MCC Awarded for Innovative Online Learning Support Program

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 (ACE) in 2018.

“We are thrilled to receive this prestigious national recognition,” they said. “We are looking forward to exploring ways to expand, develop and grow this program in order to help more students be successful in online learning.”

The program was created in order to support the increasing number of students taking online courses. This creative solution has a student leader – 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 this program in place in 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. In an anonymous survey, Middlesex students offered their feedback.

While one MCC student said, “I found that the Bb Ambassador is helpful in figuring out what assignments and other items were due by the due date, and I liked the fact that they had simplified the assignment instructions for the students,” another said, “The Ambassador reminded us of tasks and was much more personalized than just an alert I can easily ignore from the application.”

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 MCC Professor of English. “I enjoyed working with the Ambassador and look forward to the possibility of working with more in the future.”

Dr. Robert Awkward, an MCC Professor of Business Administration, is interested in continuing to use Bb Ambassadors for as long as they are available.

“Sign me up every semester for every course,” he said. “It is one of the best innovations to have occurred at MCC in years!”

For more information on MCC’s ACE, visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/ace/ or contact ACE@middlesex.mass.edu or call 781-280-3591.

Registration is open for both MCC’s WinterSession and Spring Semester. WinterSession runs January 4-22. The Spring semester starts January 26. Visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/registration/ or call 1-800-818-3434 to register for classes.

Discover your path at Middlesex Community College. As one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in Massachusetts, MCC has been a proven leader in online education for more than 20 years. We educate, engage and empower a diverse community of learners, offering more than 80 degree and certificate programs – plus hundreds of noncredit courses. Middlesex Community College: Student success starts here!