theodp writes: In a few weeks, writes Microsoft Corporate VP Mary Snapp, “millions of kids and others will participate in an Hour of Code, a global call to action to spend an hour learning the basics of coding. Today, it’s my privilege to announce that Microsoft has released a new Minecraft tutorial for Hour of Code, called Hero’s Journey.” The release of the new Code.org-touted flagship Hour of Code tutorial — the third since Microsoft purchased Minecraft Maker Mojang for $2.5B in 2014 — comes as Microsoft celebrates Minecraft: Education Edition reaching a milestone of 2 million users.

Microsoft boasts that nearly 70 million of its Minecraft Hour of Code sessions have been launched to-date, which is certainly impressive from an infomercial or brand awareness standpoint. But does
[adding a Scratch block to] move a Minecraft character forward 7 times on an $800 Microsoft Surface offer all that much more educational value than, say, moving a peg forward 5 times on a $10.99 Pop-O-Matic Trouble board game?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Microsoft Debuts Minecraft-Themed Coding Tutorial