Beyond Blocks: Dr. Nadine Ebri and the Power of Minecraft in Education

Beyond Blocks:  Dr. Nadine Ebri and the Power of Minecraft in Education
Episode 9

Get ready to dive into the fascinating world of Minecraft Education with the energetic Dr. Nadine Ebri! Join us on an amazing journey as we explore the endless possibilities of this innovative platform, where gaming meets education. Dr. Ebri, a true visionary in the field, unlocks the secrets of how Minecraft is transforming classrooms worldwide. From immersive history lessons to collaborative science projects, this podcast will reveal how Minecraft is redefining the way students learn and collaborate! Tune in and prepare to be captivated by the dynamic fusion of gaming and learning in the digital and educational realm!

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Transcript

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Classroom Dynamics is supported by Logitech. As education continues to evolve, so does Logitech Education, your partner in content creation for the classroom. With Logitech's cutting edge technology, students not only learn, but also become content creators. Whether it's in-person or online, Logitech's tools are designed to inspire educators and learners alike. Capture every educational moment in stunning detail and edit, produce, and share your creative journey with ease. Logitech Education, inspiring the next generation of creators. For more, visit Logitech.com/Education, transforming classrooms, one innovation at a time. Welcome to Classroom Dynamics, a teacher podcast. I'm your host, Adam Todd. Get ready to tap into the power of motivation and innovative teaching strategies. Together, we'll ignite a love for learning in your students, fostering an inclusive environment where every child can thrive. Join us on this transformational adventure that empowers you to unlock your full potential as an educator. This is Classroom Dynamics, where inspiration meets innovation. Calling all educators, are you ready to inspire creativity and engagement in your students? Unlock their full potential with content creation. Imagine empowering that with cutting edge tools like the Blue Sono microphone from Logitech, which ensures crystal clear, audio quality for impactful projects. Logitech offers a full range of content creation solutions from audio equipment and cameras to lighting and editing software. Plus, they have a suite of education solutions tailored for classrooms, elevating the learning experience for students and educators alike. Empower the next generation of creators by exploring the possibilities at logitech.com/educationtoday. Welcome to Classroom Dynamics, the podcast where we explore the innovative teaching strategies that are shaping the future of education. Hi everybody, I'm your host Adam Todd and today we're diving into a world where creativity, collaboration and learning collide. We're talking the very popular and always immersive world of Minecraft education. Minecraft, the widely admired sandbox game, isn't just about building virtual worlds or defeating virtual dragons. It's also about building minds and nurturing creativity in the classroom in ways that can enhance any lesson. So why is Minecraft education such a big deal? Well, it's more than just fun and games. Research has shown that integrating Minecraft into education can have a profound impact on student outcomes. Let's take a closer look at some of the research back findings. First, Minecraft encourages critical thinking. A study published in the Journal of Interactive Learning Research found that students who used Minecraft in their lessons showed improved problem solving abilities and critical thinking skills. They were better at analyzing complex situations and coming up with creative solutions. Second, it promotes collaboration and in today's technological world, collaboration is key and Minecraft education fosters collaboration naturally. Students work together to achieve shared goals, whether it's building a historical monument or deep bugging computer code. Research from the Joan Gans Kuni Center at Sesame Workshop found that students who collaborated in Minecraft improved their communication and teamwork skills significantly. Next, Minecraft Boost Engagement. A study conducted by the American Institute for Research showed that students who used Minecraft were more engaged in their learning. They attended classes more regularly, completed assignments on time, and were generally more excited about school. And finally, Minecraft supports deeper learning. It allows students to immerse themselves in subject matter, making abstract concepts tangible. For example, imagine history lessons that can come to life in three dimensions as students explore ancient civilizations and math can become more engaging when you're building structures with real world applications. So what's the bottom block? Minecraft education isn't just a game. It's a powerful educational tool that can enhance critical thinking, collaboration, engagement, and deeper learning. It truly can be a teacher's best friend. Today, we'll explore the story of Minecraft education along with practical ways that it can be used in the classroom to unite students and build community. We'll also share success stories and provide practical tips for getting started. Coming up next, we'll chat with Nadine Eberi, the Educational Community Manager at Minecraft Education and a visionary leader in the field of education. And it's all around the block, literally, right here on classroom dynamics. We'll be right back.(upbeat music) Are you a dedicated educator searching for fresh and engaging resources to inspire your students? Look no further than highly motivated on teachers pay teachers. Discover a treasure trove of easy to use lesson plans, vibrant visuals, and interactive activities designed to captivate young minds and ignite their love for learning. Unlock the potential within your classroom with highly motivated from differentiated laptops to test prep passages on a multitude of topics. Our wide range of materials catered to most elementary and middle school grade levels. Join the community of passionate teachers who have already transformed their classrooms. Visit highly motivated on teachers pay teachers and get ready to inspire, motivate, and empower your students like never before. Highly motivated on teachers pay teachers where knowledge meets inspiration.(upbeat music) Particularly known for her contributions to Minecraft education with a deep passion for using technology to enhance learning experiences, Nadine Embry has played a pivotal role in shaping the way Minecraft is utilized as a powerful educational tool. Nadine currently serves as the community manager for Minecraft education, but her professional journey includes experiences as an elementary, middle school, and algebra one teacher. Nadine's unique and creative teaching approaches have garnered attention, especially with several of her viral instructional videos gaining widespread online recognition, garnering over 20 million views. Transitioning from the classroom, Nadine explored the connection of education and technology. And as a technology specialist in Jacksonville, she played a pivotal role in launching the Minecraft lab. Here she equipped fellow educators with tools and knowledge to seamlessly incorporate Minecraft education, emphasizing the advantages of game-based learning. In 2023, it's the honored Nadine with the 20-to-watch award, and she was featured by EdTech Magazine on their list of 30 K to 12 IT influencers to follow. In her current position at Minecraft education, Nadine focuses on nurturing the community and guiding the Minecraft ambassadors in their outreach and initiatives. It's my pleasure to welcome Nadine Embry as my special guest to classroom dynamics.- Hi, I'm glad to be here today. It is awesome to have you guys on U-On, specifically Minecraft as in you guys, because it is such an amazing program that is just so popular with the kids, and I'm really glad that you were able to join us today.- Yeah, it is. It surely is.- So, yeah, I mean, even the kids that I have in school, they know about Minecraft. Minecraft is a well-known program to pretty much every kid in the world. I don't think that's an exaggeration. I think that is the honest truth. I think every kid has heard Minecraft and used it and they know about it. Yet for those teachers and administrators that may have heard the name Minecraft, but they're not too sure still what it is. Is it a game? Is it something educational? They're not sure. How would you explain that to them?- Yeah, well, one, there is very few people who have not heard about Minecraft, even if they haven't played it, everyone's heard about it at some point in time. It's a top-grossing game of all time, and the number one PC game currently. So, if I were to explain to somebody what Minecraft is, I would just let them know that it's a sandbox game. It's a sandbox game where you can go into this world and you could do so many things, so many things. The options are endless. I remember growing up whenever I played games, typically they had a specific goal, like, okay, I'm playing math munchers. Now, learning how to multiply or divide or do different things, but it's so crazy because in Minecraft, you can do so many things. The options are endless. And then in Minecraft education, the same thing, there's so many things that you can do, whether it's engineering, whether it's coding, whether it's math, science, social-emotional learning, the options are really endless on what you can do in this game.- I think that's the coolest part about it that it branches out so far and so deep into curriculum areas from the younger ones in elementary school all the way up and probably through, straight through until even college, if you really want to go that far. It's amazing just the popularity of it, as you just mentioned, a couple of things. How did you first get involved in the integration of Minecraft into education? What inspired you to use it specifically as an educational tool, in some kind of gamification, kind of approach style?- I've always been the type of teacher who has been well known in our area and just around, just for my unconventional styles of teaching and everything. And so just in the classroom, I've always wanted to teach in ways that really connect it with students. I get bored very easily, so I know my kids would get bored easily too. So I always wanted to stay updated. I always wanted the classroom to be a place where students in it feel like they had to separate themselves from the classroom, right? Like you don't have to turn off your self when you come into my class, right? However, gaming was something that I didn't use a lot. I use gamification, but not necessarily game-based learning, which are a little bit different, right? So with gamification, it's different games that have goals and badges and stuff like that, and points. However, with game-based learning, this is a completely different experience that we're offering with Minecraft, where kids are literally immersed in a world where a teacher doesn't necessarily have to teach a lesson and then send you to Minecraft to go play, you could actually learn in Minecraft, even if you don't have a teacher around you. And so it's been super interesting, for example, in the coding game, you could actually go into this coding game and learn how to code. My husband always said like, "Need Dean, I think you'll be a great programmer." He's a programmer, by the way, and he always said like, "You should try it." And I'm like, "Well, I'm not trying it. I'm not trying it out." However, I went into Minecraft, did some of the coding games because in my role, I had to learn it at that time because we had teachers who wanted to do lessons in coding and I had to learn it in order to teach it. And so like, when I did it, I'm like,"Oh, this is so much fun." And not only was it fun for me, the kids were having a blast. And I think the thing that really just like caught me, like locked me in with Minecraft, was being able to see kids with disabilities, really thriving in this world. So like when they were doing like, work using paper and pencil, they were like struggling, they were unable to fall along. But in Minecraft, the same exact content, they were thriving. I remember one teacher came in and she said, she was doing lessons, like I was doing the lessons with her kids. And I remember her like walking around and circulating and I asked the teacher, I was like,"Hey, is this a gifted class?" And she was like, "No, this is actually an ESC class." And it really, I know there's different verbiage and stuff in like different states in different countries, but really it was a class who lived students with special needs who, in disabilities, who I would even have known they, they had any disabilities had not, she said something because they were thriving so much in this world and really like killing the clothing challenges, doing crazy stuff with like Fred Stone and just engineering and I'm like, "Oh my gosh." So that's what really changed my mindset, just from going to not really knowing much about Minecraft here and kids talk about it to being like,"Oh my gosh, this seems to be an every single classroom."- I have some, I see, well, I see T-classes where there's multiple teachers in a class and I also have some special needs classes as well. They're smaller and occasionally I will let them go on or they'll ask me and even if it was something I was showing them that was different. I'll let them do it and it's true, they just get into it and just get so immersed into it that I think you're right, you don't really, you can almost let them go and sometimes it's quieter because they're so into their own little for lack of a better term, Minecraft world, right?- Yeah, and it's actually an interesting thing that you said that too because one of the common things I hear teachers say is, "No, I don't want to use Minecraft in my classroom or any form of games because of classroom management. I'm scared what's gonna happen with classroom management." But the most interesting thing is that the classroom management has been the best using Minecraft. And so I remember one teacher saying this'cause I used to do build trips for teachers all throughout a district. And so one teacher was like, "Well, I'm scared to use Minecraft because if I do, like, I'm scared what's gonna happen with classroom management." And so I was like, "Okay, happen, come in. I'll go ahead and do the lessons. I'll go ahead and do the coding lesson with them." And she was a computer science teacher. And so she brought her kids in and she was like,"Oh my gosh, the kids were sitting so quietly"headphones on in their own world." And not only that, kids kept coming up to me and they were like,"Okay, I'm tired of blocks. Can I try Python now?" She was like, "What?"You can't do Python in my classroom."Why are you doing Python in here?" So like, even kids were even willing to take risk within the game. So not only were they were behaving, but they were now willing to take risk in a game where, risk that they typically wouldn't have taken in a typical traditional classroom setting. So yes, it's interesting that you mention that because I mean, every single, like, I've never, never seen somebody miss the heat when they're playing this game. I've never seen it. Other than the most that you'll probably see is maybe kids like destroying somebody else's worlds with, and even with that, you can find ways around that. Like, okay, well, we're not gonna be in each other's worlds for this part of the lesson. We'll be in each, but there's different classroom, classroom management techniques that you can use with that, but man, the behavior is phenomenal when the kids are immersed within this game.- That's a great social, emotional tie in too. You know, what made you destroy that world or that building or whatever it was that they were trying to create, right?- Yeah, it was really, and that's the, I think that's the coolest part that teachers really can find so many avenues, you know, on certain issues or certain topics that come up or, you know, just even something that's not working, you know, to debug it, to figure it out, to even have conversation amongst themselves, to figure out what's not working, how do I fix it? You know, the more heads sometimes they could figure it out, get them together as a team. There really is so many different ways you could actually go with it. So with that in mind, possibility for using it for creativity, using it for higher order thinking and critical thinking skills that students really can use in the real world. I think that's also important. And is there any specific success story or example that highlights the impact that it can have on learning?- Oh my gosh, there's a ton of examples. And just, I think of an example, honestly, for every single subject. I know we want to have time for me to go through every single subject, but I have seen kids who, for example, one of the building blocks of math, specifically multiplication is learning a race. And in Minecraft education, there's a specific game about a race where kids can go in and like make a race and do multiplication properties. And I have seen a teacher say like, man, you know, this was a topic that I struggle with teaching some years, but the kids are immersed within this and they understand they just won Minecraft game and now they really understand this concept. Because in a way it's almost like you're not just moving things around in paper or just counting blocks on paper and now they're immersed within this world. And because they're immersed within this world, you can do so many other stuff. Like you can't have smatched with other, like for example, flip where they could do flip videos inside where now they can express themselves within the world. But it's so, the options are really endless. Also, I've seen things with social-motional learning where kids are learning how to manage their emotions or even meditate within the game as well. Science, students doing science experiments that they typically can't do, that they could put chemicals and stuff together that they couldn't do in the real world. Where now they are still learning and getting in a way, hands-on experience, but within this game. So there's so many things. I have seen it really transform classrooms, like classrooms that were typically in spaces where students weren't engaged, where teachers would say, hey, let's go ahead and add Minecraft and the curriculum over here. And now kids are suddenly interested in a topic that's typically boring.(laughs) Like honestly, like topics that are typically that typically don't interest students, now they're becoming interested in it by playing the game especially with coding. I've seen the biggest success stories for with coding where I've seen kids getting access to computer science who don't typically get access to it. Learning about cybersecurity, learning how to code. And really, I remember there was one parent who was saying, like, I have been asking my child, like what middle school they wanted to go to because in my city we had like magnet middle schools, whether it's like medical magnet, computer science, but we had magnet middle schools. And she was asking her son, like, what do you wanna do? What do you wanna be? So we can figure out what middle school you're gonna go to, you're fifth grade. And so he wasn't able to tell her. And he came to one, he did one lesson with me. And I did a computer science lesson with his class as he tried to come in and he went home and told us,"Well, I wanna be a programmer, like I love coding." And so like just by one lesson in Minecraft, they're in higher life, could change. I don't know what the student's gonna be come right now, they're in sixth grade. They could become the biggest programmer we've ever seen. Like we don't know, but it's just like just giving them access to something that they never had access to can really change a whole trajectory of their life.- And just the higher order thinking skills that it embeds in them. And they don't even know what's happening. That's the coolest part. They don't even know it's happening. Those connections are being made. It's just, it's so natural and almost automatic.- Yeah, I remember asking before I was even in this role, like asking Lila Bowman, who's the one who creates all of these coding lessons and computer science ones. And I was like, do you ever just sit back and think about the impact that you're making in regards to the amount of people who are getting access because of these lessons that you're creating on the side? And she was like, yeah, sometimes I do think about that, but just not even understanding the gravity of like, man, I, it's hard to even grasp like how much of an impact this game is really making. Not just in the US, around the world, around the world.- I was just gonna say that globally, amazing. That's impact. Well, you could say global, right? Not just a small town or a city, but global. That is amazing.- Yeah, still, I still struggle with wrapping my head around it, but it's, man, it's amazing.- So with students and their continuous immersive, you know, thirst really for games and interactivity and programs like Minecraft, a lot of people would argue that teachers, it's, it's so vital for teachers to become more tech savvy. Almost to forget about like the kids and, but for themselves to understand, to educate, to even figure out ways to stimulate the kids,'cause even like you said, kids nowadays are, they can get bored pretty fast. You know, that they, you almost do feel like you have to be on the ball a little bit more as a computer teacher or a technology teacher. But in your opinion, what are the best curriculum areas for teachers to dive into Minecraft and use it, you know, just to truly enhance learning? Is it, is it math? Is it science? Is it social studies? Is it a little bit of everything? What are like, like your top ones?- Yeah, honestly, I think it's a little bit of everything. I just know we, personally, the ones, the lessons that when I was in the classroom and when I was a tech specialist, the ones that I gravitated toward was computer science. And that's because like we didn't necessarily have, like curriculum teaching kids how to code, especially in elementary, that's not really something that a lot of states and cities and districts really prioritize like creating curriculum for. And so it was nice to have a space that I can go to to find the closest curriculum that we can get, but not just learning computer science, but in a fun way. But honestly, all of the games are amazing. And it just depends on the teacher and what they want, what they like to teach. But I really think that all of them are really, really great. But if I just wanted to say what I personally like gravitated towards and why, it was definitely like the computer science lessons. And that's because we don't really have a lot of resources in that area.- So as technology does then continue to evolve and change and expand and really become, like I think it's expanding faster. I think that we could even say it. You know, I think we say it. And then it's already obsolete and it's outdated and something new has come in. It's crazy. What do you see are the most exciting opportunities in utilizing Minecraft for educational purposes? And is artificial intelligence that big buzzword that's all over the place now? Is that something that may be woven into Minecraft in the near future?- Um, that's a very great question, very great question. I know there's a lot of stuff that like I personally cannot share with like, but I will say there's a lot of exciting things that are coming. Like one thing that I love about Minecraft is that it keeps, it keeps up with the times. It keeps up with the changes and times. So.(laughs)- Well, you're teasing it enough that people are gonna get excited because there's something coming down, so that's good.- Yeah, the like one thing about the Minecraft education teams, like they keep up with the times. Like any changes in whatever's happening, they keep up with it. So they saw the need for making sure that kids had access to computer science at an early age and made sure that they created computer science. And not just create it just any computer science lessons, but you can go in not knowing how to code it all and leave knowing how to use Python because there's also like progressions where you could start off with locks and then lessons where you can go from locks to Python, but like really keeping up with the times. And just there's always exciting things in the works. And then also another thing, like I have to say this. So I know a lot of times teachers are scared to try it'cause maybe they're not good at using technology. And I know something that I play around with all the time. So maybe I take it for granted, like things that I think come easily. However, one thing that I always wanna encourage teachers to do is even if you've never played Minecraft before. And someone posted this in the teacher's lounge, which I absolutely love, like even if you are not an expert in Minecraft, that's okay, like you are not meant to be the expert in Minecraft, you are meant to be the curriculum expert and the students are the Minecraft experts. And we will never be better than students. I can guarantee you that students probably play Minecraft better than everybody on the Minecraft team because they literally will sit and play for hours and hours and hours. So like they are the experts in we are not and it's important to like know and accept that. And so I know a lot of teachers may get scared or be apprehensive to using Minecraft in the classroom'cause they may not feel comfortable or may not feel like, may feel uncomfortable being uncomfortable and presenting something that they're not comfortable with. And it's okay, it's okay, I did it, I did it. Like my first lesson, I was not comfortable with Minecraft and I told the kids that like hey, I don't really know how to play that well, but I'm presenting it to you all and doing this lesson with you all and I'll go over the content. However, if you are really good, can you help me? Can you help me answer some questions? And eventually over time you will get better. So I just had to make sure I said that'cause I know that's one of the biggest things with teachers feeling uncomfortable bringing something to their classroom that they're not necessarily comfortable with.- Well and it's a good point too. So even with the teachers lounge, there's professional development and support for them so that they don't feel as uncomfortable.- Oh yeah, so if you want Facebook and search like Minecraft teachers lounge, we have a whole lounge full of teachers, full of experts, full of people never played before, just a variety of people where you can go and ask questions and your question will be answered whether but whether it's by somebody on the Minecraft education team, whether it's by somebody in the community, whether it's by one of our ambassadors, like so many people just who really wants to help and support teachers all around the world. So it doesn't matter where you live in the world, you can ask your question even if it's in a different language and somebody will be able to answer it. So really having, it was important for us to really create a space that people wherever they are can say, hey man, I'm struggling with this. Where I'm seeing this error on my screen, can somebody help me? Or I have this really great idea to use Minecraft in the classroom but I'm not really sure how to implement it. Can somebody give me ideas on what you use or does anyone have resources to something to a specific lesson? Like any type of question you have, you can go on the teacher's lounge and there will be somebody there to answer for you to support you in this journey to using Minecraft in your classroom.- You know, it's funny. I had mentioned this we had on a few people in the past that we did some coding podcasts with and it's funny, I've mentioned this before. I've even mentioned it's other teachers and to superintendents and even parents that their times and even my coding unit, the kids might be doing something and they're working on a group type of project they're collaborating and I may not know what the answer is and they'll ask me for help and I'll say, I don't know, let's look and you kind of try and it's fun to kind of figure it out. That's the puzzle I think sometimes and it's fun to collaborate. So it almost bridges that gap like you're saying the kids sometimes do know more than the teachers and sometimes they can teach the teachers just as easily as they can teach themselves. So even that collaboration that peer to peer creation is something that Minecraft also kind of just almost infuses into the program automatically that I think is such an effective way to teach. Especially in this three-dimensional kind of space.- Yeah and then the students love it. The students love when the teacher can ask them for help. And at first I thought it was a little humbling but afterwards I'm like, man, even sometimes when I don't really need help I'll just ask them just because I know they love it. They love to feel needed and wanted in the classroom to feel like they have a space. There used to be a lot of kids are used to being in spaces where like they're the student, the teacher's the expert and they have to sit there and learn and kind of sit and get type of thing. But being in a space where it's like, look teacher, I'm the expert. Now like it feels good to them and if you see their faces, how their faces light up when you say, hey man, this student is struggling with this specific problem. Can you help them? Like I taught kids how to code who now code way better than me. Where now I'll be struggling with a problem. For example, like a mind cracking using Python and I'll be like, hey, like Bob, can you answer this for me? Can you help me with this? I'm kind of stuck. They'll be like, yeah, and they're happy to do it. But eventually like even in content the kids will probably even pass you become the experts. And it's a good feeling. You always know the best teachers. Are the teachers where your kids become better than you? So on and that's when you know you did a really good job. It's so true too, because even like, you know, when I see them doing something and they're sometimes on their own. And I love to see that because then I know that I did my part and it's when they on their own just turn and ask each other for help. That is I think the coolest point when you're watching that and you're just kind of like from afar, from a distance. And you kind of just see the heads turn, the talk and then someone's reaching over to someone else's computer and pointing and showing and explaining. And even sometimes when you stand and you know right with them in a group and they're explaining things to one another, just the amazing appropriate technical computer jargon that they use just sometimes blows my mind, you know, like just the way they speak to one another in that very high professional technology level kind of sound to it. And it's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah. So what do you, what do you suggest teachers do to kind of just get started? Just this they've never done it. How did they just what's the best way, the quickest way just to try one thing to get started on their own? Well, we actually have a page that's just called getting started. There you go. There you go. That was easy. Yeah. Yeah, because that's so important for us. Like just helping teachers to get started. And like if I were to give any piece of advice and I know it seems so simple, but the best way to start is to just start it. If you're in a district that has Minecraft education, which a lot of districts have it and a lot of teachers don't necessarily know that their district has it. Like even in the district that I'm in, it was purchased for every single teacher in the district. However, teachers didn't necessarily know that they had access to it. So I always say the first thing is to see if your district has access and if your district has access, figure out like how to access it on your computer because it's different for every district. And then I would say, it started. Just start. You're going to do it, right? Just jump two feet, right? Just jump in. Jump right in. Yeah, jump right in. And even if you're not the expert, it is okay. Your kids are the experts and they would help you do it. You're going to have some money, your classroom who knows what they're doing and who will help you to navigate through the through the game, through everything. And then also during the teacher's lounge, during the teacher's lounge. So if you have any questions, there's so many other teachers who are just getting started with you and they will be able to support you. So many experts who will be able to support you as well in your journey. So you can ask any question any time of the day. Like it's global. So it could be 1 p.m. here, but it's 7 p.m. somewhere else. So like don't even feel bad. Sometimes I see questions coming in at 2 a.m. in the morning. And it's okay. Just ask. And we will be able to support you every step of the way. The kids love it when I say to them, hey, I want to try something. I haven't looked at it yet. Even though I might have looked at it already. And I haven't looked at it. Can you guys just see what you can do with it? See what happens? And the level of, you know, you could see their eyes open a little wider, their ears perk up. They can't wait to get on and just try and just experiment. And I think that's the fun part. You know, even for teachers, you know, sometimes it's fun to just build a block. Even if you're in a three dimensional world, or a build a block, it's awesome. So this has been a lot of fun. We have a couple minutes left. And I want to play a game I call input output. And all I'm going to do is ask you a question. Just give me the first thing that comes to your mind. Your favorite app on your phone that you just can't live without. My camera. Good one. You know, you're the first person to say that one. That's a good one. I never thought of that one. I guess it isn't app because it is, yeah. OK, no, that's a perfect answer. That's a good one. I got to keep that in my back pocket. Your favorite Minecraft feature? My favorite Minecraft feature, the book and poll. Best piece of advice that anyone has ever given you? Loan, where are your plants? If you can go back in time to when you were a kid and give yourself one piece of technology from the present day, what would it be? AI. I like it. I like it. You didn't give the regular Google answer. I like that. Yeah, that's good. Sorry. It would have written all my papers for me. You're probably right. I think everyone would have done that, right? But it was not about me, though. That's true, because you would have given it to yourself. And you would have been just skipping through really easily, wouldn't you? How prodigy. That'd be awesome. Imagine. Imagine we did have that as kids. That would have been really cool. Finally, if you could add one feature to Minecraft that isn't yet a reality, what would it be? This is hard. Yeah, you got me here. Like NPCs. Where you can have NPCs that aren't like adults and you're like kids. I know it's like small, but I love that. That's a great idea, though. That's a great idea. A lot of people get nervous with those questions. Well, listen, thank you for joining us. I want to thank all of those who have been listening and tuning in today. And make sure you share what you've learned or any takeaways or reflections that you've had. You can tag us on Twitter, X at class dynamics or Instagram at classroom dynamics podcast. Once again, I'd like to thank Nadine Eberi from Minecraft Education for taking the time to be on with us today and for also being such an innovator in the world of gamification and technology education. I really appreciate the time that you took with us. And thanks again for all your insight. This was awesome. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. You really enjoyed this. And that brings us to the end of this episode of Classroom Dynamics where knowledge and inspiration meets innovation. I hope you've enjoyed today's discussion and founded both to be insightful and uplifting. As always, my goal is to provide you with practical strategies, engaging stories and powerful insights that can feel your motivation as an educator. I believe that when knowledge and inspiration do come together, incredible things can happen in your classroom. And for all of you who feel that it's too late to strengthen your craft, I challenge you to make it your mission to do so. You've worked hard to get to where you are today and it's never too late to accuse new life into your work. So why not make today that day to do so? I'm Adam Todd and you've been listening to Classroom Dynamics, a teacher podcast. You can follow Classroom Dynamics on X at Class Dynamics or on Instagram at Classroom Dynamics Podcast. If you haven't already, go to Apple Podcast to subscribe, write and review this podcast. And if you know a teacher who may benefit from today's show, please share it with them. We'll be back soon with more captivating conversations, inspiring stories and strategies that you can implement into your everyday routines. Until then, keep igniting that spark in your classroom and never stop believing in the incredible impact you have as an educator. You're more powerful and inspirational than you think. If you love this episode, you're going to enjoy my conversation with Code Rider Digital Artist and creator, Bill Kendrick, the creative mastermind behind the beloved software sensation, Tux Paint. Discover the inspiring journey of this visionary developer and educator who has dedicated his life to making art and creativity accessible to children around the globe. From the inception of Tux Paint to its enduring impact on young minds, we'll explore Bill Kendrick's passion for fostering creativity, his commitment to open source principles and the profound influence he has had on the world of educational software. Squander someday and decide, you know, and the project or whatever, it's always going to be there forever.(Music)