Please Re-open the Azure VM Capability to Assist Remote Teaching During the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak

Clive Woodhouse

August 16, 2020 12:49
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The recent disruption of many school districts in the US caused by responses to COVID-19 is creating challenges for educators to provide socially distanced learning opportunities. I would like to ask if Microsoft would consider reinstating the Minecraft EE Azure VM service on an emergency basis.

My school district has currently closed all schools through at least late April. Having the ability to remotely access our students with the least number of technical hurdles for parents would greatly assist us in our efforts to offer additional options.

Thank you for seriously considering this.

Comments

4 comments

Kyle M

March 13, 2020 20:44

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Thank you very much for the feedback Clive Woodhouse.

We are taking this very seriously.
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Penny Support

March 13, 2020 20:55
Hi Clive-

Thanks for touching base about remote learning. This week, Minecraft Education announced that we'll be opening access to Minecraft: Education Edition to all teachers and students with Office 365 Education access through the end of June. We created a remote learning toolkit to help connect educators and parents to learning resources. You can get more details from this blog post: https://education.minecraft.net/blog/microsoft-extends-access-to-minecraft-education-edition-and-resources-to-support-remote-learning/

We realize that multiplayer scenarios from home networks can be challenging, and will help troubleshoot where we can. And as Kyle mentioned, we are thinking a lot about what we can do to help families through these tough time. Thanks for bringing this back to our attention.
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Kevin Sheck

March 17, 2020 01:22

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+1 on wanting to fire up an Azure VM for MEE for remote learning during COVID.
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Penny Support

March 18, 2020 20:56
The Azure VM experience for Minecraft: Education Edition was a pilot program, and while it provided valuable information to our team, it's no longer active. We appreciate your interest in the program, as well as your feedback. It's helpful for our team as we think about priorities moving forward. If you're interested in remote learning opportunities, you can set up multiplayer games using Minecraft: Education Edition. This page has guidance on how to host and join multiplayer games, as well as troubleshooting information for helping manage students' home networks: https://aka.ms/mee-set-up-multiplayer.
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