Affinity Space Update, or "Jen was writing a Grant this week and her Affinity Space Update is r
I wrote and submitted a grant this week! But that's not what you're here for.
Conversation can be difficult. I don’t mean in the sense of creating words—I know lots of people who specialize in talking more and saying less—but actually understanding someone; engaging with them and not just hearing what they say, but actually comprehending them can be a difficult row to hoe. And this communication, often done right into front of our eyes, where you see the person’s inflection, gauge their tone, is often more effective then what we do most frequently today.
Communication via online text is relatively new, but we do a lot of it. I pepper my online speech with video, emojis and gifs, subverting an already tenuous source of language entirely—words combined with pictures and moving pictures and phrases from online memes and social context that sometimes I wonder if I am being understood at all. (I’ve used the phrase “fake news” on three separate occasions this week, once when I knew one of my kiddos was fibbing to me about having completed an assignment.)
I say all that to say that the affinity space I chose—the community section of the Minecraft Edu site—is a breath of fresh air in terms of online communication.
You don’t have to wander too far into the comments section of any Youtube video on the net to find the most mendacious, soul-sucking language the internet has to offer. Being a female online, I see the threatening space it can often be. Yet the Community I’ve found on Minecraft Edu is different, and I wonder if that is entirely based on what their core principles are. The site is first and foremost a place for other educators to learn, and I’ve found that educators teaching other educators seem to be a very pure example of communication. The people there on the whole seem cut from the same cloth, and though one might consider this restricting for outsiders, I haven’t found that to be true. The people that help keep Minecraft Edu running are the same people that engage on their social media platforms, follow hashtags, and engage learners first in the space where they already exist. This openness promotes a sense of acceptance and loyalty-to-self that one can be hard-pressed to find on the internet. People go to Minecraft Edu to share lesson plans, (one which I am building now, and hope to see finished before the end of the semester!) engage with more savvy builders, ask questions, and generally find a space to be heard. The fact that this connection spans not only the U.S. but dozens of other countries is proof of their reach for good is being broadcast to all.
I hope to engage with this space more thoroughly in the future, as I have reached out to others on the site regarding their experience with the community, and how their students’ learning (and their own) has been engaged and promoted on the site.
Communication on the internet can be rough, but Minecraft Edu is proof that is doesn’t have to be.