2022 - New World in Minecraft

 Here I am again, back for an annual dose of Minecraft fun. The first hurdle today was to make sure I was on the correct version of the game (1.17.1) as I had been automatically upgraded to 1.18. Then I found the EVO server and joined the 'fish fry' with the admin team and Dakota Redstone- it was so much easier with Discord on as Dak explained a lot of things as we went along. I realised that some of the players were a lot more experienced than me so I kept quiet and explored around on my own a bit on the EVO Mooc world. In the end I had to TP to Vance as I was hopelessly lost again - it always amazes me how quickly you can lose sight of familiar landmarks! Dak had told people to get a lot of carrots and trade them with a villager for a fishing rod. I couldn't find where the carrots were growing but found a lot of potatoes instead. I harvested them and then decided to plant them back again and I carried on exploring. Eventually I found a box with an enchanted fishing rod so I took one and feeling a bit fraudulent I began to fish. I just about remembered how to do it from a previous year. I caught a salmon, some cod and a puffer fish. I then found out how to fry them and ate the cooked ones - very satisfying. We had a group photo on the steps before we left there.

Dak then took us to a secret place that needed care where you walked or you might fall off. We went through a portal to another area where Dak has started to set up a village but has left it for others to manage. I thought that would be a bit daunting but wouldn't mind doing that as a project with other people. Time was about up then so we all dispersed although Dak was still on Discord and warned me that my microphone was still connected in case I didn't realise.

From there I thought I would explore my Individual worlds. I have one from 2020 and another from last year but both of them are version 1.18 so I decided to set up a new 2022 world in 1.17.1 so that I wouldn't have to keep changing version when going from Multiplayer to individual. I found myself in a nice wooded area and proceeded to punch down a lot of trees and make the logs into wood and the wood into planks. However I had spent too long on that and as night came I didn't have a shelter. It was moonlit though so I could walk around but I was killed about 6 times by zombies or skeletons and lost all my nice wood. 

When morning came I set to again quickly and got enough planks for 4 walls 2 blocks high with a couple of doors. I thought I might get killed but even without a roof I managed to survive the night. Next morning a wandering trader kept walking in to the house with his llamas. I tried to do a roof with steps but it was rubbish - I just wanted to quickly cover the roof. I had a crafting table and wanted to plant some wheat seeds so I made a hoe and did that. I left it as night fell, safe in my dark little hut! My plan next time is to neaten up the roof - perhaps make it in birch to contrast the colours?

One step forward two steps back! More Minecraft reflections

 So I got lost and had to make a new house - that was fine and I was getting quite pleased with my progress. I was planning to plant a little garden of grass seeds next to the water and put a fence around the house, as I remembered from a previous year that it keeps away unwelcome explosions! I had stumbled across an apple and so I had that to eat, but my hearts were going down as I had had an encounter with skeletons by leaving the house too early. I didn't realise that even after dawn they could be active so I was shot at a few times. I managed to retreat into my house in time and soon after it was safe to leave. I picked up some nice bones and there was an arrow on the ground. I wanted to pick it up but couldn't - perhaps my hands were already full?

Anyway soon after that I was killed - I can't remember what by - it all happened so quickly as I was down to two hearts so I suppose one arrow or spider bite would have been enough. Then I was back to the spawning site and realised I was in the same trouble - I had not kept track of where I had wandered away from that spot and so had no idea where either of my new houses were. I looked around in vain and began to get panicky. I quickly decided I needed shelter and only having got a few planks I dug myself into the hillside a bit and blocked the gaps with mud. I spent the night in the dark and the next day it rained all day so it felt like a bit of a miserable muddy hole. The lightning flashes occasionally lit up the place when I punched a hole in the mud to see what the time was. I realised an Ender was stalking around outside. I'm not sure what harm it would do - quite a lot I expect.

I had a crafting table and made a few tools but next day I decided not to waste time and quickly collected enough wood to make another little house. I found a spot that was quite a good place for a house - quite flat, surrounded by trees and with water nearby. Of course I had to spend the first night in the dark as I had not managed to make my doors in time. Oak doors where you can see the dawn coming up are my favourite! While it was night I busied myself making tools and a box to store useful stuff in in case I was bumped off again.

When finally night ended I ventured out cautiously as I had heard zombies very close but the coast was clear. I set to collecting a lot of wood, making steps for a roof (I had tried to help Carol and Dak with their building in Azcraft and really made a hash of it but I realised that steps make a pretty slanting roof so I was trying to emulate that idea.) and I planted my oak and birch saplings and some grass seeds near the water. I managed to get one side of the house with a roof but the steps kept going on the wrong way... grrrr. Then it was evening so I retreated to put the rotten flesh and other bits and bobs in my box. I had a lot of birch wood so made quite a lot of fencing to put around the house the next day. And that's where I left it for another day.

My main reflection this time from doing the EVO MC MOOC is that it might not be a good idea to make it too easy for new starters (teachers as well as students!). I noticed an invitation to mining with a diamond pickaxe. To a newbie that has no value at all. You only begin to appreciate the value of higher level items if you have personally been through the lower levels. I don't think short cutting is a good idea, at least for me personally. I have enjoyed the struggle of my own little world a lot more than having things done and prepared for me. It's great to get tips and tricks and I wouldn't know how to survive without the help of the MOOC moderators of previous years. But in general you only learn well (and enjoy!) if it's what you need and want at that moment. Perhaps there's a learning theory in there somewhere!!

Minecraft 2021 First few days in my new world

 Here I am again - for more learning and creating in this strangely compelling blocky world!

I learned last year (2020) that having your own survival world was the quickest way to 'get' Minecraft. In previous years, although I had enjoyed playing with other people and learning from what they had painstakingly discovered, it was not as engaging as I had expected. I just wondered what the big deal was and couldn't help comparing it negatively to Second Life which is just a much more beautiful experience visually. 

However making my own world (Tillcraft for EVO 2020) made me understand how compelling and addictive the game can be. I got myself lost down a big hole and needed a lot of help to get out as it was total darkness!! I really appreciated the support of the experienced players who clearly enjoyed someone needing their knowledge. I ended up making a little house (not beautifully built but home and SAFE!)  and learned about making a fence round it to stop the Creeper blowing holes in my area. I learned about making a path to get back home. I sowed grass seeds and harvested them. I made a fishing rod with dead spider string and caught fish. I rowed around in a little boat. I mined deep down and created a labyrinth of tunnels. I finally went exploring and made a new house because I couldn't find my way back... but it was next to a village so that seemed to be the next step of adventure in the game. That was where I had to leave it and despite the extra time of lockdown I never made it back to pick up where I left off.

When I started Minecraft this year, the old world was still there but in a much earlier version of MC so I started a new personal world in the latest version of Minecraft (I keep writing Minceraft and it makes me think of mince pies - sadly long gone now!) 1.16.4 (now changed to 1.16.5 - I can still use the same world luckily). I decided to share my first few moments in the game with my son and husband to see if either of them would be interested enough to share the fun. 

I found myself in a foresty place, so gleefully set to punching down birch trees and oak trees. I then converted the logs to planks as soon as I could and found a place to put a small hut. With the sun going down and in a bit of a panic I boxed myself in and was totally in the dark, safe but not able to see the sun come up. Zombies came around growling and I waited for them to go away so that I could punch out a door and see what time it was. They didn't seem to diminish even after 10 minutes. When I made a hole in the wall I was surprised that it was quite light and although zombies were still groaning they were nowhere to be seen. I quickly set about getting more wood to make a crafting table and then made some sticks which allowed me to make some tools. I also made a couple of doors, realising the importance of being able to see the change of day in the house.

With a nice set of tools and some grass seeds I went to the water's edge to sow them. I realised a spider was nearby but felt brave enough to tackle it with my wooden sword since in my previous world I had managed to kill two spiders with a wooden sword. However my hacking and hitting didn't work and the spider killed me - I lost all the lovely things I had made...

When I respawned I realised I didn't know my way back to my safe little hut and would need to make a new house - again a roughly thrown together hut. Night fell again and I had no way to speed up morning... frustrating but all the more compelling to keep playing and get back to the level I used to be at.

Orienteering - not escaping but still actively puzzle solving!

Although I hadn't initially thought of this as connected to Escape Rooms, as it is a kind of puzzle it might be useful to other teachers. I learned of this kind of ice-breaker from a colleague at my university who had used it in Chemistry to enable new lab groups to get to know each other. It has the added advantage of allowing students to get to know the rooms they will need on campus. It requires some forethought but once you've made it you can re-use it as it is only for students who are new to campus.

You prepare the number of clues you want as A4 pictures or word clues. A tip I was given was to make the clues arguable so that the group would need to discuss with each other. For my puzzle the participants would need to know the definition of a fruit, an insect, a European country and the difference between a language and a script. My intention was to make it something that would be easier for non-native speakers if they had a native speaker in their group (and all groups were arranged to be mixed accordingly). I had 16 clues (see below) which I added to a Word Document, printed and laminated. They were then stuck up on 16 different rooms around campus which had been chosen because I knew students had classes timetabled in them in the coming week. It didn't matter which picture went on which door.

This is how the activity went. At the Welcome Lunch students were put into groups with some students from each level and each nationality in each group (I used Triptico's random group function for this which worked well). After lunch they were given the orienteering task. They had a bingo card of 16 rooms (it was useful to have them in a different order for each group because that meant they did not all start in the same place). They needed to find these rooms around campus and work out the three digit solution. There was a prize hidden in a white suitcase which had the combination lock. The first group to crack the code got the chocolates! The suitcase was to be at the start (where lunch was held) for them to return to, but when I played it this year it was pouring with rain and I realised students would probably take a couple of days to collect all the clues and crack the code, so the suitcase was relocated to a central office. The person from whom I originally got this activity used to set aside an hour for students to go out orienteering then and there. That would ensure all groups take part. Unfortunately for me (due to the weather) only a few groups actually did the activity. But those that did loved it and found it very useful for knowing where to go the following week. Hopefully next year it will work better.

This is the set of bingo cards I used  https://myfreebingocards.com/bingo-card-generator/results/bvjvuk (This is a very useful website for quick and easy Bingo games!)

Here are the images I used (it was originally all in Word - I have captured these as jpg to embed in the blog). Can you guess the combination??

A place to reflect

I started this blog for reflecting on learning experiences in previous EVO MOOCs, particularly those for Second Life and Minecraft. However I didn't really use it so I'm having another go, but this time putting the different reflections on different pages. My problem is that this time of year I have a huge amount of marking so any time away from that is 'guilty' time!!