Join a group of experts to learn about how Minecraft: Education Edition is being used with Primary, Secondary and diverse students in Australia.
During this webinar, hosted by Lauren Arkley from the Department of Education:
- Dr Bron Stuckey will share some of the benefits that she has identified through her research and experience using Minecraft: EE,
- Kirsty Bridge (Wallan Primary School) will share how she has focused on empowering her students to learn to program and code by working in Minecraft,
- Julianne Snowden (Lyndale Secondary College) will share how she has used Minecraft: EE to light a spark for disengaged students,
- Dr Matt Harrison and Jess Rowlings will share about their work setting up the YellowCraft server for Yellow Ladybugs, an Australian autistic-led support network/charity for autistic girls and women.
About the presenters
Dr Bronwyn Stucky (PhD, Med, BA) is a Global Consultant Specialist in Game Play, Gamification, Communities of Practice and Learning Communities. Bron has been engaged in educational community and gameful practices in learning development for the past 15 years. She has worked to explore virtual worlds, games in learning and how we can cultivate identity, agency, citizenship, leadership, and community. She is a postdoctoral research fellow of the Arizona State University Center for Games & Impact and is global leader in the gamification for community and identity cultivation. She is a global Minecraft mentor and is on the board of several educational game startups. Bron’s overriding drive is to understand how games can support learning and cultivate community for learners and how we foster the next wave of game curious teachers.
Kirsty Bridge is a specialist Digital Technologies teacher at Wallan Primary School from F-6. She has been teaching for ten years and worked as a Digitech specialist for the past three. She is part of the Minecraft EE cluster group, with a particular interest in using Minecraft to teach coding.
Julianne Snowden is a Digital Technologies and VCE Applied Computing teacher at Lyndale Secondary College. She specialises in Game Design, Programming and Robotics. She is a member of the Minecraft EE Cluster group and is working with Newlands Intermediate School in New Zealand to develop an international girls eSports league.
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Dr Matthew Harrison is an experienced educator, researcher and digital creator with a keen passion for utilising technology to enhance children's social learning and inclusion. He has taught in Australia, South Korea and the United Kingdom at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
Matthew is currently coordinating the Autism Intervention program and facilitating the Digital Access and Inclusion Hub at the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education. His research primarily focuses on inclusive education and the effective use of digital technologies as teaching and learning tools. As a gamer, he has a particular interest in digital games-based learning and intervention.
Jessica Rowlings is a qualified speech and language pathologist and works as a researcher and therapist, with a particular interest in autism and its presentation in women. In her spare time she enjoys sewing, LEGO, video games and playing with her dog.
Lauren Arkley is a Senior Projects Officer in the Digital Learning Services Unit at the Department of Education and Training. She is an experienced primary school teacher and has led the development of the digital technologies curriculum in Scotland.
Troy Waller is a Learning Delivery Specialist & Accessibility Lead for Microsoft Education Australia. He works directly with teachers and school leaders to better reach learning outcomes and transform classroom time through technology. He helps schools plan and implement long to medium-term professional development strategies around the use of educational technologies. He leads both virtual and face-to-face sessions inspiring teachers towards the digital transformation of education.
Troy is passionate about how technology can be used to make classrooms more equitable and inclusive and worked with numerous schools around the country to achieve this. He taught in Asia for over a decade, working for both government and International Schools before returning to Australia in 2012. His knowledge extends from the Australian Curriculum to the International Baccalaureate.
This event was made possible by support from the Victorian Department of Education and Training.
