FAQ for Learning Partners

BLOCKALOT is a platform hosted by the Landesmedienzentrum BW. This tool allows learning partners (formerly known as teachers) to easily explore the use of game-based learning without much technical expertise and without having to set up their own server. Thus, they will be able to join like-minded colleagues on their way into the 21st century.

Users registered on the platform can create up to three so-called BLOCKALOTSpaces (virtual worlds). They may create an unlimited number of accounts for learners if they respect the terms of use. Among other things, they can also set opening hours for the server, so that the learners will not spent half of the night playing because they feel that learning is so exciting.

BLOCKALOT is available for public schools, private schools and non-profit educational institutions. All parties involved are obliged to contribute to a smooth operation and need to act in accordance with the Terms of Use.

Teachers, teacher trainees, persons responsible for teacher training and employees of non-profit educational institutions are entitled to use BLOCKALOT.

If you belong to the user group mentioned above, you may register an account on blockalot.de and get a free account for educational purposes. In BLOCKALOT you may create up to three virtual worlds, or BLOCKALOTSpaces. In return, we expect you to send us at least one project idea per year and make it available to other interested parties under a free license. Find out more in the Conditions of Participation (LINK) or contact us directly Contact (blockalot.de).

Learners are only able to use Minetest servers hosted by the Landesmedienzentrum BW in association with a teacher or a person equivalent to a teacher. According to the BLOCKALOT Terms of Use, learners' user accounts must be anonymous. When users log onto the server for the first time, they must accept the Terms of Use of the Minetest server.

You will get more answers to your questions in this wiki or by contacting the team: Contact (blockalot.de)

Open the chat by pressing “T” on your keyboard. Put your messages in the now open chat box and press “Return” to send the message. This message will be displayed to all players who are currently on the server, this means to all learners who are in the BLOCKALOTSpace.

To send a private message to another player, click on the mailbox icon in the inventory. A menu will open that shows all personal messages. To write a new private message click on “New”. Similar to an email, you type in the name, the subject and the message. Once everything is filled out, you send the message by klicking on “Send”. It is important that the player’s name be spelled correctly. Pay particular attention to the use of capital and small letters.

Enter the commands via text chat. Open the chat by pressing “T” on your keyboard. Most commands start with a / (slash).

You will find details on how to contact the team under Contakt (blockalot.de)

The use is currently free of charge.

Game-based learning wants to combine learning with what children and teenagers love: games. Game-based learning uses popular games such as Minecraft and Minetest. In order to achieve pedagogical objectives, the learning partners (formerly known as teachers) no longer meticulously prepare each lesson and then teach according to a fixed plan. Instead, they design a project – ideally in cooperation with learning partners from other subjects – that the learners work on with the help of the selected game. Thus, the learners actively help shape the project. In the process, they acquire a wide range of useful skills for the future.

Find more information on the Website of Landesmedienzentrums BW 🇩🇪.

You could also watch this talk on game-based learning: Zurück in die Steinzeit - Fortschritt und Transformation des Lernens durch Rückbesinnung auf das Wesentliche. (Keynote #eal21) 🇩🇪

Yes, BLOCKALOT is GDPR compliant. You will find all relevant information in the Privacy Policy.

Yes, the server hosted by the LMZ is GDPR compliant. You will find all relevant information in the Data Privacy Policy of Minetest.

To get a first impression, you might like to read our booklets that give you basic information about technology and pedagogy. You will find them here: BLOCKALOTStories

We also provide orientation, training and guided building sessions on a regular basis. During these meetings, you can also exchange ideas with colleagues. You will find the dates in our BLOCKALOTLab calendar on the BLOCKALOT website: BLOCKALOTLab If you have an idea, but do not know exactly how to implement it, we also provide individual meetings and, if necessary, pedagogical and/or technical support. In this case, please contact us by email: minetest@lmz-bw.de You may also get inspired by our growing number of project ideas and learning adventures. We provide select BLOCKALOTAdventures as templates in BLOCKALOT. Here you will find an overview: BLOCKALOTAdventures

We are currently revising our parent letter template. If you need information for communication with parents, please contact the team: Contact (blockalot.de)

Minecraft is an open-world game that was released in 2009. Minecraft became famous particularly for its blocky look. The entire game world consists of three-dimensional blocks. Everything you see can be taken down and rebuilt. Thus, Minecraft offers its players boundless freedom for self-realization. Players can build anything they can imagine, while at the same time exploring a huge world and constantly making new discoveries and experiences. This innovative game concept has made Minecraft one of the most successful computer games of all time. However, it belongs to Microsoft, an American corporation. On the one hand, this means that Minecraft has to be paid for. On the other hand, there are certain privacy concerns – especially for minors. Above all, these concerns are taken very seriously in public education. Minetest is based on the basic principles of Minecraft. However, unlike Minecraft, the game is open source-based and thus entirely free to use. You only need a server. This comes along with costs. Since Minetest itself is for free and a server can be rented for a relatively low price, educational institutions of all kinds have now turned to the game.

Minetest is an open-source game engine that can be customized with the help of modifications. That is to say, Minetest is an open world game in which you can customize the game world to your liking. It is also often simply referred to as a free open-source alternative to Minecraft, although it is actually much more. The game experience can be easily customized by modifying it with the easy-to-use LUA coding language. Whether in adventure or creative mode, the focus is always on collaborative building and the creative experience of the open game world. Worlds can be created, stories visualized, problems solved or coding can be explored. Please find more information about Minetest on the official website: minetest.net

The sandbox video game engine Minetest provides an infinite number of possibilities to be creative, to collaboratively build worlds and to learn in a flexible and problem-oriented way. Learners are able to make meaningful experiences that they could not make in the physical world. By combining knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in a task-based setting, the learners will develop competencies that will provide them with agency in the future. This includes dealing with in-world simulations that give them a taste of the consequences of their actions. Therefore, learners can experience self-efficacy and agency, and they can take responsibility for their learning - and ultimately their (and our) future. In order to guarantee immersion in the learning process, a narrative can help tremendously. All this and much more makes Minetest a very good tool for game-based learning and makes a sustainable transformation of learning possible. By simulating various aspects of the physical world, Minetest also makes future-oriented learning possible in many ways. This is because the learners can try to tackle urgent challenges of the physical world in the virtual world, learn from their mistakes and then transfer what they have learned to the physical world. The server dashboard BLOCKALOT represents the interface between technology and learning adventures in the Minetest world. It enables teachers and staff of other educational institutions to create and manage learning spaces for individual learning experiences. Through game-based learning, the teacher’s role transforms into that of a learning partners for their younger peers in an effort to create a better future.

To adjust the opening hours for your BLOCKALOTSpace, open the chat (default key: t), type /opening hours and confirm with Return. A menu will appear where you could set the opening hours for each day and also define exceptions.

See: How do I change or reset learners’ passwords

If you would like to remove a player from your BLOCKALOTSpace temporarily, open the chat in Minetest by pressing “T”, type /kick [player name] and confirm with Return. The player will then be kicked from the server, but could log in again.

If you would like to ban a player from the server, open the chat (default key: t), type /ban [player name] and confirm with Return. This will permanently ban the player from the server.

If you would like to unban a player, open the chat (default key: t), type /unban [player name] and confirm with Return. This will allow the player back into the BLOCKALOTSpace they were banned from.

You can assist your learners with EDUtest. To use EDUtest, open the inventory by pressing “I” on your keyboard. Then click on the icon with the hat on the right side of the bottom bar. A menu will appear that allows you to see all the important functions for managing learners. You can give learners the creative privilege, turn on/off fly mode or teleport your avatar to learners.

To switch to creative mode, just use EDUtest by opening the inventory (press “I”) and clicking on the icon with the hat on the right side of the bottom bar. Then click on Creative Mode. A new menu will appear where you could select a player. Once you have selected a player, click on “Activate” to activate creative mode for this player and “Deactivate” to deactivate creative mode.

To teleport to learners, just use EDUtest by opening the inventory (press “I”) and clicking on the icon with the hat on the right side of the bottom bar. Then click on Teleport to a student. A new menu will appear where you could select a learner. Teleport to this learner by clicking on Teleport. Click on Previous location to return to the place you were before your teleport.

To teleport learners to your location, just use EDUtest by opening the inventory (press “I”) and clicking on the icon with the hat on the right side of the bottom bar. Then click on Fetch learner and select the learner you would like to teleport to your location. With a click on Fetch the player will be teleported. Later you could click on Previous location to send the learner back to the place they were before the teleport.

You will find the terms of use on blockalot.de in the sidebar at the bottom in the right corner or under the following link Terms of Use (blockalot.de)

You will find the terms of use for the Minetest server hosted by the Landesmedienzentrum BW under the following link: Terms of Use and Privacy Protection of the Minetest Server

Use the time command for changing the time. Open the chat (default key: t, enter /time [time] and confirm with Return. The time format is hours:minutes or an integer (0 = midnight and 23999 = just before midnight). Examples: ^ Command ^ Explanation ^ | /time 18:42 | Sets the time to 18:42 | | /time 10:15 | Sets the time to 10:15 | | /time 9000 | Sets the time to 09:00 | For more information on time, please see: Minetest Wiki You will find more commands and examples in our server commands overview: Server Commands

Set the time to the desired time (see: How do I change the time). Then use EDUtest in the inventory on the right side of the bottom bar (the button with the hat) and click on the button “Toggle sun movement”. After clicking, the message Sun movement switched off or switched on should appear in the upper left corner of your screen. If you have switched off the sun movement, the time of day and thus also the brightness in the game will always remain exactly the same. Click the button again to reactivate the course of the day.

If you would like to undo something that a learner has built or mined the rollback command will help you. Open the chat (default key: t), type /rollback [player name] [seconds] and confirm with Return. This will roll back all activity for the last x seconds of a player. Player changes are saved for 86400 seconds, which corresponds to 24 real-time hours. You will find more commands and examples in our server commands overview: Server Commands

BLOCKALOT is available for public schools, private schools and non-school educational institutions. Non-school educational institutions include, in particular, youth foundations that are concerned with education. Teachers, teacher trainees, persons responsible for teacher training and employees of non-school educational institutions are entitled to use BLOCKALOT. Create your account here: blockalot.de