Program earns innovation award
The League of Innovation in Community College has recognized Middlesex Community College for the Blackboard (Bb) Ambassador program with the Innovation of the Year Award.
MCC’S Bb Ambassador program was developed by Noreen Mcginness Olson and Beth Kelley from the college’s Academic Centers for Enrichment, or ACE, in 2018.
The program was created to support the increasing number of students taking online courses. The creative solution has a student leader — a Bb ambassador — assist with students’ adjustment to online learning. Bb ambassadors are trained student employees who support online students in the first four weeks of the semester. They help students understand course expectations and navigate the learning management system, Blackboard.
Among other tasks, Bb ambassadors assist students in locating and submitting assignments, posting to a discussion board, communicating with professors, planning for time management, and coming up with study strategies. They also help to create a comfortable online environment for their classmates to ask questions.
Having the program in place for the spring 2020 semester enabled ACE to respond quickly to the transition to fully remote learning due to the pandemic.
With the system in place — after transitioning to remote learning — ACE was able to double the number of courses supported with Bb ambassadors in immediate response.
According to Mcginness Olson and Kelley, Bb ambassadors have made a positive difference in student success.
MCC faculty have also found the program to help the success rate of their courses. According to Deborah Botker, MCC’S Department Chair of Social Sciences, the program allowed faculty to do more outreach with students and offer more office hours and individual tutoring.
Lorraine Dibona-jones, an MCC English instructor, credits her Bb ambassador for valuable technical support, setting up sessions to help students better understand how to use the online system.
“The Bb ambassador presence has given me great peace of mind to know that such a willing, well-rounded and personable teaching assistant was available to my students, especially during this pandemic,” said Louisa Saladino-kuhl, an English professor. “I enjoyed working with the ambassador and look forward to the possibility of working with more in the future.”
For more information on MCC’S ACE, visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/ ace/ or contact Ace@middlesex.mass.edu or call 781-280-3591.