DUBLIN & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 22, 2025--
Ireland-headquartered global education technology company, Prodigy Learning, and Minecraft Education are excited to announce the availability of ‘AI Ready Skills’, their new learning, assessment and credentialing product, bringing credentialing in AI skills into Minecraft Education.
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In-game shot from AI Ready Skills. (Photo: Business Wire)
Skills pathway from AI Ready Skills (Graphic: Business Wire)
Students engaged in gaining critical future skills using AI Ready Skills (Photo: Business Wire)
Students collaborating to develop their skills in Artificial Intelligence using AI Ready Skills (Photo: Business Wire)
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Today’s announcement of ‘AI Ready Skills’ at BETT UK in London (one of the world’s largest education technology events) is the latest milestone for the partnership between Prodigy Learning and Minecraft Education announced in May of last year. It is the third product released under this partnership and builds on the successes of the two previous releases: ‘Coding in Minecraft’ which focuses on developing coding skills, and ‘Cyber in Minecraft’ which focuses on cyber security education. This collaboration brings together the immersive world of Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time, with the innovative educational solutions of Prodigy Learning, offering new opportunities for educators and students alike.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming workforces and driving an explosive demand for AI skills. PwC 2024 Global AI Jobs Barometer report noted that "Postings for AI jobs are growing 3.5x faster than for all jobs.” The 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report by Microsoft and LinkedIn indicates that AI skills may become as important as job experience in the hiring process. 71% of leaders said they’d rather hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without them. The ‘AI Ready Skills’ product will support education systems worldwide to prepare students for this AI-enriched future.
Delivered in Minecraft Education, ‘AI Ready Skills’ engages young and diverse learners through game-based learning and rewards their learning with credentials. It is an easy to teach solution, empowering educators with a comprehensive, future-focused curriculum that addresses the needs of tomorrow’s workforce, today.
The ‘AI Ready Skills’ learning pathway is comprised of four units which cover core AI topics including Understanding AI, Generative AI, Machine Learning, and Responsible AI. At the end of the pathway, the ‘AI Ready Skills’ capstone credential exam provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate foundational AI skills. If successful, students receive their ‘AI Ready Skills’ certificate and digital badge.
Today’s announcement builds on the earlier successful releases of Coding in Minecraft and Cyber in Minecraft in partnership with Minecraft Education. School systems across the globe including in Alaska, North Carolina, Washington State, Northern Ireland and New South Wales (Australia) are already benefitting from introducing these programs to their educators and students.
Along with ‘Coding in Minecraft’ and ‘Cyber in Minecraft’, ‘AI Ready Skills’ is now available for licensing through Microsoft and channel resellers worldwide in addition to existing Prodigy Learning channels.
Commenting, Andrew Flood, Chief Executive Officer of Prodigy Learning, said:
“Today’s launch of the ‘AI Ready Skills’ credential product at BETT UK is a milestone addition to our educational offerings in partnership with Minecraft Education. Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing our world at an ever-increasing pace. Our shared vision for this product is to empower educators with the tools to prepare their students with the skills they need to thrive in this age of AI.
Minecraft Education offers a unique learning environment for students to develop and prove these skills to understand and apply AI tools responsibly and safely. ‘AI Ready Skills’ will help prepare and build the workforce of tomorrow and, with it, economic opportunity.”
Commenting, Allison Matthews, Head of Minecraft Education at Microsoft, said:
" At Minecraft Education, we are committed to empowering educators and students with the tools they need to thrive in the age of AI. The launch of 'AI Ready Skills' is a testament to our dedication to providing innovative and accessible learning solutions.
By integrating AI education into the immersive world of Minecraft, we are not only making learning engaging and fun but also preparing the workforce of tomorrow with the essential skills they need to succeed in an AI-driven world."
Find out more onaireadyskills.com
Disclaimer: this product is designed for educational purposes only.
Prodigy Learning
Prodigy Learning is an award-winning global EdTech business, providing innovative online platforms that empower learners to develop and prove their skills. These solutions range from skills assessments in education through to job-ready digital skills credentials.
Minecraft Education
Minecraft Education is a game-based learning platform that inspires creative, inclusive learning through play. Millions of educators and students in 115 countries use Minecraft Education, building future-ready skills like problem solving, creativity, and critical thinking. The platform offers standards-aligned STEM curricula, professional development, and fun challenges designed for all types of learners, developed with partners like BBC Earth, the Nobel Peace Center, NASA, UNESCO, World Wildlife Federation, and Code.org.
In-game shot from AI Ready Skills. (Photo: Business Wire)
Skills pathway from AI Ready Skills (Graphic: Business Wire)
Students engaged in gaining critical future skills using AI Ready Skills (Photo: Business Wire)
Students collaborating to develop their skills in Artificial Intelligence using AI Ready Skills (Photo: Business Wire)
MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces began withdrawing from a key Gaza corridor on Sunday, Israeli officials said, part of Israel's commitments under a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas that is moving ahead but faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension.
Israel agreed as part of the truce to remove its forces from the 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor, a strip of land that bisects northern Gaza from the south that Israel used as a military zone during the war.
At the start of the ceasefire last month, Israel began allowing Palestinians to cross Netzarim to head to their homes in the war-battered north, sending hundreds of thousands streaming across Gaza on foot and by car. The withdrawal of forces from the area will fulfill another commitment to the deal, which paused the 15-month war.
However, the sides appear to have made little progress on negotiating the deal's second phase, which is meant to extend the truce and lead to the release of more Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in talks between the sides, but the mission included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough in extending the truce. Netanyahu is also expected to convene a meeting of key Cabinet ministers this week on the second phase of the deal.
Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that a 23-year-old Palestinian woman who was eight months pregnant was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire in the northern occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops have been carrying out a broad operation.
Since it began on Jan. 19, the ceasefire deal has faced repeated obstacles and disagreements between the sides, underscoring its fragility. But it has held, raising hopes that the devastating war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.
On Sunday, cars heaped with belongings, including water tanks and suitcases, were seen heading north through a road that crosses Netzarim. Under the deal, Israel is supposed to allow the cars to cross through uninspected, and there did not appear to be troops in the vicinity of the road.
Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the withdrawal showed Hamas had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands" and that it thwarted “Netanyahu’s illusion of achieving total victory.”
The Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss troop movement with the media, did not disclose how many soldiers were withdrawing. Troops currently remain along Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt and a full withdrawal is expected to be negotiated in a later stage of the truce.
During the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for a pause in fighting, freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to war-battered Gaza. The deal also stipulates that Israeli troops will pull back from populated areas of Gaza as well as the Netzarim corridor.
In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm.” But details beyond that are unclear and repeated stumbling blocks throughout the first phase and the deep mistrust between the sides have cast doubt on whether they can nail down the extension.
Israel has said it won’t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas’ military and political capabilities are eliminated. Hamas says it won’t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from the territory.
Netanyahu meanwhile is under heavy pressure from his far-right political allies to resume the war after the first phase so that Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack on Israelis in their history, can be defeated. He is also facing pressure from Israelis who are eager to see more hostages return home and want to deal to continue, especially after the gaunt appearances of the three male captives freed on Saturday stunned the nation.
Complicating things further is a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to relocate the population of Gaza and take ownership of the Palestinian territory. Israel has expressed openness to the idea while Hamas, the Palestinians and the broader Arab world have rejected it outright.
The suggested plan is saddled with moral, legal and practical obstacles. But it may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic by Trump, to try to ratchet up pressure on Hamas or as an opening gambit in a bargaining process aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. That grand deal appeared to be rattled on Sunday as Saudi Arabia condemned remarks by Netanyahu who said Palestinians could create their state in that territory.
Saudi Arabia said his remarks “aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”
In an interview Thursday with Israel’s Channel 14, Netanyahu said: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”
The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians according to local health authorities who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count. Vast parts of the territory have been obliterated in the fighting, leaving many Palestinians returning to damaged or destroyed homes.
Violence has surged in the West Bank throughout the war and has intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation in the north of the territory. The shooting of the pregnant woman, Sundus Shalabi, happened in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations against Palestinian militants in the territory. The Palestinian Health Ministry also said that Shalabi’s husband was critically wounded by the gunfire.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday the expansion of the Israeli military operation, which started in the city of Jenin several weeks ago. He said the operation was meant to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold in the occupied West Bank.
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
FILE - Israeli soldiers drive near the northern Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
FILE - Israeli soldiers wave to the camera from an APC as they cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)
Palestinians are seen near destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)