Assessment Tools (Cameras, Portfolio, Book & Quill)

Minecraft Education provides helpful items to inspire creativity in the classroom and beyond, such as cameras and portfolios. This article explains what they are and how to use them. The topics covered will be:

• Camera
• Portfolio
• Book and Quill (Writable Books)
• Additional Useful Items

Camera

Features

• One time use
• Take pictures of yourself (selfies) or items on the ground

How to use

With the Camera in your hand, you can right click to take a 1st person snapshot of your screen, which will be saved into your Portfolio.
You can also place the Camera into your world by right-click pointing at an existing block in your world.
Once placed, right click the camera to activate it. A smoky timer will count down as the Camera blinks, and after five seconds, a picture will be taken. If you move around, the Camera will track you during this time.
After one photo, the Camera will disappear and you’ll need to place a second one. Note that once you place a Camera, any player in the world can use it, so you should provide plenty if you want students to use them in a lesson.
You can also take close-up snapshots of an item on the ground by holding the Shift key while right-clicking. Without holding the Shift key, this would place the Camera on the ground without taking a snapshot. With the Camera in your hand, you can right click to take a 1st person snapshot of your screen, which will be saved into your Portfolio.

Portfolio

Features

• Caption your pictures and save a memorable moment!
• Export photos you have taken in Minecraft Education to use elsewhere.

How to use

Once you take pictures, they show up in the Portfolio. When you have it equipped, right click to bring up a two-page book of your photos in chronological order.

You can click to type a short caption below each picture if you like. To use the photos, press the “Export Portfolio” button. It creates a .zip file with all your photos as JPGs in your specified folder.

Book and Quill (writable books)

The Book and Quill lets you record your adventures and tell your stories.

Features

• Add pictures from your camera into the book.
• The Book and Quill can be edited until it is signed.
• As of version 1.12 you can export into a PDF

How to use

You can find a book and quill in your items tab, or type “/give @s writable_book”. Equip and open the book to see your options.

Click on the pencil item on any page for more options.

This is what you will see if you have no pictures in your portfolio.

When you have a picture (even just one will cause this) in your portfolio, you will have a photo option.

• Clicking on the Document + will add a page to your book.
• Clicking on the Picture will bring up your portfolio so you may select a picture.
• The trash can will delete your page.
• If you have text on your page, the paper icon with the arrow will put it on the page facing opposite.

Are you done editing? Click the sign button to reach the cover. Personalize it with a title, then select sign and close to lock your book! Please note, even if you are the author, you cannot change the book text at this point.

The book will now appear as a purple book in your inventory.

When you click on the book in your inventory, it will open and you can export it. The default name will be (Book Title) (Author Name) and save in your documents folder.

When you export the book, it will save as a ZIP file if you have multiple pages and number them in order.

Picture pages will save as JPEG files, text on pages will save as TXT files.

Happy writing!

Additional Useful Items for Lessons

• Adding non-player characters (NPCs)
• Communicating with Boards
• Share your ideas on the forums