The Many Features of MBC     

By Phil Zellers       
 
        Most of us are becoming more and more familiar with the many uses of My Big Campus (MBC) as a learning tool.  Over the course of the last couple of years, I have been learning more about just how beneficial of a tool MBC really is.  In the beginning, it does take time to set up your classes and become familiar with all of the features, but it is time well spent.  Features such as being able to house your content in group pages to grading quizzes and tests for you will save time in the long run.  Here is an outline of some of the features MBC has to offer: (Some of which I’m sure many of you are already using and some of which may be new to those already familiar with MBC)

 ·         Digitally organize your content: You can create groups (for each class you teach) to serve as an online home base for your content.  Once you create a group you can develop folders within that group’s page to store all your content (articles, assignments made in Word documents, pdf scans, pictures, video clips from youtube, etc.).  It is always there to refer back to or for students who are absent to view.  Students can download this content to their own laptop and won’t even need the internet to access it later when they get home (good idea for those without internet at home).

·         Go paperless and save time: Creating a quiz, test, or assignment through MBC is easy and can save a lot of time.  MBC will grade multiple choice, T/F, and fill in the blank questions for you.  You can also export your Examview tests to MBC.  If your students need to send a Microsoft Office (Word, Power Point, Excel, etc.) file for an assignment, there is now a feature for that too.  They can just upload a file to the assignment you have created in Schoolwork and submit it to you.  So, you can deliver your content to your students, have them submit assignments, and take tests and quizzes without ever having to visit the copy machines (unless it is to scan something and send to yourself as a PDF so it can be uploaded to MBC).

·         Host discussions: There is a discussion feature within your group’s page.  You can set the topic and guide the discussion however you like.  It provides a safe place for students within that group to engage with one another to deepen their understanding of a topic.

·         Gather data: This is a feature I just learned about recently.  There is a lot of potential for gathering quality, student data.  MBC offers a “Live Reports” feature for any quiz or test you create.  It will put students’ scores in green, yellow, or red according to how well they did on that assessment (makes for a quick way to create intervention lists).  It also gives you question statistics to show you what percent of the class selected each possible answer (allows you to see what may need to be retaught).  I plan to start creating quick, mid class checks for understanding or exit slip quizzes to gather data to see where my classes are.  Along with giving you good information, this could help meet RISE indicators 1.1 Utilize Assessment Data to Plan, 1.3 Track Student Data and Analyze Progress, and 2.4 Check for Understanding and Modify Instruction.

As always, please contact one of the eLearning coaches if you need help using any of the features MBC has to offer.  We will be more than happy to help!