iED

First International Minecraft Cultural Exchange

iEDMelbourne (AU) / Boston, MA (USA), December 2015 - Immersive Education (iED) students from Boston's Saint John School (SJS) took part in the world's first international Minecraft cultural exchange with iED students from Melbourne, Australia. The event took place at the end of November and was featured at Openworld - and will also be the focus at upcoming Immersive Education conferences.

During the cultural exchange, iED students from Australia's Wooranna Park Primary School hosted Boston iED students. The students gathered virtually in both the historic Dandenong Market and prestigious Royal Society of Victoria concept spaces that were recreated in Minecraft by the Australian students this year as learning activities in their Immersive Education club.

The Australian iED students guided their Boston counterparts through Minecraft renditions of the marketplace and green-space concept designs. During the virtual tour, students from Boston learned the cultural and historic significance of Dandenong Market, the Royal Society of Victoria, and Australia. Students and their iED Club teachers discussed architecture and design and concluded the cultural exchange by playing head-to-head Minecraft games with their iED counterparts from the other side of the globe.

Later this year, the Boston students will, in turn, give the Australian students virtual tours of the immersive Boston Freedom Trail sites that the former have recreated in Minecraft. The cultural exchange includes Minecraft renditions of Boston's historic Old North Church, Paul Revere's house, and the Boston Tea Party.