My Big Campus was started in our district around February 2009. Our district has been using My Big Campus since. It has grown massively since its starting date.

“A small group of teachers at the high school and junior high test-piloted it as a development. My Big Campus is developed and owned by Light Speed. They do all of our network filtering.  Because we were already a Light Speed customer, My Big Campus was added to their products without us having to pay an additional fee. My Big Campus is only used throughout school districts, and as of August they accounted for two million users,” Instructional Technical Facilitator Brenda Spurgeon said.

The purpose of My Big Campus is to provide a safe environment for students while allowing them to converse with fellow students and teachers.

“My Big Campus is a learning platform that provides access to a variety of educational resources such as educational videos, classroom materials and club announcements. The interface [design] is similar to Facebook but it provides a safe monitored learning environment for both teachers and students,” Spurgeon said.

They are many different ways to incorporate My Big Campus into classrooms. Many teachers are using this and creating class pages on My Big Campus.

“You can use it for class discussions, [as] a resource library to find educational videos and websites, online submission of assignments, messaging between students and teachers, private file storage, clubs and sport pages, teachers also have their own private groups where they can share classroom resources, screen casting of short video lessons, answer keys for assignments, and review sheets. It also helps promote good digital citizenship between students teaching them Internet etiquette and preparing them for what lies beyond,” Spurgeon said.

My Big Campus looks for ways to improve and fix any problems with their site.  They are open to new ideas and listen on ways to improve their site.

“I am a My Big Campus trainer so I submit ideas directly to the developing team of My Big Campus for ways to improve. An example: schoolwork interface was updated during September, it now allows for fill- in- the blanks, true/false, and essay uploads,” Spurgeon said.

The school district is doing its best to collaborate with My Big Campus. It’s helping to spread the word about My Big Campus to other districts.

“We are a regional training site. A My Big Campus senior coach from California is coming to the board room at central office. Schools throughout Missouri are attending to see how to incorporate My Big Campus throughout their schools,” Spurgeon said.

Students are able to easily access My Big Campus. This allows teachers to incorporate lessons and discussions online which is accessible to students.

“There is a free app so students with a mobile device can have easy access to their My Big Campus resources. Not all students have a My Big Campus account however teachers are using My Big Campus as a classroom tool as needed,” Spurgeon said.

The technological advancements throughout the district were helped by the usage of My Big Campus.

“My Big Campus was a key component for the school district moving forward with mobile devices in class. My Big Campus is also getting ready to release a parent portal later this year and the school district will be exploring implementing it into the school,” Spurgeon said.