Minecraft-based world from Enginuity aims to unearth inner engineering talent
24 April 2020
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From the UK’s leading engineering brains at Enginuity, supported by The Princes Trust, this fun Minecraft-based game assesses STEM skills potential in a lockdown game changer for engineering. Harnessing the power of gaming – and Minecraft, one of the biggest & most played games in the world – it aims to identify STEM talent to help power the nation’s economic recovery when the lockdown is lifted.
The launch of Skills Miner from Enginuity (formerly Semta), the new engineering skills organisation charged with creating skills solutions for individuals, educators & employers to help close the skills gap, has been brought forward from the summer to allow thousands of people in lockdown to have fun – and find out if they’ve got what it takes to transit from the virtual to the real world of engineering.
Sophisticated gaming techniques and algorithms monitor players’ performance and assesses their aptitude, via a non-academic route, for a whole raft of engineering skills – from Observation & Assessment, Resilience, Digital Competency, Problem Solving and Critical Reasoning.
Players of the game, which is based on Minecraft and aimed at all ages, will be guided to various levels, given assessments of their cerebral and dexterity strengths (which crucially they may never have realised) – then given a call to action to help them make an appropriate move through the gateway from the virtual to the real world of engineering and manufacturing.
Second and third phase plans include providing other career boosting rewards for those that make progress to the top levels.
“This is a game changer” says Enginuity CEO, Ann Watson. “We have, through our innovation lab, the opportunity to change perceptions of engineering and the ability to help young people to discover hidden talents through the strengths and thinking they show whilst playing the game – and unlock rewarding careers in something they might not have even considered.
“There is a rich seam of potential engineering talent which, until now, has never reached the surface – Skills Miner is an entertaining and effective way of addressing that.
“Beta version users have told us that game feedback was the one and only time that they had been told that they were good at something.”
The Minecraft server based game, set in an electric car showroom and factory, is aimed at young people and may have particular benefits for the 800,000 young people in the UK who come from disadvantaged backgrounds – who would not otherwise be assessed by anyone in education, training and employment. Their talents often go unnoticed and unharnessed – and are of particular interest to game supporters – The Prince’s Trust.
The game, which is free to access, goes live on Tuesday April 28th. It will help boost neurodiversity and reveal a myriad of vocational pathways to work in the real world.
Find out more and access everything you need to start playing at: http://www.skills-miner.com/
About Enginuity:
Enginuity creates practical skills solutions for individuals, educators, and engineering & manufacturing employers, using unmatched expertise and data – so engineers can change their world and ours.
• It helps individuals, educators and employers see and develop the skills needed to succeed, boosting the UK economy.
• It gives individuals, educators and employers the confidence to make smarter decisions about the skills they need to succeed, today and tomorrow.
• It brings employers, educators and policymakers together, helping to provide people with the opportunities they need to change their lives and tackle society’s greatest challenges.
Enginuity creates skills solutions for individuals, educators and engineering employers, using unmatched industry expertise and data. Its people are engineering specialists, rather than skills and education generalists – engineering qualifications by engineers, for engineers. Using data, it creates the right skills solutions for individuals and employers to succeed, today and tomorrow.
The practical skills solutions Enginuity creates are easy for individuals, educators and employers to use, easy for employers and educators to integrate into their current systems or offerings, and the data its solutions capture helps people make the business case for investing in skills.
About the Semta Group:
The Science, Engineering & Manufacturing Technologies Alliance (Semta) was a not-for-profit organisation responsible for engineering skills for the future of the UK's most advanced sectors. Led by employers, its job was to transform the skills and productivity of the people who power our engineering & advanced manufacturing technologies sectors, enabling UK industry to compete on the global stage.
About EAL:
EAL is the specialist skills partner and awarding organisation for industry. As part of the Semta Group, and now as part of Enginuity, it’s committed to investing in the industries it serves and the careers of the people working within them. Through industry partnerships and years of experience supporting its core sectors, it has built unrivalled knowledge and understanding of employer skills needs. As a result, EAL’s skills solutions and qualifications are respected and chosen by employers to deliver real career benefits for all its learners.
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