This Teacher Appreciation Week, we’re opening the Minecraft Teacher’s Lounge!

We know educators work ridiculously hard to craft the best learning experiences possible for their students—and that learning a new tool like Minecraft Education can take extra effort. Minecraft educators are a dedicated, innovative community that is growing every day, and we are brimming with gratitude for you!

So, we are celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week 2023 by opening a new online community on Facebook, where educators around the world can connect with peers, share ways to teach with Minecraft, and access support resources. The Minecraft Teacher’s Lounge Facebook Group is now open!

Join the party and say hello

Don’t be shy – our amazing moderators have already started the party with over 5,000 global educators. Come introduce yourself! We are giving away new Minecraft Education swag randomly to a few lucky people who introduce themselves this week in our Welcome Post.

Make yourself right at home

Come learn alongside Minecraft educators around the world! Volunteer moderators are here to help ensure group safety and keep an eye on discussion topics, and Minecraft Education Ambassadors are on hand to contribute to conversations and point you to support materials.

There are a ton of exciting topics of conversation and community information in the Minecraft Teacher’s Lounge including (drum roll!):

• Weekly posts encouraging conversation and connection, including Welcome Wednesdays and Hot Topic Fridays.
• Event opportunities including Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions with Minecraft employees and expert educators and our monthly Block Parties where you join others to craft lesson plans and projects together and win swag!
• Subject-specific channels to talk more specifically about your role, what you teach, or age level.
• Conversations about teaching, learning, and everything in between with thousands of educators around the world.

New and improved Support Center

Don't worry, the Community Hub isn't going away! We've made a few changes to the site to focus on supporting our Minecraft Education community, including our new name: Minecraft Education Support Center.

Visit the Support Center to:

• Search for Knowledge Base articles and community posts about getting started, deployment and licensing, product updates, classroom management, game features and settings, and more!
• Open a support request for complex problems that require troubleshooting with our team.
• Post a question in our Support Forums for responses from our Support team, Moderators, Minecraft Education Ambassadors, and the community.
• Join our beta program to be the first to try out new features and give us feedback about upcoming updates.
• Share your ideas to help us make Minecraft Education even better!

Become a Minecraft Education Ambassador

And wait, there’s more! If you are passionate about game-based learning and teaching with Minecraft, you can become an official Minecraft Education Ambassador. This program offers opportunities to coach other teachers, develop new learning content, share stories and inspiration on a global stage, and receive recognition with a special badge.

For the past 6 years, we’ve onboarded over 1,000 Minecraft educators around the world to our ‘Global Mentor’ program. We want to ensure that any educator can join this incredible and inspiring community, so we rebranded the program to be more inclusive of the many, many ways we see our star educators sharing their love of Minecraft. We see educators crafting elaborate worlds for their students and schools, mentoring other teachers, sharing their inspiration via blogs or video, and creating best-in-class lesson plans and experiences with the world.

Note that the Minecraft Global Mentor program is now the Minecraft Education Ambassador program. All former Minecraft Global Mentors will be given the opportunity to re-join this new program.

Here’s how you can apply to become a Minecraft Education Ambassador:

Take the 3-hour Minecraft Teacher Academy course on Microsoft Learn or join one of our Virtual Teacher Academy Cohorts. Use the same email to take the course as the one you apply to be an Ambassador so we can verify you've taken the course.

1. Request to join the private Facebook Group for Minecraft Education Ambassadors where you’ll be asked to answer a few short questions and upload a video sharing why and how you want to be an Ambassador.
2. Record a one-minute Flip video introducing yourself on our shared Flip board.

Our team will review applications weekly. You’ll be notified via Facebook and email of your acceptance or if you need to resubmit anything.

Once accepted, you’ll have an opportunity to redeem an official Minecraft Education Ambassador t-shirt and join our monthly Creator Labs. These interactive online sessions focus on creating worlds, lesson plans, and learning experiences. Once you volunteer in some capacity, you’ll be eligible to receive your official Minecraft Education Ambassador pin!

See you in the Minecraft Teacher’s Lounge!

Thanks to the hundreds of teachers who gave us great feedback and inspiring ideas for building this new community space. Grab a coffee or tea and we can’t wait to chat in the Minecraft Teacher’s Lounge!

Questions? Email us at mcedu@microsoft.com.