Download - Big History Website Guide 2013
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WEB GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS
Home page: bighistoryproject.com .......................................................................................................... 1
Syllabus Page ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Two ways to view the course .................................................................................................................. 4
Unit View ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Lesson View ........................................................................................................................................ 4
Unit Content View .................................................................................................................................... 4
Content modules ................................................................................................................................. 5
Lesson summaries .............................................................................................................................. 6
Content Types ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Lesson View ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Teacher Console ...................................................................................................................................10
Add Periods .......................................................................................................................................10
Analytics Dashboard .............................................................................................................................13
Assessments .........................................................................................................................................13
Unit Quiz ............................................................................................................................................13
Course Test .......................................................................................................................................13
Investigations ....................................................................................................................................14Profile ....................................................................................................................................................14
BHP Community ....................................................................................................................................14
Contribute to the community .............................................................................................................15
Getting Help ..........................................................................................................................................15
Welcome to the Big History Project. This guide will get you up and running with the course website.
Refer back to this document whenever you need a refresher. For full details on teaching the course,
refer to the Teaching Big History document. First, lets walk through the pages of the site.
Home page: bighistoryproject.com
The home page of the site is your first entry into the course. Here you can learn about the benefits of
the Big History Project (BHP), watch some informative videos, and get a sense of what it will be like to
teach the course. If you dont already have BHP credentials, simply fill out the Registration form. A
password will be emailed to you. If you do already have credentials for the course, log in by clicking
the SIGN IN button, and type in your email address and BHP password.
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Syllabus Page
After you log in tohttp://www.bighistoryproject.com with your teacher credentials, the Syllabus will be
your home page for the course. If you want to link directly to the syllabus, the URL is
http://course.bighistoryproject.com.The syllabus shows you all ten units in the course, arranged on a
timeline. The Thresholds of Increasing Complexity are called out at their respective points on that
timeline.
You can roll over each unit to see information about it, including a brief description, number of content
items, and number of lessons contained in the unit.
Clicking on any point in the timeline will take you the content view for that unit. You can also jump to
any unit in the course using the Units drop-down menu in the top navigation bar.
Click hereto sign in
Click here to registerfor the first time
http://www.bighistoryproject.com/http://course.bighistoryproject.com/http://course.bighistoryproject.com/http://www.bighistoryproject.com/ -
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Several links are available in the navigation bar on the Syllabus and every other page:
Console- Your management home for the course
Your Name- This drop-down menu includes links to:
Profile
Presentation Modethe version of the page that students see
Sign-out
Helpoptions for registered teachers:
Communitythe place to collaborate with other teachers on course ideas, and the central spot for
program information from the BHP team. You can also reach the Community page from the
Console.
Course Helpan email link that you can use to send BHP-related course questions to a group of
curriculum developers,
Tech Help- through which you can email our technical wizards.
Aboutinformation about the program
Terms of Use
FAQ- a quick troubleshooting guide that you may want to consult before emailing tech help.
Roll over units tosee details
Teacher consoleThe NAMEmenuJump to any unitfrom any page
GetHelp Search
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Searcha text-entry field where you and your students can search for a term. Results will show you
available glossary definitions and where in the course that topic appears.
Two ways to view the course
There are two different ways to view the content of the course.
Unit View
Each unit has its own page, and on each of those pages content items such as videos, articles,
investigations, and activities are grouped together by topic. We call this the la carte method to
move through a unit, and its optimized for teachers who prefer to create their own lessons or simply
want to jump directly to a specific piece of content.
Unit View is roughly the same for teachers and students, though teachers get a bit more contextualinformation for each piece of content.
Lesson View
Those groups of content items shown in the unit view each have an accompanying lesson plan, and
those lessons are the other way to interact with the course. The lessons are designed to give
teachers guidance for structuring a course period that makes use of the content items, activities, and
readings associated with that topic. There are between 5 and 8 lessons per unit.
Lesson View gives teachers guidance that can help to facilitate lessons with their classes. The
student view provides instructions and context for each content item. Remember that teachers can
always see what the students see by choosing Presentation Mode in the HELP menu.
Now that you know the different ways of working with the content in the course, lets take a look at
each one in detail.
Unit Content View
The Unit view shows you all of the content in the unit, arranged in rows, where numbered rows are
Lessons. Each unit begins with some context-setting materials, such as Threshold Cards, Activities,
and overview videos.
A Unit Overview is accessible from the up/down arrow on the right side. You can collapse it to give
you more room on the screen.
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Content modules
When you click on any content item youll see a window pop up that contains information about thatitem, along with a set of actions you can take. Students and teachers see a description and options to
open (play) the item, download it, open an associated notebook, or download a transcript. Options
vary depending on the content type (video, article, image, etc.). Teachers will see an attached window
to the right that provides additional guidance for using the content item in the classroom.
Click to show/hide unitoverview
Each numberedrow is a lesson
Teaching guide, textreader, and slides forthe unit
Options forcontent
Teacherguidance
Lessonsummary
Clickthroughto lesson
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Lesson summaries
Youve seen how the Unit View arranges items in rows, and that each of those rows comprises alesson. We define a lesson as the context for and structure of content items. They include
suggestions of steps to take with your class in a class period, but they are not prescriptive: use what
works for you.
When you click through to Lesson, you are taken to a dedicated page that includes context for the
lesson, concepts covered, and lesson steps.
Content Types
Now is a good time to describe the types of content youll work with in the course. Each content type
is represented by its own thumbnail image.
Thumbnail Type Description
Activity Activitiesare woven into every unit and everylesson and offer a variety of different ways forstudents to learn, experience, practice, and testconcepts covered in the course.
Article A text-based document such as biographies,historical accounts, and
Community Link to the Community site, where teachers canshare lessons, and content with each other, anddownload course materials.
Concept Card Several concepts in the course get the glossaryplus treatment in Concept Cards. They ask andanswer: What is it? Why is it important? How do weknow about it?
Glossary Definitions of important terms in a course unit.
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Thumbnail Type Description
Glossary Challenge Students can take the glossary challenge to testtheir understanding of vocabulary terms in a unit.
Infographic Infographicsare included in many units tographically represent key concepts. Zoom in toreveal detail.
Investigation Investigations are inquiry-based activities that helpstudents frame some of the big issues tackled in
each unit.
Investigation writing The online form that students can use to completethe writing portion of the Investigation.
PBL Activity Activities aligned to Problem Based Learning, amethod of instruction that has students take part inan extended inquiry around a complex question,problem, or challenge.
Student Survey A series of questions for students that helps usunderstand their perceptions of the course.
Teacher Survey Questions for teachers about perceptions of andexperience teaching the course.
Teaching guide Each unit includes a guide to provide teachers withideas and resources for teaching the content in theunit.
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Thumbnail Type Description
Test key The answer key for unit tests, visible to teachersonly
Unit log Teachers complete a log in each unit to share whatwent well, which content items were helpful or not,and what they would do differently the next timearound.
Unit PPT slides Many teachers use PowerPoint to present BHPinformation. Each unit contains a PPT presentationthat you can use or modify for the classroom.
Unit quiz Teachers can assign an online quiz to students ineach unit to test for understanding.
Unit test Teachers direct students to take 4 concept
assessments in the course. They are a mix of
identifications, short answers, and released
items from national and state tests in World
History, Geography, Biology, Chemistry, andEarth Science.
Unit text reader In every unit, the text-based articles are gatheredinto one downloadable reader file for easy printingand offline reading.
Video Each unit has at least one main video talk by DavidChristian, supplemented by a variety of guest talksand/or animations. Teachers will also have accessto teaching big history videos
Lesson View
Lessons include the same content items that you saw in rows in the Unit View. They are repeated
here with additional context, such as how to present the item, and suggestions for leading discussions
about it with your class.
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Lesson Contextframes the lesson for you and your students.
Conceptsare the key terms that will be defined in the course. Click the down arrow next to each toreveal the definition.
Lesson stepspresent a suggested order for working through the material.
Downloadthe lesson
Key terms inthis lesson
Suggested stepsfor working withcontent items
Content itemsappear inline
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Just like the Unit content view, each content item displays a content module when you click on the
thumbnail. The module provides more information about that content item and displays options fordownloading the item and seeing related materials.
Teacher Console
The teacher console is your home for course management. Here youll set up class periods, reveal
and hide quizzes and tests for your students, complete teacher logs and surveys, read messages
from the BHP team, and access additional resources.
When you first visit the teacher console, only two modules will be active: BHP messages and
resources.
Add Periods
Your first task is to set up a class period. Click on Add Period on the console page. You can enter
names one at a time, upload a .csv file, or paste in a list of email addresses. Email will be sent to
each student with login information and passwords.
Get to the consolefrom the nav bar
Red number indicatesnew messages
Set up classperiods
Teachingresources
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Class period options:
Add studentby individual name/email, or with a list of email addresses
Print list of students
Delete periodremove a period and start over, or delete at the end of your school year.
Once you have a period set up, new options will be revealed on the Console. Well go through each
section one by one.
Add student names
one at a time
Or add a list of studentemail addresses
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Class lists: a list of all of the students youve added to each period, alo ng with their email addresses
and site passwords.
Unit logs: complete and submit teacher logs for each unit. Indicators show which logs youve
completed.
Unit quizzesshow or hide quizzes for each unit. The green checkmark indicates that the student
has access to that quiz from their view of the course site. When you click on that box to grey out the
option, the quiz is hidden from a students view. Well discuss quizzes and other assessments in more
detail below.
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Course testsTurn on or off each of the 3 concept assessments for students. Green checkmarks
mean that a student can access the test from their view of the course.
Teacher surveyscomplete surveys at the start of your school year, at the mid-point, and at the
end. The BHP team will send out reminders. Green checks display after you complete the survey.
Red symbols mean they are overdue.
Student feedbackturn on or off the 3 surveys that students will take over the year. Green checks
mean that the survey is available for them to complete in the student view of the course.
Analytics Dashboard
For each class period you can view information about how your students are interacting with the
course, including their use of content items, whether theyve taken the quizzes you assigned, and ifthey completed surveys. The Analytics Dashboard starts filling with data as your students interact with
the course site, so its only accessible after your periods are set up. Get to it from the Analytics button
on the Period panel.
Assessments
Youve seen that you can reveal or hide unit quizzes and course tests from the Console . Lets have a
look at each one.
Unit Quiz
At the end of each unit, students can take a quiz online to test their knowledge. Students receive a
score on the quiz immediately, and those results are tallied and displayed on the Analytics Dashboard
for each period. Students also have the option to download, print, and complete the quiz on paper.
Course Test
At the beginning, mid-point, and end of the course, students can take a more comprehensive conceptassessment online. These tests gauge student understanding and use of the core concepts. The
concept assessments are a mix of identifications, short answers, and released items from national
and state tests in World History, Geography, Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Science. Results are
again evaluated and tallied in your Analytics Dashboard. Students can see results from their own
tests and quizzes on their Profile page.
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The Community site is arranged in a few different ways so you can quickly find what you need.
Program foldersgeneral program support for teachers and administrators, including teacher
preparation resources, BHP marketing and press, assessments, and program management message
from the BHP team.
Unit foldersfind and share lessons for specific units of the course. Youll find the teaching guide for
each unit here as well.
Cluster folderseach US school in the managed program (and all of Australia) is part of a
geographic cluster. If youre looking for guidance that is particular to a region or state, or if youd like
to connect with educators nearby, start with your applicable cluster.
Contribute to the community
Collaboration can be a boon for teachers, particularly those new to Big History. If you have an idea for
a lesson or activity add it to the community site. Its also a great place to share examples of student
work, or presentations youve created. You can add items to the Community site by clicking on the
Add Something buttons in each of the unit and cluster folders.
Getting Help
We hope that youre excited todive in to Big History. If you need help along the way, there are
several resources available:
The full course guide: Teaching Big History Guidance from a BHP teacher: Teaching Big History videos
Resources section in the Teacher Console
If you still have more questions:
For technical assistance, [email protected]
For course help, [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]