Accessibility settings for Minecraft Education

We believe everyone should be empowered and enabled to play Minecraft Education. 

You can also learn more about accessibility features in this video as part of our Learn To Play playlist: 

 

Minecraft Education Accessibility Menu

Minecraft Education includes an Accessibility Menu in Settings for easy access to accessibility settings. To view the Accessibility Menu on Minecraft Education, select Settings from the main menu and the Accessibility Menu and options are displayed by default.

The following settings can be found in the main Accessibility menu.

Accessible menu navigation and narration

Minecraft Education includes the ability to navigate the menus in an accessible way using a keyboard and touch (using English as a language).

About menu UI narration

• If you have a screen reader enabled in your platform settings, Minecraft Education will automatically enable menu UI narration when the game is launched.
• You can manage the ability to recognize platform settings using the Enable Text to Speech with Device Settings toggle
• Menu UI narration can be enabled and disabled in the Accessibility Menu in Settings using the Enable UI Screen Reader toggle

Tips on navigating menus

• Use arrow keys to navigate all menus in on PC.
• Use the Escape key as a shortcut to go back to the previous selection or close the current screen in on PC.
• Some screens, like the Play screen, contain tabs that are used to navigate different sections of the screen. Use the left bracket and right bracket keys (on a keyboard) to switch between tabs.

Accessible chat using text-to-speech

Minecraft Education includes an option to use text-to-speech for chat during any game session.

To enable text-to-speech for chat

• Use the Enable Text To Speech For Chat toggle enable text-to-speech for chat
• Use the Enable Open Chat Message toggle to turn on or off the notification that the chat window is open
• Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+B at any point during a game session to enable text-to-speech for chat.

Tips on using text-to-speech for chat

• Navigate to previously sent chat messages using the arrow keys on a keyboard or the left-thumbstick on a controller.
• Use the Escape key, or B button on a controller, when you have the text field selected to back out and navigate the chat screen on keyboard.

Other settings in the Accessibility Menu

Show Input Hints

Enable this option to show in-game information about how to use controls in the game.  These control hints will be device specific, so that a touch-enabled device will display touch controls and a keyboard controlled device will show which keys to use.

Other Accessibility Settings in Minecraft Education

The following settings can be found in other areas of the game.

Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader embeds text reading and comprehension capabilities into Minecraft Education. This option help users of any age and reading ability with features like reading aloud, translating languages, and focusing attention through highlighting and other design elements.  Click “i” or select the Immersive Reader icon next to text in the game to activate the feature. You can also view this brief video for more information. 

• Portfolio (if there is at least 1 photo)
• Book&Quill (including signed Book&Quill)
• NPC (If Player adds any text to the dialog box)
• Slate / Poster / Board
• Sign / Hanging Sign
• Code Builder/MakeCode/Tutorials

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Use Single Sign-On to enable Minecraft Education to remember login information.  This allows students to open the game without having to type in their credentials each time Minecraft Education is opened.

You can enable/disable SSO using the Enable Single Sign On toggle on the Profile screen in Settings

Text to Speech volume

• Use the Sound Volume slider in Audio Settings to adjust the volume of the narration.

Chat Text Styles

There are a variety of options to change the appearance of chat text.

Click the gear icon next to the chat input box to access the Chat Settings menu and change how your chat font appears.  Settings include:

• Mute All Chat toggle
• Text To Speech For Chat toggle
• Font type
• Size
• Line Spacing
• Text Color
• My Mentions Color

Re-Map controls

The Keyboard & Mouse, Controller and Touch screens in the Settings menu offer a variety of ways to re-map controls to allow players to configure gameplay to best suit their needs.  (Use of a controller is not supported for many features in Minecraft Education, such as the CodeBuilder.)

Auto Jump

Auto Jump is a great feature to reduce repetitive button/key presses.  Use the Auto Jump toggle on the Keyboard & Mouse, Controller and Touch screens to enable or disable this feature.   (Use of a controller is not supported for many features in Minecraft Education, such as the CodeBuilder.)