer and an internet connection that bad behaviour results.

As a Christian teacher I have often struggled to find a way to teach my students that their online behaviour should reflect Christ in the same way that the rest of their life should.

Last night my Minecraft project gave me a golden opportunity to illustrate this point.

In order to enter the world I've set up for them, students have to complete various assignments to unlock access. The first assignment was to write a character description of the protagonist of the story we're going to write centred around the Minecraft world.

Some students didn't finish their assignment on time, so they didn't get to play.

At the first location in the game I had placed some chests with supplies for the students to share.


There's only one rule I've implemented for this game. "Don't be a Jerk!"

Well, the first students who went online, promptly acted like jerks. Despite being told that the supplies were to be shared, they took everything.

At first I was very frustrated, but then in dawned on me. What a teaching opportunity!

So, when students get to school this morning, those students are going to discover that they have all been locked out of the game and their inventories stripped of items. Digital consequences for digital misbehaviour.

We'll see where this heads. 

What a fascinating journey!

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