Dedicated Server for Minecraft:EE
Could we please have an option to create a dedicated server with classroom controls? I have different classes that use the same world, and it would simplify things for the students and teachers if the world was "always up".
Also - are there any plans to increase the player limit above 30? I would love to get 100+ students in there for massive projects...!
Many thanks and keep up the hard work
FG
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It does seem interesting, it may perhaps mean that they are putting A bit more thought into the Idea.
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Hello,
I work at a university and want to place my world into a server for all of the students to access it. Is this not possible?
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Good morning Jodie Heap!
As you can see, this thread is three years old, with nary an official comment in response.
Although the original #MinecraftEDU was a modded version of the Java Minecraft and could be easily hosted for multiplayer access by participants from around the world, with the Microsoft acquisition of Minecraft in 2014, that option was discontinued, and requests for server support have come from educators ever since.
The new #MinecraftEducationEdition it is based on the Bedrock platform, which has been playing catch-up with Java Minecraft for years. It does not have a well-supported server model, and as a result, any kind of server-based implementation of #M:EE, while continually asked for by educators, is non-existent. Microsoft did briefly have Azure-based pilot three years ago, but nothing has been heard about that since it ended. This thread essentially arose in response to the lack of follow-through on that original pilot.
Additionally, Microsoft maintains that their tenant-based security model is necessary for schools, and as a result, multiplayer access for M:EE is only available to students who are on the same domain — i.e. licensed within a given school district. Not only does this model limit any kind of wider collaborative multiplayer efforts across school districts, provinces/states, or countries, but it also promotes an old file-based model of downloading of world instances that are then accessed individually by students. One of the greatest strengths of Minecraft is the shared multiplayer model, and having kids spend time working independently within their own world files (and then moving on to the next file-based assignment) really dismisses a wonderful opportunity for shared and extended learning.
Philosophically, a lot of M:EE development in recent years tends to result in Minecraft worlds that have a very focussed “worksheet“ experience, rather than seeing a shared multiplayer world as an open canvas within which students and educators can create and explore from first principles. This stems from the model of commoditizing Minecraft content that has existed since the Microsoft purchase, first visible in the Minecraft for Windows 10 product that implemented the for-pay DLC model, encouraging kids to buy skins rather than designing and implementing their own as was (and remains) the model with the Java platform. So many kids these days are exposed to pre-developed Minecraft worlds and Minecraft content that the notion of creating their own tends not to be their first exposure to the game. As a result, this is also the model that a lot of kids experience with the M:EE implementation — unfortunately placing a very controlled front end on the experience that educators working to implement Minecraft subsequently experience as their delivery model.
Depending upon the kind of experience you wish for your learners, I would encourage you to continue to balance your use of M:EE against the opportunities offered by the Java platform. A simple whitelist on a Java-based Minecraft server allows you to both restrict access to your server to your students, and open access to anyone within the world (and by that I mean planet Earth) to whom you wish to collaborate.
Feel free to reach out if you would like to discuss further the options available with the Java-Minecraft.
Best regards,
Andy
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Wait, Would It be possible to do an always-on server with the new windows-365? ( A cloud computer made by Microsoft)
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Thank you for you reply it has illuminated some problems I have come across whilst looking into M:EE. I would love to chat more about the technical requirements and alternative options that may be available. Would it be possible to arrange a chat with yourself?
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I try to host a MCEE in my pc, and then open the port on the router to access it remotely.
However, this is very unstable.0 -
Pucheng Mao, How did you do that? I am trying to learn to host this like this but I just can't find a way
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It would be so NICE if they could allow one Dedicated server instance per faculty account!
We know it is possible to do, only issues being how much the added MCEE security measures may destabilize the process.
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Hi Guys, just wanting to confirm....(this is a question not a statement).
You CAN host if you have users on the same Office 365 Education tenant and normal port forwarding etc is setup?
Pucheng Mao you mention this.
I can also see how the interschool options would be great to share a server etc for resources.
We have a large Victorian Tenant of users so I am interested if this works for all of them.
Cheers
Thomas - A Crafty Miner
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Now it's under construction.
Thank you very much, microsoft. You actually progressed.
Idea: Every school, school board or teacher account will have a dedicated server come with it. This has tons of potential. Just think about it: Meeting new freinds, in a reasonably close range to you, or coming back after a long day of school to play on the class SMP. Mabye, just mabye even hosting entire graduations, events etc. with a server. The potential is real!
Correction: I miss-read it, still under consideration. Hoping it comes soon though.
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Hey everyone,
Up untill last week I have been using VPN and Virtual Machines so my students could access my world, but since the last update V 1.18.32 all my students have been able to enter without using a VPN (we are not inside an aula), either with PIN - Link - Connection ID.
I am eager to know if it has been the same experience for everyone!
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J Watt Yes that would be lovely, of course we need to get the ability to do a server first.
Of course this most resent update seems to be a step backward from that goal since now my port forwarding and allowing students to join a world with the IP address and port no longer works. It is nice that the Join codes and links seem to work more often now but the fact that they all change each time the world has to be re-loaded or minecraft crashes (which seems to happen more frequently now as people try to join) and there is no way to copy/paste the Connection Info so that is even harder to share to my students.
So I'm not entirely happy about the 1.18 update to MC:EE since it seems to be that the option of a dedicated server software is now even further away.0 -
Unfortunately since the 1.18.32 update, the IP address and Port connection option is no longer available.
This is making the fact that the new connection methods for mobile seem to be completely unstable, a real problem for us.
Now I'm regularly needing to restart the Hosting machine and restart Minecraft on that machine and each and ever time the world gets re-opened, I have to reshare Join codes, join links and that super long connection Info string of numbers, sometimes multiple times in a "class session".
Please, with the current state of the multiplayer (or lack there of) function, we REALLY need a dedicated server option!0 -
Marcus Goluch I must admit, your post is inspiring! I have not ever felt before that I cared much about this issue. I suppose I have seen so many downsides... the difficulty of keeping students from disrupting the builds of others, the challenge of maintaining peaceable chat and behavior between students, that I have forgotten to keep my vision high.
Thank you. It is amazing what one good thought can do. I am inspired today as a teacher. Benjamin Kelly Bryan Sanders Dani Noble
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I suppose I have seen so many downsides... the difficulty of keeping students from disrupting the builds of others, the challenge of maintaining peaceable chat and behavior between students
To me, most of these things would be easier to "manage" in a dedicated server world than trying to do it in separate p2p hosted worlds. A dedicated server should have some logging available to at least monitor chat and who is in the world. In Large Class Multiplayer worlds I like to add a classroom management pack that I have modified for my group in particular so students can "claim" an area where they can build and keep other players from entering Or, only allow other players while they are present themselves.
Also, setting up a way to disable team damage so that a particular area can be used for PVP but when NOT in that area, they can't PVP so players can set up minigames but the rest of the world PVP won't work. In Java servers there are many plugins that allow for server operators to control and moderate their participants. Things like whitelisting who is allowed onto a particular server if for instance you have a world that is for one particular Class.
I know the controls are far more limited on Bedrock servers (Seeing as the official Bedrock dedicated server has been in Alpha for over 5 years and doesn't seem to have changed. I suspect that "realms" has something do do with that though.)
But there do seem to be some 3rd party dedicated servers for bedrock edition that are a little bit better as far as controls. And I expect that if they make the gametest api experiments available to Education Edition we could really make some great education tools to use with it.
Sigh, but for now I just have to deal with a game client that when hosting a world, shuts it's self down frequently and even when it doesn't, I regularly have to shut it down and start again when students stop being able to connect. Happened several times yesterday!!!0 -
Well, Aleece Landis - not to put too fine a point on it, the problem is that students in regular schools (which a large proportion of MC:EE users would be) are given logins by their schools and at the discretion and and in fact the recommendation of the school. This creates an obligation of safety and security for every student in the use of the software. Keeping students as safe as possible from bullying, mistreatment and spiraling collective misbehavior is part of the expected atmosphere of educational pursuits. No school can make the entire world a safe place, but the obligation of every educator is primarily student safety.
As Bryan said, without even being present, there isn't even the option of assistance or supervision, but there will be the expectation of accountability. No AI program or mode can replace this expectation or this obligation.
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I agree that we want to make sure it is as safe and educationally supportive an atmosphere as possible.
My Argument is that the current situation isn't really any better than letting them loose in an unsupervised situation since if they are not able to connect to the teachers supervised world, they will simply go off and connect to each other on their own and the teacher may not even realize there was an issue connecting unless the students seek them out to let them know the world was not accessible.
With server software that is more stable for connections, Teachers could white list who is allowed on that server and be a little more confident that they will be able to join the world to work on their projects when they are supposed to. And It could be possible to set up an integration so that the chat could be forwarded to whatever device the teacher has in front of them even if they can not be in every world at once and it would not require making students hosting worlds operators in order to enable classroom mode on the p2p worlds.
I know on regular minecraft servers it is possible to tie a discord channel to the chat in a minecraft server world. Surely it would be possible to set something like that up for an education server with an app or GUI that teachers could monitor on their computer or other device similar to Classroom mode.
Just because a server could be up all the time, Does NOT mean the teachers would or should leave them up and running unattended. I'm just thinking the stability, added control, and supervision possibilities that could be used on a server hosted world far outweigh the possible negatives of having a Minecraft education server.
In FACT I really can't see any Negatives to it from an Education/Safety standpoint.
Only reason we don't have one I expect has to do with the fact that the Bedrock edition dedicated server provided directly by Minecraft has never left the Alpha stage and I don't think they have anyone working on it since Realms came out. An Education server would need to take into account the log in security for education edition but certainly Microsoft Azure Active Directory could handle that as it already does for accessing the clients anyway.0 -
ohh just imagne what a wonderful world it would be. 100+ students working together on a project. with alle the features that MCEE gives to the teacher. i do too vote for at server option.
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I have read through all of this, and am disappointed that there is still no progress. I would like something like java worlds have - server with something similar to coreprotect. Those of you running java - is it cross-platform? Are you paying for full accounts for all of your students?
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Java edition is the Original Not! cross platform.
I believe years ago there was a Minecraft EDU which was an adaptation on the Java Edition Minecraft but apparently it was retired many years back in favor of the bedrock edition based Minecraft Education Edition.
Biggest unfortunate thing is that the Bedrock Dedicated server software has never been as good as the server controls available for Java edition servers. Now I don't know much about the 3rd party bedrock server software that is available but that is all kinda beside the point since Education is not able to connect to a server.
As to people using Java edition in Education? I don't know how that works anymore as I doubt anyone is still able to use the old Java Minecraft EDU anymore. I know there are some outside organizations that use Minecraft for education but pretty much anyone signing up for those programs already has to own a copy of the software for themselves.0 -
They could offer Minecraft:EE dedicated servers on Azure cloud services. I'm pretty sure that they are working on it. A triple win for Microsoft:
1. MS Education and esports spot on
2. Minecraft:EE in the cloud is good for Minecraft too!
3. One more service on Azure with ROI0 -
I believe they had a pilot program a few years back where they were doing just that. But the pilot program ended and nothing more about it was heard by the outside world who didn't get to be part of the pilot.
How well did it work? Was it really a dedicated server or was it just an instance of the education edition software being run by a "spare" license on the Azure virtual machine so that others could join it?
Back in older version multiplayer was more stable. Especially when people could join via IP address and Port. But since Minecraft Education version 1.18 IP address and port are no longer an option and the multiplayer connectivity has become VERY Unstable which would probably make trying to run an instance on a virtual machine for a class to connect to even more challenging than having the instance running on a spare computer in the classroom.
Now IF they actually had a "dedicated" server for the pilot, I have no Idea why they have not developed the Idea further since we have all been crying for it for years.0 -
Bryan Sanders from my perspective as an elementary learning commons teacher, the core mechanics of the game (like persistent server options, and teacher controls) are more significant than most of the specific content that might be added. I see Minecraft primarily as flexible learning tool (like pencil/paper) and as a collaborative workspace or learning environment (like a whiteboard or maker space). Secondarily, I see it as a content source (hour of code lessons, worksheets, textbooks, etc).
I can supplement informational content from sources outside the game when needed. On the other hand, if features of the learning environment are missing (like the ability to supervise all the students at once, or simultaneously host multiple student worlds), then the variety of learning activities I can facilitate is more limited.
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Andrew C Stephanie Frost -- I very much appreciate your input on this. I agree with you both! That's just the thing. We cannot expect teachers new to the learning environment to know what to do or how to manage students (who are likely more experienced) without proper tools in place. Some of us in MCEDU are transplants from JAVA MC, which came first. So, our experience as a game player and not trying to use it in school gives irreplaceable knowledge that we then apply to the school learning environment in MCEDU.
I selfishly want more Chemistry tools! But that's not good for the gander. :-)
I don't know how to solve all of this, but I am trying. I am available to beam into your classroom or office to help you or anyone reading this. Sometimes we just need to have some conversations with each other as educators to help move our thinking along. Maybe I can help. Maybe we can get a small team of Mentors on this forum to meet with you as a think tank. A live discussion panel. Something! :-)
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While it would be nice to have more chemistry tools or other options, that is not what teachers are currently asking for. We have years of requests for this from educators. I am happy to be a guinea pig and test options. I think most of us just want to know if there is still a possibility for dedicated education servers.
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I think my chemistry set question is getting misunderstood! :-) My point is that lots of things are not done yet in MCEDU. And as those of you who have struggled through the last few updates can attest, we have had lots of networking issues (and many that persist!). I think I am a bit concerned that while we need a server option, we might later have wished we were careful what we wished for . . .
I don't work for Minecraft/Mojang/Microsoft -- I'm a teacher like you! Been at it for nearly 30 years and constantly working with technology in the classroom. And I'm still at it! :-)
We are on the same team.
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Oh, no! I did not mean that as an attack! I just meant that while I know that 'they' work to improve Minecraft Education, I really hope that they take into account the needs that we have vocalized. I did not mean to imply anything other than that. It would be nice if they communicated what IS in development so that they could receive input from us.
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Beth Bachuss -- Thanks for clarifying! I just felt the need to make sure everyone knew where I was coming from and that I'm for you. I'm for you ALL! :-)
I think the server option is a top priority. I always have. I have also created my own servers for YEARS before we had official MCEDU through Microsoft and then could no longer run our own servers. Oh, the irony!
I know the team is super duper and will clue us in with some development updates once they decide to make them public. Penny? :-)
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Bryan Sander, thank you for raising the topic. I would like to answer with a question: Should Minecraft Education serve as a virtual classroom where many students work together? That would in effect be professional multiplayer. Think about esports and such. Or is it primarily a learning tool to do an exercise alone? That would be singleplayer. If a virtual classroom is the primary focus, then the logical conclusion is that a technical infrastructure is needed that makes it possible for me as a teacher to effectively supervise and assess a whole class of 30 students in one world over several lessons. Only then does the content, such as the virtual chemistry lab, become really interesting.
I am less worried about the content. There is a lot already and Minecraft is such a great tool to improvise. After dedicated servers I would focus on developing necessary tools so the community can create content themselves. And share it of course.
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Christoph Peters I think just by the simple fact that Minecraft Education can be used either way, single player or multiplayer. It is BOTH.
And using it for "teaching" I think it really needs to be optimized for "Virtual Classroom" since the kids are joining each other's worlds and the teachers really have no control when they do that. If during class they were expected to join the Server, at least the teacher would be able to "take attendance" and Know who was not where they were supposed to be even if they might not have the tools to do anything about it yet.0
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