Minecraft Education Edition Magma Challenge – Bridging the Online Induction Gap

The Covid-19 pandemic posed many challenges for Higher Education, not least how to induct students into the University environment remotely while ensuring they had the opportunity to meet peers, University staff and connect to their campus environment. With these aims in mind, the **** Minecraft Education Edition Working Group developed an online team building induction activity within a Minecraft Education Edition World. This allowed students to work with their peers to solve a task in the shape of the Minecraft Education Edition Magma Challenge in order to allow students to bond with their peers and their learning environment.

Feedback from students indicated that undertaking the Minecraft Education Edition Magma Challenge helped them become more familiar with the University campus, develop their IT skills in preparation for study and bond with peers and staff on their programme of study. These are all aspects shown to be linked to the effective retention of students suggesting that the Minecraft Education Edition Magma Challenge is an effective manner in which to support progression and retention of new students.

The Minecraft Education Edition Working Group reflected that the success of the project was dependent on staff engagement and those staff who immersed themselves more fully into the Challenge provided a better student experience than those that did not.