Minecraft has grown into a phenomenon on all majar platforms that can host a game, but I only have experience with the PC version. However I have watched one of my nephews impressing me with great stuff on his tablet,
The PC/MAC version
is the most advanced and the full version of the game, allowing the players to use ALL the blocks, unlimited choices within adding modifications to the game, and allowing you to join open online multiplayer servers. Only your servertool or machinepark will limit the number of players joining in at the same time, allowing extensive building projects in class, or outside of class.
Console versions
are limited to the console they belong to. These versions are at least a year or two behind the PC version of the game. It limits the amount of players, and do not allow players to connect in the free way they do in the PC version. It's a much more closed system, limiting the players to the prefered console. It does however allows you to save pretty big worlds, beeing able to create extensive projects here as well.
Since a console is rarely an educational tool, using this version in class in unlikely.
Tablet/phone versions.
Even more limited, both when it comes to blocks, collaboration and saving. A big pluss however is the increasing implementation of these gadgets into the classroom. Cheaper, and with the phones players might even bring their own game into the classroom.
It still allows the players to create, share and show off their creation as a presentation.
Raspberry Pi
is an exciting little version that I had not heard about before this course. It is a stripped down version of the game used as an educational tool for novice programming skills. It's avaible for free, but only to Rapsberry Pi owners.
MinecraftEdu
is a modification meant to help the teacher control their students in an easier and more accessable way. It tear down some "unclimable walls" for less computer skilled teachers, allowing them to do commands, normally done in the command centre/chat, by simly clicking some buttons.
It's also a bit intoxicating for a teacher, who is given the 3 great superpowers.
FREEZE the students when you want them to listen.
BE INVISABLE when you want to observe
FLY
Other great additions are the ability to quickly MOVE/TELEPORT all students in an easy way.
The mod also gives you some building superpowers that makes building structures for your maps a lot quicker than you could using the Vanilla version (no mods)
As an in-class game, I would never trade away my MinecrafEdu for any other version. The only downside to it is that it only allows you to use FORGE mods. Since it is a mod, it will also be a bit behind the "vanilla" verison when it comes to updates, but way more updated than the console/tablet versions.
There is also an economic side to MCEDU, where licenses is about half the price it would be using the vanilla version, but a bit more expensive than the tablet/console versions of the game.
