Microsoft announces Minecraft: Education Edition update with many new features

Last year, Microsoft announced Minecraft: Education Edition. More than 75,000 students and educators from more than 100 countries have now used Minecraft: Education Edition for learning through creation, exploration and teaching. At BETT conference in London, Microsoft is announcing a new update for Minecraft: Education Edition with many new features based on the feedback from the education community.

New features added includes Global Pause to take a quick break to transition to a new activity, accessibility features like text to speech for in-game chat, an updated user interface for managing in-game settings, 256 world height for greater building capabilities, complete gameplay from the first night to The End dimension, and new “Minecraft mobs” and items including igloos and Polar Bears in snowy biomes.

• Global Pause to take a quick break
• Accessibility features like text to speech for in-game chat
• Updated UI with easier settings management
• 256 world height for greater building capabilities
• Complete gameplay from your first night to The End dimension

Microsoft today also announced that they are expanding the Minecraft Mentor program to include 60 Global Minecraft Mentors representing 18 countries around the world. Microsoft is also making it easier for educators to upload and share Minecraft worlds with the community by supporting .mcworld files on the Microsoft docs.com platform.