New Resources Supporting the Integration of Minecraft: Education Edition into Classroom Instruction Now Available from Discovery Education

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Discovery Education today announced the availability of a host of new resources designed to support the integration of Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE) into classroom instruction.  Accessible through Discovery Education’s award-winning K-12 platform, these resources complement M:EE’s ability to inspire student exploration, experimentation, and expression. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.

 

The Minecraft: Education Edition Channel, now available within the Discovery Education platform, provides educators useful lesson plans as well as ready-to-use activities that support students as they explore Minecraft Worlds and uncover important subject area content and skills. Furthermore, students can demonstrate creativity and showcase evidence of learning through an editable showcase board built within Discovery Education’s content creation tool, Studio. With Discovery Education’s dynamic set of learning supports, educators have a new set of resources supporting the integration of M:EE into Discovery Education’s math, SEL, STEM, and science lessons. 

 

Connecting educators to a vast collection of high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, intuitive quiz and activity creation tools, and professional learning resources, Discovery Education’s K-12 platform facilitates engaging, daily instruction in any learning environment.  

 

Discovery Education’s team continues adding, contextualizing, and organizing exciting new content as well as timely and relevant resources to the platform each month in response to current events and the ever-evolving needs of educators. These resources, sourced from trusted partners, are aligned to state and national standards, and help educators bring the outside world into STEM, math, science, and SEL instruction every day.

 

Minecraft: Education Edition takes everything players love about Minecraft and adds collaboration tools, classroom controls, and more into an open-world game where the only limit is students’ imagination. Available for Windows, iPad and Chromebook, M:EE includes exciting immersive worlds such as Sustainability City, that invites students to explore aspects of sustainable living, from forestry to wastewater, recycling to clean energy, and more, and Code Builder, a feature that allows educators and students to explore, create, and play in the immersive Minecraft world by writing code.

 

“Minecraft: Education Edition offers educators a powerful tool with which to engage students and we are excited to offer resources that support its integration into instruction,” said Mike Synoground, Senior Vice President of Product Design at Discovery Education. “Together, we are building exciting learning environments that promote the development of creativity, digital citizenship, and critical thinking skills that prepare today’s learners for future careers.”

 

For more information about Discovery Education’s digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.  

 

Is cloud calling the answer to teacher’s stress?

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~ 67 per cent of teachers are under unprecedented pressure — how can tech help? ~

 

The pandemic has made educator’s jobs even more challenging — according to the Times Educational Supplement Staff Wellbeing Survey, 67 per cent of teachers had an unmanageable workload in 2021, compared to just 22 per cent in 2020. To prevent work from spilling over into their home life, educators must ensure their work hours are as productive as possible. Here Douglas Mulvihill, marketing manager, UK and Ireland of cloud communications provider Ringover, explores the role of cloud communications in reducing educator stress.

 

 

Having a good work-life balance is critical, both for employees and the organisations they work for. At an individual level, workers can experience significant improvements in mental health and wellbeing as they feel more in control of their working life. Employers who help staff achieve a better work-life balance can expect to see increased productivity and lower levels of sickness and stress.

 

In the education sector, where staff performance directly affects the quality of the learning of their students, having a motivated, productive workforce is essential. But many of the tools typically employed by businesses to reduce staff stress — flexible working, reduced hours, a shorter working week — are unavailable to the education sector. What can be done to reduce stress among educators?

 

Adapting to remote learning

While most students are now back in the classroom, that doesn’t mean distance learning is a thing of the past. 20 out of the 24 Russell Group universities are still including some online teaching for undergraduates and staff sicknesses have forced some schools to consider temporarily returning to online learning. With less than two in five educators feeling confident in their current role, what can be done to make remote teaching simpler?

 

Good communication is an essential skill for any teacher, whether that’s with students, other teachers, parents or management. Cloud communication solutions ensure educators can achieve the same great communication remotely. With real-time voice, video and messaging capabilities, educators can feel confident that they can always reach colleagues and students.

 

Productive calls

Educators never had a modest workload, and it is only increasing. A report published by the Trades Union Congress revealed that 31 per cent of teachers worked unpaid overtime in 2021, up from 25 per cent in 2020. Ensuring that work stays within working hours is a great way to reduce employee stress, allowing teachers time to rest, relax and return to work rejuvenated.

 

Educators need technology that works for them, to ensure maximum productivity. Relying on a fixed phone line located in the school’s secretary office simply won’t suffice — a single landline won’t serve dozens of stressed teachers. Instead, education facilities must consider a business phone system that uses VoIP technology.

 

There are many benefits to using VoIP, which takes calls over the internet rather than a traditional landline. Speed is key when managing a complex network of several hundred students, so features such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR), an automated phone system technology that allows incoming callers to access information via a voice response system of pre-recorded messages without having to speak to an agent, is ideal for managing persistent parent queries.

 

Other functions, like implementing hunt groups so callers can be put through to multiple phone lines, can also streamline the many areas of administration teachers are often expected to handle.

 

Teachers can also use VoIP to manage their data, quickly sorting contact lists by class, assignment and level, so updates can be sent out fast to those who need them. Messages can be scheduled in advance, for example reminders about assignment due dates, so educators can spend less time sending out repetitive, simple messages and more time focussing on planning and delivering excellent teaching.

 

Above all, cloud-based telephony means that no one has to wait for a receptionist to be done with another caller or get put on hold, nor do teachers have to navigate a complex web of communications through a dated phone line — the combination of hunt groups and a well-configured, multi-layer IVR will ensure educators get the information they need, and fast, to help ease some of their growing workload.

 

PLMR donates £10,000 to Holocaust Educational Trust

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Leading UK Comms Agency PLMR is proud to announce a donation of £10,000 to support the London-based Holocaust Educational Trust in its mission to educate young people about the horrors of the Holocaust. 

As a communications agency that takes a uniquely philanthropic approach and champions social values, we are truly passionate about various charitable causes at home and abroad. Educating young people about the history of the Holocaust remains vitally important, especially due to the continued hatred and egregious human rights violations we see around the world today. This is why PLMR is proud to support charities such as the Holocaust Educational Trust to ensure that the world never sees a repeat of the horrors witnessed over 80 years ago.

 PLMR’s Founder and CEO, Kevin Craig, said:

“Thank you to the Holocaust Educational Trust for a morning that I will never forget. An hour in a room where we were silenced in awe and respect at the testimony of a Holocaust Survivor – Janine Webber BEM.  I am incredibly proud and honoured to have founded an agency that continues to expand its charitable outreach. Looking at the shocking scenes currently unfolding in Ukraine or past tragedies in places like Syria or Rwanda, it becomes even more important to aid the amazing work of the Holocaust Educational Trust and other organisations in educating and raising awareness of the horrors inflicted by hateful ideologies.

 “In conjunction with our recent donation, since PLMR was founded in 2006, we continue to donate 5% of net profits to various charitable organisations. We are proud to have donated more than £300,000 to date and we look forward to carrying on with this approach to our work in the future.”

 Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, Karen Pollock CBE, said:

“Thank you to Kevin Craig and everyone at PLMR for their generous support for the Holocaust Educational Trust. Our mission is to ensure everyone learns about this seismic episode of our shared history and understands where antisemitism and hate can ultimately lead.

 “Hearing from a Holocaust Survivor first hand is a unique experience, and we were delighted to offer that opportunity to the PLMR team. Janine’s testimony is heart wrenching and her story of survival extraordinary. Whilst very difficult to hear, she somehow leaves her audience inspired. I am sure she had an enormous impact on the PLMR team, and we could not be more grateful for their support.”