Welcome to the Big History Project This guide will get you up and running with the course website. The first step is making sure you have your user name and password. These should have been automatically sent to you by your teacher. If you don t have them you need to request and account directly from your teacher. The website is your online textbook for the course other than materials your teacher may hand out in class, you don t need anything else. Your teacher will advise you on how to use the website which may involve watching videos, downloading projects and activities, taking tests and quizzes, or following online lesson plans. Logging in Go to www.bighistoryproject.com and click the button in the top right to log in. Click here to sign in BIG HISTORY PROJECT / WEB GUIDE 1
Home Page After you log in to http://www.bighistoryproject.com you will arrive at your home page. The home page shows you all ten units in the course, arranged on a 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. Jump to any unit from any page The NAME menu Get Help Search Roll over units to see details You can also change your profile information or sign out by clicking on your Name or get support by clicking on Help. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / WEB GUIDE 2
Course Content All of the course content is contained in a Unit. When you click on a unit you will automatically be taken to Unit View this is where you can explore and access any of the materials in the course. You can roll over and click on content asset to get a brief description and options to open or download it. Each Unit is further broken down into lessons that are organized by rows. Each lesson or row has a full lesson plan available that walks you through the content step by step that is accessible by clicking on Lesson on the right side of the row. Click to show/hide unit overview Each numbered row is a lesson Lesson summary Click through to lesson Options for content i BIG HISTORY PROJECT / WEB GUIDE 3
Lessons include the same content items that you saw in rows in the Unit View but with more information to guide you through it. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / WEB GUIDE 4
Tests and Quizzes There are tests and quizzes included in the unit view. Your teacher will notify you when to take them. When you click on a lesson, you will have several options you can either print a paper copy and take it offline, or complete it online. If you take the quiz or test online you will have a chance to either submit or go back and then the option to either print the completed quiz or test or simply email it to your teacher. Surveys As part of Big History Project, all participants are encouraged to complete surveys. These surveys provide data to the program managers that help improve the course. Your teacher will advise you on when to take the surveys. You will access the surveys in the Practice and Feedback row just like tests and quizzes. Access unit tests and quizzes here. Surveys will also appear in this row when your teacher chooses to administer them. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / WEB GUIDE 5
Profile Access your profile from the Name menu in the navigation bar. On this screen, you ll complete or correct your name or change your password. We don t share your personal information, but it s helpful for us to have a sense of who comprises the BHP community. Getting Help We hope that you re excited to dive in to Big History. If you need help along the way, use the following email addresses: For technical assistance, email techhelp@bighistoryproject.com For course help, email coursehelp@bighistoryproject.com BIG HISTORY PROJECT / WEB GUIDE 6