Maybe this could be achieved using a virtual LEGO building app, something we have suggested in the past, but on this occasion, with little to no prior experience of BrickLink and students connecting over Zoom, this might be a lot to ask. As you can imagine, learning and deploying Minecraft to a class full of students for this kind of activity might be a little overkill under the circumstances. As part of the activity, students create metaphorical models on a given topic using LEGO bricks, which they then present to the rest of the class. The LEGO in question was originally used to deliver what is known as LEGO Serious Play, or in this case, a lighter version of LSP to be run with students in the classroom – what we refer to at Coventry University as LEGO-A-GO-GO. This could, potentially, be a lot of work for someone who has never used Minecraft before, and would probably not be worth the investment of time needed for such a small last-minute activity. The problem with the Minecraft solution is that it would take so much time for students to orientate themselves with the software unless they had used it before and the lecturer himself would also need to learn the software to a level high enough that he could teach comfortably within that the environment. I explained I wasn’t exactly fluent in Minecraft in that way, more just a casual user, however there are some interesting tools online for virtual LEGO building such as BrickLink, formally LEGO Studio.

He was looking for something he could deliver virtually as some of the lessons he delivers are now online as a result of the pandemic. I was speaking to a colleague today who had a question about using Minecraft as a potential alternative to LEGO in a teaching environment.

Virtual lego building app