Community Minecraft Teachers server

[Rick M]

I'm in the final stages of getting approval to host a community server for the Minecraft Teachers group at Temple University, where I work for Academic Computer Services. I have verbal permission from my bosses, but I have a meeting on Thursday with my bosses and my faculty sponsor to confirm permission to open the server to everyone here.

A quick history:

My faculty sponsor, Catherine Schifter, has worked with me on another Minecraft project, observing a high school English class in New Hampshire using Minecraft to write, build and perform short stories. She presented a poster on the project at the European Games Based Learning conference last fall. Catherine is also advising a doctoral student, Maria Cipollone, who wrote a presentation proposal for the International Communications Association conference. The proposal was accepted, and Maria will be presenting at the conference in London, in June. 

These two projects came out of my efforts (and the efforts of my colleague at Temple, Matt Palladinetti) to encourage faculty to look at games as learning environments. Matt and I spend most of our time running enterprise-level systems teaching and learning at the university, but we're avid gamers, and we have a lot of ideas about the future of games on college campuses. 

Faculty are, naturally, interested in research, teaching and learning, games based learning, etc.. Matt and I are more interested in creating hubs for faculty to learn more about playing games, to free them from the technical requirements of setting up Minecraft (especially servers and mods), and to let them experiment with their peers, rather than playing home alone, or playing on servers where the focus isn't education. Not like there's anything wrong with that :)

When I told Catherine, Maria, and Matt about the Minecraft Teachers group, we thought it sounded like an amazing opportunity to create a hub for educators worldwide, not just at Temple. Matt and I know the best way to learn about games is to play them, and to play with others at the same time. 

If there's interest from the group (and I think there is, based on last Friday's hangout), we'd love to host a MinecraftEdu server for the community here. It's exciting to think about having a central place for teachers to gather, experiment, collaborate, share what you know, and learn from others involved in different projects.

So, what's in it for Temple?

I know Catherine is very interested in hammering out details about conducting research on Minecraft being used in classrooms. One of the things we hope to learn by hosting a server for teachers is how to effectively observe, assess, and collect data based on what students are doing inside the game, and how we might connect in-game activities with conversations in a classroom. There are a lot of challenges to gathering useful research-quality data, and we're hoping a community server gives us an opportunity to work with some of you to test things like recording projects, setting parameters for useful classroom assessment, offering feedback about tools we experiment with, or feedback on projects in your own classroom. 

Maria is focusing on student persistence and motivation in Minecraft. We'll be hosting a weekly Minecraft club at a Philadelphia public school (on a different Minecraft server at Temple), and she's going to use the club as a research opportunity for her doctoral dissertation.

Matt and I are interested in what it takes to host a game server for academic purposes, and what it takes to help researchers gather useful data for their projects. It would be so helpful for us to host a Minecraft Teachers server where we could learn more about what you as teachers require from system administrators. I'm hoping some of what we do can be used to encourage secondary school systems to be more open about supporting Minecraft clubs for their students, and supporting teaching and learning opportunities in the classroom. 

I know no one here speaks for the group, but if there's interest from enough people, we can talk more about what the community would want to do with a server dedicated to helping you learn more about Minecraft as a learning environment. And we could definitely use the server for more Hangouts, scheduled or impromptu. 

What do you think? Would you participate? Would you be willing to talk with Catherine, or with other researchers who may join? Would you be interested in collaborative projects with university researchers based on what you're doing in your classrooms? The last question obviously assumes proper permissions prior to any research projects. What ideas do you have for a community server? I'm open to all suggestions :)

[EduElfie]

I am in! I think this is a great opportunity to meet and chat to teachers from around the world. Building world spanning links in education, particularly about Minecraft could allow us to have collaborative worlds where students from my class join and play in a world with students from another country. The learning involved in just the language difference would be huge (and of course timezones :D).

Elfie.

[Diane Main]

I find this entire process fascinating, and I'd like to be involved.

[Matt Coia]

I think it is absolutely great and is a natural progression for the whole idea of using MC in the classroom.  We all have some pretty strong feelings for where this "game" is going but establishing research around the concept is on another level all together.  Thanks to all who have been involved for a while and to the many who are just starting out with MCedu!  I would be more than happy to participate in a community server and as much research as needed.

Matt

On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 6:45 PM, Diane Main <dian...@gmail.com> wrote:

I find this entire process fascinating, and I'd like to be involved.

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[Dan Thalkar]

This sounds great! I'm more than happy to share anything I do in the classroom to help with your research.

Dan.

[Viviene Tuckerman]

I am most interested in this idea.  I have minimal experience with playing minecraft myself, but my students love it.  I do have an account.  Do I need an EDU account, or will the standard account suffice to join in? 

Cheers, Viviene

On Tuesday, 5 March 2013 10:55:41 UTC+11, CoiaScience wrote:

I think it is absolutely great and is a natural progression for the whole idea of using MC in the classroom.  We all have some pretty strong feelings for where this "game" is going but establishing research around the concept is on another level all together.  Thanks to all who have been involved for a while and to the many who are just starting out with MCedu!  I would be more than happy to participate in a community server and as much research as needed.

Matt

On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 6:45 PM, Diane Main <dian...@gmail.com> wrote:

I find this entire process fascinating, and I'd like to be involved.

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[EduElfie]

Yes you will need to purchase MinecraftEdu to join as it is going to be a MinecraftEdu server.

Elfie.

[Viviene Tuckerman]

Thank you. Can I get a single MinecraftEDU account? Or do I need a class group account? Cheers

[EduElfie]

MinecraftEdu is $US41 for the classroom edition. That is the only cost if you already have a Minecraft account.

Elfie.

[Michael Harvey]

Count me.  I'd be more than happy to participate and collaborate - both for research and on the server itself.

[PJVermont]

I'd be interested in joining.

[Eric]

I would join sometimes, but I wouldn't dedicate time to building anything on it, since I dedicate all my time to building World of Humanities (currently designing tons of NPCs, dialogues, quest lines, stories, etc.).

I would participate in any/all Hangout-type things, though.

[John Miller]

Absolutely yes. Supporting research on multiple levels is a natural extension and next step for this community. Let us know what we need to do to make it happen.

[Rick M]

Thanks for the response! I'm excited to see how this develops.

Yesterday, I got the "all clear" to open the server for educators. Now that I know I'm officially allowed to let people in, I (we!) get to think about how we could use the space for the community. 

I see myself as a facilitator. I'm open to any and all ideas that help educators become more familiar with MinecraftEdu, or helps more experienced teachers experiment in a place where there's community support. 

If we'd like to continue the Google Hangout idea, we can definitely use the server for that. Maybe we could explore different maps? Or have people demonstrate lessons they're developing? We can certainly beta test pre-releases if that's helpful, or Joel/Elfie/Kultuuri/anyone could demonstrate new features? And maybe we want to try the Survival Games map together, or other maps like that, to see if it's something you'd like to try with your students? Might be fun to have someone recording the game while that happens - make the players students, go into Spectate mode, and you can follow players around while they try to stay alive?

Mods are also a definite possibility, although we'll need to be very clear about what mods we have installed so people know what they need to download for themselves. Hmm, I'll probably need a page somewhere listing the current version of the server and links to the mods you'll need. I can add it to my current Minecraft blog...I'm making notes in my head, sorry :)

One thing I need to think about - does MCEdu make use of the whitelist? I do want to "register" people who want to join, so I get an idea of how many people are participating. If MCEdu doesn't check the whitelist file, I can have people email me for the server address and teacher password, does that make sense?

Once I figure out if I'm using a whitelist or if I'm mailing out the address and password, please feel free to pass this around to any educators you'd like. It's open to anyone who wants to think about Minecraft, teaching, and learning. I'd like them to participate here on the Google group as well, but I don't think that should be a requirement.

So, what do you folks want to do? Should we have regular Google Hangouts? Does anyone have a map or lesson or demonstration they'd like to share with the group? Are any new Minecraft teachers looking for in-game help? Anything is possible :)

[Chris Scott]

I know I'm late on this thread, but I too would love to participate. 

Chris Scott

Santa Ynez School

[Jonathan Palles]

Rick,

I, too, would love to join this server.

- Jonathan

[Rick M]

Not late at all, Chris.

I'm working on a possible community project for the group here (and if you're reading this, you're part of the group :) ), and I'll post more details sometime over the weekend. When I post, I'll include a way to contact me for the URL and the teacher password, as well as the version I'm running and the mods included. 

Even if you don't participate in the community project, you're welcome to join and explore. 

Watch this space, post coming soon!

[Carol K]

I'm a complete Newbie to Minecraft. I've just purchased Minecraft EDU Classroom edition and 15 licences for my school here in New Zealand (students are aged 5-13). I will be downloading and installing everything next week when schools start back after a 2 week holiday, and I hope it all works out! The kids will teach me, and I'm looking at starting in Creative Mode and I have an idea for a project to get started. So, any help I can get, along with the chance to talk to and learn from other educators, is very timely for me. Besides being a real interest of mine, with an understanding of how powerful games can be, this has become part of my own teacher inquiry. So some of the research ideas you've mentioned interest me greatly. I'm currently half way through reading 'Reality is Broken' - fascinating reading that I can relate to completely!

Carol

[dedicated x]

I would love to take part!  We are in our 7th MinecraftEDU project for Grades 5-8.  We are currently building the Cardiovascular system within a large scale "Steve" character.  The blood vessels are in the form of tracks and the blood cells are carts.

 

We were just talking about setting up a community server so students from other schools could collaborate.  Your teacher community server is a great start.

David Crawford

http://wtisburyschool.org

[Rick M]

It took me a little longer than I thought to knock my idea into shape this weekend, but here goes.

We've had a few Google Hangouts while people logged in to the Temple server, and it's been a fun way to interact and learn about various mods or teaching strategies. I've got an idea for a bigger project, and I thought the community here might be interested in getting together to plan out and build the project together, sort of like what we see big Minecraft groups like FyreUK doing - minus the need for intense Minecraft artistry :)

A doctoral student at Temple University approached me with a problem. She was planning on conducting research later this summer in a virtual environment, where the United States Capitol was recreated in 3D and you could walk through the building as an avatar. Her research has to do with the federal budgeting process, and she was going to have participants in her study tour the capitol and sort of walk through the important locations where the budgeting process occurs.

The virtual environment was funded by a grant at (I think) Indiana University. The funding went away recently, and the student no longer has access to the 3D environment, and has no way to conduct her research. She was referred to me because of Minecraft, and after a little searching online, I found a couple schematics of the US Capitol. After installing them and touring them, I picked one that's pretty complete, and modifiable where it's not complete (and, I think, modifiable by normal humans without great artistic ability, like me!), and I think we might be able to create an environment she can use for her research study. 

I'm interested in the project, and asking to see if anyone else might be interested in helping, because I think if we complete the building, it's a good educational tool to share with other Minecraft teachers. It also helps a student who's at the end of a long course of study and had the rug yanked out from under her. And finally, I think it might be an interesting learning experience for our community to plan and execute a big project like this. It's a great chance for people of any skill level to come and experiment with building, with a solid goal in mind. If we wanted to pick a night, or a series of nights, where we get online at the same time, it adds another level of collaboration. It might be fun to record a couple hours of us building together, talking together, trying to figure out what we want to do, and how we want to do it. 

I uploaded a bunch of screenshots of the Capitol (in Minecraft) to Imgur and made notes about what we're looking at. 

And here's what the doctoral student wrote to me about what she's hoping to have available in a virtual 3D environment:

"The participant would then see his or her (gender-specific) avatar, and a window would appear with directions in text on how to navigate the VE. (The researcher would need to have the capability to add text and hyperlinks at various locations in the VE). The participant would be instructed to close the window and to follow the signs that provide navigation directions. The mode of navigation would be limited to “walking.” At various points in the virtual tour, the participant might see (and hear) two “Representatives” or “Senators” presenting oral arguments on a specific issue. (I don’t know how difficult this would be to program into the VE. If it would be too difficult or take too much time, I could eliminate this feature.)

I haven't worked with CustomNPCs enough to know if we can recreate an "oral argument," but the MinecraftEdu info blocks could be put to good use here.

If we get enough people interested in participating, I'll make a list of all the things we'd have to do to make this research-ready, and we could pick a kick-off night and have a Hangout and build night? I'll be making the list anyway, because I think I'm going to make an effort to find a way to get this done even if no one has time to help - but it'd be a lot more fun with a dozen (or more!) of us all building together. If you're curious, take a look at the Imgur link and let me know what you think!

I'm going to update the Temple server to the latest version of MinecraftEdu and load the world file from the screenshots - or at least make it available alongside Eric's World of Humanities map, which I have not explored to my heart's content yet - and anyone who wants to join, help, and explore is welcome to do so. Actually, I should install Mystcraft as well, and maybe Elfie can help me figure out how to run both worlds at the same time? Then anyone who wants to could tour Eric's world, and then pop over to do some building on the Capitol.

I'd like to think if we're successful with the Capitol, we should think about what other structures would be helpful for teaching. Maybe in the future we can grab some more schematics and MinecraftEdu-ify them for redistribution :)

[Matt Coia]

I would love to help!  I just finished up most of a model of my school that I'll be using for some fun time with my students next month. What's the timeframe/deadline look like? Are we talking weeks, months?

Matt

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[Rick M]

I'd like to shoot for finishing around the end of June, but that's not terribly firm. My biggest concern taking this on making sure the student is getting what she needs in a reasonable time frame. I'm pretty sure I could knock something into shape by the end of June in my spare time if I had to, and if the community jumps in, it gives us a number of weekends between now and then to plan a couple sessions?

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[EduElfie]

Hi Rick, I am interested in helping, timezones may be an issue for me but if I can be involved I will certainly be there. I can also certainly put together a 'tutorial' for you on how to use MystCraft to get multiple worlds on the same server (I still need to solidify it in my own mind first, though this may be a good excuse to actually do it.)

Elfie.

[Rick M]

That'd be great, Elfie. Regarding time zones, if this build stretches over a couple sessions, there's no reason you couldn't run a time-zone friendly build day on your side of the world too, if we hammer out the various tasks for completion. And I'm up at all hours of the day and night, so I could do odd times from my side as well. 

I was thinking Hangout times are probably the best target to get many of us online at the same time though.

[Craig Merrick]

I'm in, the last time for a google hangout worked pretty well for me, i think its the best bet of getting everybody online together.

On Tuesday, 5 March 2013 06:28:08 UTC+11, Rick M wrote:

[Randall Fujimoto]

Hey Rick,

Sounds like a great project - count me in! I can also probably get Chris to join.

--Randall

[Rick M]

Hey, that's quite a few people already! Very exciting, I think it'll be a lot of fun. I have a couple presentations to get through today...oops, and I have to update our other project server, our Bukkit server, to 1.5.2 for a Minecraft club session this afternoon...and then I'll put together a list of the tasks I think we want to accomplish. Maybe I'll make a new thread for it, with pictures of the Minecraft schematic and pictures of the relevant Capitol areas, and we can start talking about how we want to proceed? 

Diane or John, do you want to do the Hangout organization again? 

Oh! I keep forgetting. Please mail rick.moffat at Gmail (is there any way to really prevent your email from getting harvested?) if you don't already have access to the server. I'll go back through this thread and try to contact everyone who's asked, but if I haven't already gotten to you, please mail for the URL and teacher password. I'll also mail version and mod info/links. Right now, I just have Backpack and CustomNPCs on the server because that's what Eric's world uses :) I'll have to add Mystcraft. Are there any other mods that may be useful? I'm considering Micro Blocks, which I really like from Feed The Beast - but I'd have to make sure there's a 1.5.1 version.

[John Miller]

Sounds like a blast and it will definitely help me sell Minecraft's potential to my colleagues. Send me some possible dates and times Rick and I'll coordinate the Hangouts. For more authenticity, can we place a zombie spawner in the basement?

John

[EduElfie]

LOL, I would need another mod on the server only for that, but it can be done :D :D :D

Elfie.

[Matt Coia]

I have the mod for that and it works awesomely.... Mmmwwwaaaaaahaha. 

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[Diane Main]

Wait, if we're going to be whacking zombies, I am definitely interested in trying to get in on this. >:)

[Matt Coia]

Another night at the Roxbury?

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[John Miller]

Ya know . . . there really is an effective lesson in this. A Machinima version of I'm Just a Bill. Republicans and Democrats replaced with zombies and skeletons, a presidential veto via creeper  . . . kids would go ape producing it. :-)

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[Matt Coia]

That would be awesome!  Reproduce all the school house rock in mc!

[Rick M]

"Filibustering on Capitol Hill" kind of fits the lyrical pattern. If we can get a mob to sleep, slumped in a chair, we're in business. 

John, I'm hoping to get a list of tasks together for the project tomorrow - work's killed me this week. As far as dates, I was thinking the 17th or the 24th? Or both days? Or the 17th and the 31st, and anyone who wants to build between the 17th and the 31st is welcome to do so?

I'm hoping we'll be able to review a project list here before the first session, and I'll open the server to people who want to look 'in person' at the space, and we can hammer out what we want to be building. Maybe we can kick off on the 17th and everyone's welcome to build whenever they have time? 

If I don't have the project list here by tomorrow, I'll definitely have time to get it online this weekend, and I'll open the server as well.

On Thursday, May 9, 2013 6:42:16 PM UTC-4, CoiaScience wrote:

That would be awesome!  Reproduce all the school house rock in mc!

On May 9, 2013, at 6:18 PM, John Miller <john....@gmail.com> wrote:

Ya know . . . there really is an effective lesson in this. A Machinima version of I'm Just a Bill. Republicans and Democrats replaced with zombies and skeletons, a presidential veto via creeper  . . . kids would go ape producing it. :-)

On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 1:06 PM, Matt Coia <matt...@gmail.com> wrote:

Another night at the Roxbury?

On May 9, 2013, at 1:25 PM, Diane Main <dian...@gmail.com> wrote:

Wait, if we're going to be whacking zombies, I am definitely interested in trying to get in on this. >:)

On Wednesday, May 8, 2013 10:27:12 PM UTC-7, EduElfie wrote:

LOL, I would need another mod on the server only for that, but it can be done :D :D :D

Elfie.

On Thursday, 9 May 2013 13:00:32 UTC+10, John Miller wrote:

Sounds like a blast and it will definitely help me sell Minecraft's potential to my colleagues. Send me some possible dates and times Rick and I'll coordinate the Hangouts. For more authenticity, can we place a zombie spawner in the basement?

John

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[Matt Coia]

Maybe as we get going on this, there can be "job board" inside the map.  I'm thinking a wall with signs that list the jobs then other sign(s) underneath them with names of people working on that portion of the project, that can be updated by the volunteers as needed.  That way people can get on and maybe have an idea where help is needed.

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[Rick M]

I like it!

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[John Miller]

Ok, the Doodle is set up with three options. As Rick has suggested, we might need two for delegation and Q&A. Sounds like a great time. Check your time zone before scheduling.

http://www.doodle.com/ee6mydxu7sqw4asx

[EduElfie]

Hey Rick, I have no tutorial for you, but if you send me the world you want to use (or a link to the download), I can add Eric's map in a MystCraft dimension for you and send it back before the weekend's hangout. I think we will want to be running 1.5.1 development version 11 (it is amazing, just for the inline info block editing capabilities) and I will sort out the mods we want, any additions to MystCraft that we need??

Elfie.

[Rick M]

Elfie, would it work if I gave you access to the server? I just updated yesterday to 1.5.1 Build 11, and Mystcraft is installed. Installed correctly, I think! I also have the Backpack and CustomNPC mods installed to work with Eric's map. If that works, shoot me an email. I'm running the latest Mystcraft, [1.5.1] Mystcraft Universal 0.10.3.00, which I downloaded from binarymage.com right here. I'll be on later today doing some work.

[Rick M]

You actually already know the server URL and teacher password, if you remember them from Hangouts. If not, mail me and I'll get them to you. The following are the names of the mods running on the server.

backpack-1.7.8-1.5.1

CustomNPCs_1.5.1

mystcraft-uni-1.5.1-0.10.3.00

[Rick M]

Project plans!

Included in this post: Links to screenshots from the MinecraftEdu server at Temple, a list of projects we'll need to plan and complete, and links to references for what the actual Capitol looks like. 

We do not need to make it completely accurate - I'd prefer speed and building the areas the research study needs before we try to locate the interior rooms exactly where they actually are in the physical Capitol. The schematic came from a multiplayer server and they used the Capitol as their spawn building, so some of the areas weren't built to mimic the actual Capitol interior - there are large rooms which were used for other purposes, and we'll have to repurpose them.

That said, this link is a virtual tour of the Capitol and might give us ideas for how we want the various areas decorated.

The list of projects I think we need to complete (coming next post, screenshots of the Capitol Minecraft schematic with descriptions about where I think we might build):

• Exterior landscaping. The schematic was created on a non-flat Minecraft world and there are ground-level issues we'll have to address. Should be fun with MinecraftEdu build mode
• First floor Senate and House offices. Technically, the offices are on the second floor, but the first floor looks easier to repurpose, and we can use some of the space on the second floor for Committee Hearing rooms and conference rooms
• Second floor - entrances to House and Senate Chambers, long hallways from the balcony overlooking the Rotunda floor to the chambers. Room for conference and committee hearing rooms in the Hallways
• The National Statuary Hall is on the second floor - I'm not sure we have the time or space to build it in, but it's a possibility if everything else goes quickly. Might need the NPC mod to make statues? And skins for statue NPCs? This should be completed last, though.
• Second floor - the House chamber is mostly complete, although it's currently in blocks that looked better in the original server's texture pack - I don't have access to it, we may want to change blocks. I'd like to use the Sphax texture pack Eric uses, it looks fabulous, and it'll let us dual-home this project and his World of Humanities map
• Second Floor - the Senate chamber does not exist yet. The space is there for it, and we can mirror the size of the House Chamber. We could even mimic the House Chamber exactly - it doesn't matter if it looks like the actual Senate chamber, although that would be a fun eventual goal. The Senate chamber area was broken into different rooms and hallways on the multiplayer server, but I think we can carve out the same space as the House chamber and copy the House build without too much trouble? I may be optimistic, but it'll be fun to try :)
• Rotunda - someone with an artistic eye may want to look at photos of the roof of the Rotunda, the interior, and decide if they want to make any changes to the lighting or interior blocks. It's a neat space right now, and it'll definitely serve our purposes as-is, but it could be more visually impressive, perhaps. The http://www.capitol.gov/#MAP_2010061493794 has great Rotunda photos. Click on Arts and Architecture from that link and find The Rotunda photos. 
• Skipping The Crypt on the first floor. Technically, the entrance to the Rotunda on the Minecraft schematic shouldn't be open to the roof of the Rotunda - it should be The Crypt area (great picture in the previous Arts and Architecture link). To save time, we'll skip that for now and think about it for development?
• Furniture, flooring, paintings, plants. Each area could use accents from each of the categories, with furniture, paintings, and plants being the easiest to add. Flooring is a challenge because we'd have to change so much. The Virtual Capitol has great photos of how the Capitol actually looks, but for our first pass, I'd like us to complete what's needed for the research project, which is:
• Senate chamber
• Senate and House offices
• Committee Hearing rooms, conference rooms
• Exterior landscaping fixes (and some architectural fixes)
• Furniture, paintings, plants

If we can complete that bullet list, we'll be in pretty good shape.

I'll be going through the list of people who asked to access the server today (as long as work cooperates!) and posting here to make sure I haven't missed anyone. 

There's a Doodle - sign up for times you can meet, and we'll work together, but I'm also perfectly fine with people working individually as long as we're not making any part of the "need to do" list longer.

Absolutely open to ideas about how we could build out the offices, hearing and conference rooms, furniture, paintings, plants, etc. Links to actual pictures, to Minecraft images, ideas from your own server - if someone's looking for a class project, have the kids put together some ideas for Capitol-appropriate decorations? 

[Rick M]

Imgur gallery of screenshots from the Minecraft server - wouldn't let me make a link in my previous post.

[EduElfie]

Hi Rick, unfortunately there is a bit of messing with world files that cannot be done from within game to get the World of Humanities in a MystCraft dimension, and my other concern is if we are planning on using the information blocks, they do not carry dimension data at the moment, so if we happen to place an info block in the Capitol building that is in the same 3 coordinates as one from the World of Humanities they will overwrite one another and you will have Capitol stuff in the WoH or WoH stuff in the Capitol. Which is not a massive concern I don't think, hopefully it wont happen but it is something I feel I should point out.

Elfie.

[Rick M]

Ahh, makes sense. I mailed you at your minecraftedu.com address with a link to the world folder. Thanks!

[John Miller]

Hi all,

OK, the moment has come to select a time for this Friday/Saturday meet-up to discuss the Capitol Project.  Several options are good for five people, so I'll suggest we meet in the middle, which is 7 pm Pacific, 10 pm Eastern, and 0200 GMT. 

Google has revamped Google+ and Hangouts, so prepare to be confused perhaps if you have not experienced it yet. Everybody that signed up via the Doodle will receive an invite. Still time to add your name and also to add your interest in upcoming meet-ups for this project.

Visit the Doodle HERE.

John M.

[Joel Levin]

Really sorry I can't jump in for this.  It's a crazy weekend for me.  But I can't wait to see videos/screenshots/etc.  Timelapse, anyone?

~Joel

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[Rick M]

Is there a timelapse that works with Forge? I only know Bukkit camera mods, and I've never actually tried on. I'll see if I can do some recording on my end, even if it's just Bandicam. And if anyone else can record, that'd be great. Hopefully we can record our conversation and some in-game video from the Hangout?

Here's the link for the three mods installed on the server. They go in your /mods folder. We'll be using MinecraftEdu 1.5.1, developer build 11, with along with the three mods in the zip file, Mystcraft, Backpack, and CustomNPCs.

Don't feel like you can't attend if you didn't fill out the Doodle - everyone reading here is welcome. I'm thinking we'll go over the project tomorrow night, discuss ideas for how we want to proceed, do some building, and then people are welcome to log on whenever they have an opportunity to build. Joel, or anyone else, pop in whenever you can. 

Message me or mail me here on Gmail for the server address and teacher password if you can't make the hangout tomorrow night. 

I'd love to see screenshots of what people are doing, before and after shots, and video would be awesome as well. I'm getting a new  PC in a couple weeks, and I'd love to put something together detailing how the build progresses.

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[Lisa Douthit]

I'm new here, but am wowed by the chance to get in on some part of this.  We just started a Minecraft server in our classroom (offline).  Our 6th grade is working on creating a civilization as a Social Studies project.  We are near the end of our year and certainly we have not given it enough time, but hope to keep this world we started and do something with it next year, in addition to looking for ways to expand the use of Minecraft into other areas.  I feel fortunate to have read these this thread today so I can at the very least this evening listen and perhaps join in the excitement.

Lisa Douthit

On Thursday, May 16, 2013 8:25:17 PM UTC-5, Rick M wrote:

Is there a timelapse that works with Forge? I only know Bukkit camera mods, and I've never actually tried on. I'll see if I can do some recording on my end, even if it's just Bandicam. And if anyone else can record, that'd be great. Hopefully we can record our conversation and some in-game video from the Hangout?

Here's the link for the three mods installed on the server. They go in your /mods folder. We'll be using MinecraftEdu 1.5.1, developer build 11, with along with the three mods in the zip file, Mystcraft, Backpack, and CustomNPCs.

Don't feel like you can't attend if you didn't fill out the Doodle - everyone reading here is welcome. I'm thinking we'll go over the project tomorrow night, discuss ideas for how we want to proceed, do some building, and then people are welcome to log on whenever they have an opportunity to build. Joel, or anyone else, pop in whenever you can. 

Message me or mail me here on Gmail for the server address and teacher password if you can't make the hangout tomorrow night. 

I'd love to see screenshots of what people are doing, before and after shots, and video would be awesome as well. I'm getting a new  PC in a couple weeks, and I'd love to put something together detailing how the build progresses.

On Thu, May 16, 2013 at 8:56 PM, Joel Levin <joel....@gmail.com> wrote:

Really sorry I can't jump in for this.  It's a crazy weekend for me.  But I can't wait to see videos/screenshots/etc.  Timelapse, anyone?

~Joel

On Thu, May 16, 2013 at 8:09 PM, John Miller <john....@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

OK, the moment has come to select a time for this Friday/Saturday meet-up to discuss the Capitol Project.  Several options are good for five people, so I'll suggest we meet in the middle, which is 7 pm Pacific, 10 pm Eastern, and 0200 GMT. 

Google has revamped Google+ and Hangouts, so prepare to be confused perhaps if you have not experienced it yet. Everybody that signed up via the Doodle will receive an invite. Still time to add your name and also to add your interest in upcoming meet-ups for this project.

Visit the Doodle HERE.

John M.

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[David H. Crawford]

Rick,

Did you post the IP address/domain name of the server.  What is the login info?

Thank you,

David

[Rick M]

We usually give out the URL and teacher password in the Hangout instead of posting it publicly. I'll be online probably a half hour before the start of the meeting, and if anyone who's joining us wants to ping me there to get the info, that works too. 

Lisa, if you have a MinecraftEdu license, that's all you need to join us tonight if you'd like. There's a limit on the number of people who can actually fit into the Hangout (I think it's still 10?) but there's also chatting going on in-game. I'm pretty sure the Hangout gets streamed, and anyone can listen in even if there aren't enough spots for audio/video.

[Chris Scott]

I'd like to join in the Hangout/MC festivities tonight. 

I saw the earlier post for the mods and 1.5.1 build 11.

I only see 1.5.1 build 9 on the mc member page. How do I access build 11?

Was there anything else?

Thanks,

Chris Scott

[Rick M]

If you install and run the most recent version of MinecraftEdu, clicking the Update button will give you the option to install build 11

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[Chris Scott]

Perfect!

Thanks,

Chris Scott

--
Chris Scott
@cscottsy
Santa Ynez School
SBCUE President
GTA UK
"enhance creativity by changing conditions in the environment than by trying to make people think creatively" - csilkszentmihalyi

[Lisa Douthit]

Sounds like maybe I missed tonight's session.  I do have a mine craft account, but did not know what you meant by ping me for the info to get in to the world.  

[Chris Scott]

I missed it too, lost track of time :(

Chris Scott

[Rick M]

Lisa, we had trouble getting started, look for a link here from Diane to listen to the stream.

[Randall Fujimoto]

Here's the link: http://youtu.be/OsdxW8yLmJU

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[Lisa Douthit]

did you share the URL/password at the beginning of the hangout?  I am listening in now...

Lisa

[Lisa Douthit]

I should have time to help out however I can.  I can do some building or info blocks as needed. I am new but willing to work...will hone my skills.  Will need the url/pw to get in though.

[Rick M]

Thanks Lisa! I'm sorry for my short post last night, and thanks to Randall for posting in the link. It's tricky to keep track of the Hangout, chat in-game, and posts here. I completely forgot to post anything on Twitter or any of my other feeds.

The new Google Hangouts gave us a lot of trouble. We had just started when Randall posted the link. I think Diane had to restart the Hangout about four times until everyone was able to accept her invites. And, there's a "helpful" Hangout feature that mutes your mic if you're typing. It almost made me crack up trying to fly around in Minecraft, my mic being muted, as I was giving the Capitol tour. And I thought Elfie might ragequit at one point when he was trying to move and talk at the same time :)

I'll contact Chris and Lisa with the server information today. 

Thanks so much to everyone who participated! Diane for running the Hangout, and for persevering with the new version, John for setting up the Doodle, Elfie for creating the world file, Randall for posting the link out here, Matt's suggestions in-game (I really like the job board idea - we'll use a big sign?), Jonathan for already putting together reference images. everyone's willingness to participate. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. If I didn't mention your name or have already forgotten something, blame me - I'm very happy a group of us is going to tackle the project :)

I think I'll start a new thread a little later today, after coffee and errands, about managing the project, and I'll drop a link to the thread here so people new to the group can find it.

[Matt Coia]

Hey all,

Elfie did some landscaping the other day and this morning I started to take a look at the project and image comparisons.  I went into Google Earth to get a better view of the facades.  I took a couple snapshots from there for reference.  They can be found here. I think we have a good start.  As I was trying to find views and things, I was wondering if we could organize all the info in a wiki page somewhere.  I feel like I have to look in a bunch of different places to find the info that people already spent time researching.

After looking at the Google Earth representation, the front steps and fountain area was bugging me.  There was a whole level of "windows" that were totally missing and the concave area around the fountain was in the wrong place.  I went ahead and moved some things around which actually made the elevation better compared to our spawn point as well.  I will make the job board near spawn in a bit.  It will just be a wall on which we can place signs detailing each job.  I will try to put the jobs that Rick listed earlier in this thread on there.  As long as you are logged into the server as a teacher, you will be able to edit the signs as needed.

That's all for now!

Matt

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[Matt Coia]

Ok, so I got to thinking (dangerous, I know) about the decor.  I did some research on the artwork inside the Capitol building.  I made up a new art file with some of the paintings I could muster out of wikipedia commons.  It is here if anyone would like to see it.  The new images I added seem a bit glitchy to me when I look at them within the game so maybe someone else can mess with it if they want.  I don't remember if this can just be added to the server or if it needs to be in client in order for people to work with them.

Matt

[Rick M]

Matt, the Google Earth idea was so obvious that I didn't even think about it - brilliant! It's exactly what I was trying to find. I'll be logging in shortly to take a look at what you were working on with the landscaping. 

The painting textures is a great idea, but I don't know how to bring that into the game. Can anyone fill Matt and I in on what we need to do to bring it into the game (both client and server?), or how to fix the glitchy behavior Matt described?

I'm going to start a new thread after I post this with a list of projects. Randall offered to create a shared Google location for the project document, a place for people to 'sign up' for something they're working on, and maybe a place where we can collect reference images and screenshots of what we're working on. We can use the list I post as a starting place, but I think the Google doc will be the living project management home.

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[Matt Coia]

Oh a google doc is perfect. Revision tracking, multiple user access, etc. Cool!

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