Early last fall, we launched a redesign of the Schoolwork interface in My Big Campus. The updated interface brings many new features, makes it easier to reuse assignments, and supports ExamView imports, academic standards, and reporting. We've also made it easy for you to import your existing Schoolwork into the new interface.
We want to remind you that we will be ending support for the old Schoolwork interface on June 30, 2013. After that date, any schoolwork (assignments, quizzes, student submissions, and grades) created in the old interface will no longer be available. If you haven't explored the new Schoolwork yet, I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Here are a few of the benefits you'll enjoy when you make the switch.
Navigating schoolwork
Schoolwork navigation has been simplified.
- First, there's no longer a distinction between Assignments and Quizzes. All Schoolwork will now consist of any combination of essay questions, true/false, multiple choice, multiple-select, and fill-in-the-blank.
- We've streamlined the Add New Schoolwork interface and made it look and work much like Bundles, with tabs for Description, Questions, Standards, Assignees, and Student View.
- Instead of separate Schoolwork and Templates, we've created a single Dashboard where you can create, re-use, edit, and re-assign schoolwork.
Creating schoolwork
It's now easier to create and manage schoolwork.
- Make use of more question types, and you can use all of these in a single test, in any combination.
- Add anonymous surveys to the list of possibilities for using schoolwork.
- Use the rich text editor for question stems, with support for accented characters, symbols, and formatting.
- Attach files, images, documents, videos, and bundles to individual questions.
- Add standards to questions for detailed academic reporting by standard, student, or group.
- Import ExamView tests saved in Blackboard format.
Assigning schoolwork
There are more ways to assign, re-use, and reassign schoolwork.
- Select new options: password-protected tests, maximum time allowed, re-take threshold, number of attempts to allow, and opportunity to resubmit for a higher grade.
- Show or hide results and correct answers upon submission.
- Assign to a school, a group, or to individual users.
Grading submissions
Grading requires fewer keystrokes.
- View class averages for schoolwork directly from the dashboard.
- Get grading done faster with new workflow.
- Automatically grade quiz-type questions in an assignment.
Upgrading your existing schoolwork
All your old schoolwork remains available while you learn your way around the new features.
- Old and new Schoolwork interfaces will be accessible until June 30, 2013 -- no lost work.
- All your existing schoolwork templates will automatically migrate to the new interface when you make the switch. Leave something behind, you can still make a template and transfer into New Schoolwork prior to June 30, 2013.
- Student experience is completely transparent -- students get the same interface used to create the test, with no need to switch back and forth.
Getting help
You have ample training resources and plenty of time to get up to speed.
- Join free training webinars to walk you through the process. Signup information here.
- Watch a recorded webinar of a past training session here.
- Try our self-guided Schoolwork Tutorial here.
Got ideas or suggestions related to the subject of this blog post? Please leave a comment.
Now that you've had an overview of the new Schoolwork interface for students and teachers, let's talk about what happens to your existing schoolwork when we deploy the new design early next week.
Students will switch automatically
Students will be able to use the new Schoolwork dashboard as soon as we deploy the update. The dashboard shows all your past, current, and new schoolwork -- even schoolwork that was created in the old design.
The new dashboard will make it easier to find your schoolwork, as well, with a dropdown list to filter by All, Need to submit, and Missed, along with a search box to locate schoolwork by title or group name. You'll also be able to see at a glance all schoolwork due today, and for the coming week. You'll even be able to send comments or questions to your teacher while you're working on your schoolwork.
Teachers will have a choice
Because we understand that you may have invested a lot of time creating schoolwork and templates in the old interface, you won't have to switch right away. You'll have several months to get up to speed before we retire the old schoolwork interface at the end of January, 2013.
The first time you visit Schoolwork after the upgrade, you'll see a message explaining your options, and you'll be able to choose whether to switch to the new interface now, or wait until later. Even after you switch, you'll still have full access to the old interface and all your existing schoolwork while you're getting used to the new one.
Why switch?
We've known, thanks to your feedback, that there were many features teachers needed that weren't provided in the existing Schoolwork interface. These include
- Support for multi-select, fill-in-the-blank, and short answer/essay questions
- A simpler way to reuse and reassign schoolwork
- Time-limited tests
- Anonymous surveys
- Password-protected tests
- Support for embedded images, math symbols, and foreign language characters
The biggest "ask" of all was support for ExamView test banks. We also recognize that teachers wanted a better workflow for grading submissions.
We found a way to give you all of these features, and more, but it required changes at every level of the Schoolwork interface, from the internal workings of the My Big Campus database, to the on-screen appearance of the schoolwork editor and student submissions. To fit all these features into a sensible format, we opted to redesign the interface from the ground up.
What happens when you switch
None of your existing schoolwork will be lost. Schoolwork and templates from the old interface will be imported automatically when you switch, and will be ready for you to use and edit with all the additional features of the new interface. Likewise for schoolwork in Bundles that you create or branch.
And, until January 31, 2013, you'll also be able to create schoolwork and grade student submissions from the old interface, as well as the new one. Templates you create in the old interface after you switch will still be converted automatically so you can use them in the new interface.
We've got your back!
We know you're busy with classes and students, and we're doing our best to ease you into the new processes and workflows. We'll have ample training resources for teachers, to help you make the most of the updated Schoolwork. You can look forward to FAQs, bundles, videos, technical notes, and training webinars, all with examples on how to create and assign schoolwork, how to import test banks, and how to manage your schoolwork -- from creating a test to grading student submissions.
Watch my Announcements in the right sidebar of your Activity feed for information, and join the MBC Orientation Center topic to download resources and take part in discussions.
As always, I welcome your ideas, questions, and comments related to the subject of this blog post.
Last week, I promised to give you more information on the upcoming changes to the Schoolwork interface. You can read that blog post here. We've been busy testing the new Schoolwork interface over the past couple of weeks, and have given the developers some great feedback. At the same time, we've been testing the updated My Big Campus iOS app, which will be fully compatible with the new schoolwork interface.
And, with testing nearly complete, I have lots to tell you about.
In today's blog, I'll talk about what this means for teachers.
Navigating schoolwork
Schoolwork navigation has been simplified.
- First, there's no longer a distinction between Assignments and Quizzes. All Schoolwork will now consist of any combination of essay questions, true/false, multiple choice, multiple-select, and fill-in-the-blank.
- We've streamlined the Add New Schoolwork interface and made it look and work much like Bundles, with tabs for Description, Questions, Standards, Assignees, and Student View.
- Instead of separate Schoolwork and Templates, we've created a single Dashboard where you can create, re-use, edit, and re-assign schoolwork.
Creating schoolwork
It's now easier to create and manage schoolwork.
- Make use of more question types, and you can use all of these in a single test, in any combination.
- Add anonymous surveys to the list of possibilities for using schoolwork.
- Use the rich text editor for questions and responses with support for accented characters, symbols, and formatting.
- Attach files, images, documents, videos, and bundles to individual questions.
- Add standards for individual questions or the whole schoolwork assignment/quiz.
- Import ExamView tests saved in Blackboard format.
Assigning schoolwork
There are more ways to assign, re-use, and reassign schoolwork.
- Select new options: password-protected tests, maximum time allowed, number of attempts to allow, and opportunity to resubmit for a higher grade.
- Show or hide results and correct answers upon submission.
- Assign to a school, a group, or to individual users.
Grading submissions
Grading requires fewer keystrokes.
- View class averages for schoolwork directly from the dashboard.
- Get grading done faster with new workflow.
- Automatically grade quiz-type questions in an assignment.
Upgrading your existing schoolwork
All your old schoolwork remains available while you learn your way around the new features.
- Old and new Schoolwork interfaces will be accessible until January 31, 2013 -- no lost work.
- All your existing schoolwork templates will automatically migrate to the new interface.
- Student experience is completely transparent -- students get the same interface used to create the test, with no need to switch back and forth.
Getting help
You have ample training resources and plenty of time to get up to speed.
- Switch when you're ready -- you'll have until the end of the fall term to migrate your existing schoolwork.
- Take advantage of online resources: Help, FAQs, bundles, technical notes, and more, coming soon.
- Join free training webinars to walk you through the process. Signup information here.
The Schoolwork redsign, and the compatible MBC app for iOS, will go live next week. I'll have more to blog about this week and next, complete with screenshots and tips. Coming up tomorrow: What the new Schoolwork interface means for students.
Got ideas or suggestions related to the subject of this blog post? Please leave a comment.
You may have heard about upcoming changes to the Schoolwork interface: more question types, support for test banks, ExamView imports, and more. My developers are in the home stretch now, and the update will be live on My Big Campus in a few more weeks. With all that going on, they've still had time to release a few new features that you'll see in the next day or so:
- Notifications for who Yes'd your posts or comments
- User search results now include avatars, so you can pick the right person for messages, groups, and Bundle collaboration.
- Create a new Bundle directly from Library items and Your Stuff.
- You'll now be able to share Bundles in which you're a collaborator
- All content within a published Bundle will now be accessible without a My Big Campus login.
- ISTE NETS technology standards integration (students standards only)
- Cloned Group Resources will now preserve folder structure and contents.
Visit the MBC Release Notes topic regularly for information on these and other updates.
And now for the main event. I've already taken a look around the new interface, and I think it's something both teachers and students will love.
Here's an early glimpse of what teachers will see (I’ll make another post showing what the student interface will look like):
One-Stop Shopping
There's a new dashboard that makes it easier to keep track of grades and submissions. And, there's no longer a difference between a Quiz and an Assignment. You can mix and match question types as much as you want. You can combine essay and short answer questions with multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, and more.
Images, Foreign languages and Math symbols
We've added support for "rich" formatting: fonts, styles, sizes, colors, links, and symbols. The editor will be similar to the rich editor you now see in Bundles and MBC Documents. You'll also be able to attach images, documents, quick links, Library items, and Bundles to any type of question.
Test banks
The new "Add New Question Group" feature is a way to add a batch of questions so you can automatically assign a random subset of questions on the test. And, we've added support for importing ExamView questions.
Standards
Apply state and common core standards to assignments, quizzes, and individual questions.
Upgrade path for existing Schoolwork
Both interfaces (the current Schoolwork, and the new, redesigned version) will be available to existing teachers for several weeks. Early adopters can opt in right away, while those needing more time will have some breathing room. To avoid confusion, new teachers will only get the new Schoolwork interface.
The interface for students will be consistent with the way the schoolwork was created: existing schoolwork will use the "old" interface, while newly created schoolwork will have all the features of the new interface.
We've got your back!
Watch for training videos, technical notes, and FAQs on the new Schoolwork interface. I'll be fielding questions on my wall, and our Community Engagement and Support teams are standing by to help.
Got ideas for other new features? Let me know in the comments.