Bob is Going Golfing: My Big Campus is Set to Shut Down
If you've every seen the image to the right, then you might be happy to learn: on March 16th, LightSpeed Systems (the company that runs My Big Campus) announced that they will be “transitioning” away from My Big Campus as a learning management system (LMS). Citing market demands, Lightspeed Systems’ CEO Joel Heinrichs released the following explanation for this abrupt move (on a My Big Campus Teacher Training Group):
(The image above is published by Lightspeed Systems)
“We failed because in our efforts to be the most powerful, best tool possible - we made MBC too complicated, too expensive to support, too much. A small subsection of our customers, like the folks in this forum, use MBC as we envisioned it. But most teachers, schools, and districts do not..
We are a small company - and cannot sustain the costs of a very, very expense MBC community without paying customers. We had to lay off 30 great employees - to save the jobs of another 150. This decision has been very, very painful. We are not a soul-less corporation, we are a team of outstanding people trying to make a difference in education. Like you - for many of us it has been our life's work.”
Upon learning this news, Sharon Springs Central School’s teachers and administration have been vigilant in looking at what this news means for the future of SSCS’s technology integration plan. More specifically, teachers and adminstrators at SSCS are working together in finding ways to use this challenge as time to unify in building the "human-network" to make the technology infrastructure stronger. Ultimately, educators at SSCS are looking to more effectively leverage mobile technology as the district enters the fourth year of its 1-to-1 iPad project; therefore, selecting a LMS that has the highest impact for teacher effectiveness in guiding students toward engagement, independence, and achievement .
Understanding that MBC 's shutdown can be an opportunity to adopt a school-wide LMS that more teachers, students, and parents at SSCS support, SSCS English teacher (and avid My Big Campus user), Mr. Tom Yorke sought to learn features of MBC that students and teachers want to avoid in the next district-supported-LMS. With this goal in mind, Mr. Yorke asked students to express their frustrations with using My Big Campus. Responses included:
the blog feature on My Big Campus is very limiting;
My Big Campus shuts down too much, it's unreliable;
the interface looks like it's for elementary students;
the discussion sometimes deletes responses;
My Big Campus documents are unreliable - they don’t allow students to truly work collaboratively;
the procedures for uploading and sharing work is not intuitive nor is it dependable; and
the app for My Big Campus does not work consistently and it's too hard to navigate.
Despite the negative aspects of MBC, students also told Mr. Yorke about positive features of MBC. In other words, students expressed what they want their future LMS to allow them to do with their iPads; they want to be able to:
view a daily, archived schedule of assignments;
communicate/participate in class when we're not physically able to attend class;
privately message peers and the teacher;
receive assignments;
turn in assignments regardless of the assignments' format (i.e. Word, Pages, movies, Keynotes, etc);
have quick, simple access to teachers' feedback (especially grades); and
complete multi-step projects that require collaboration.
Whether you are a Board Of Education member, Sharon Springs community member, administrator, teacher, student, or parent, please look for opportunities to help SSCS make the best decision regarding what LMS will replace My Big Campus. One way to do this is by completing this survey or simply emailing Mr. Green, Mr. Yorke, or Mr. Reynolds' your ideas. In advance, thank you for making SSCS a better place to learn!
