Even within 10 minutes of an in-class lesson, the power of anonymity led at least one student away from community goals.
I'm teaching students, and they're often teaching me, through MinecraftEdu as a school club.
MinecraftEdu is a version of Minecraft where teachers can control & limit what each student is able to do.
In this Minecraft club, we're using a mod called ComputerCraft, in which students can learn visual computer programming to control in-game robots.
Before our club met, I had just finished talking with another group of students about social media safety. We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of being anonymous online.
Their responses were mostly about safety, at first. It's much safer, from a personal perspective, to be anonymous. When the focus moved to community-oriented behavior, students reflected that anonymity also allows people to do and say bad things and get away with it.
So, right after that class ended and Minecraft club began, all the kids signed on with made-up names. Pretty soon, a bunch of complaints cropped up about a player dropping slowness potions on people.
No one was willing to own the behavior.
I'd turned off most features that would tempt students to harm each other, and we set norms, but the issue of anonymity wasn't one of our norms.
MY BAD!
I'd made the mistake of assuming that, with teacher-assigned groups, and us all being present in the
same room, with clear assignment instructions and expectations, that we'd know who's who.
Step 1, revisit the norms.
Step 2, figure out how to restrict potions.
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