ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – On Tuesday, Bay College’s Online Learning department hosted a gathering to celebrate some of this year’s achievements and successes.
“We’re calling this our Win-ter Celebration, so we’re celebrating all of our wins,” said Joseph Mold, Executive Director of Online Learning and Instructional Design.
Bay’s biggest recent win is its 100% adoption of a new primary learning management system called Blackboard Ultra.
“We’re using it for our online courses, our hybrid courses, and even some of our traditional, face-to-face courses are using Blackboard Ultra,” Mold said. “It’s really the top-of-the-line learning management system, so we’re happy to deliver that to our students. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from both faculty and students.”
The Online Learning department has also reached a decade of its Open Educational Resources initiative, which allows students to more affordably access course materials, software, and textbooks.
“Open educational resources reside in the Creative Commons, so people can use them for free or very low cost,” Mold explained. “Over those ten years, we’ve saved students over $3,000,000 on textbook fees. They can be linked directly from Blackboard Ultra, or students can access them via a website or PDF.”
The celebration coincided with the beginning of the Lunar New Year. Online Learning sponsored an Asian-inspired food bar in The Hub at lunchtime.
“We’re handing out red envelopes, which is a Lunar New Year-inspired gift of gratitude,” said Mold. “We’re having people write little notes of gratitude and place them in the envelopes, give them to their friends, perhaps a teacher, or even a staff member here at Bay to show their gratitude. It’s also the beginning of Mardi Gras, so it’s a great time for a party and to celebrate our wins.”
Between saving students much-needed money, providing additional resources for them, and making education increasingly more accessible, Mold says the Bay College community has a lot to be proud of and thankful for.
“We are a community college; we are here for our community,” he said. “We love giving back to our community, to our faculty, to our staff, and to our students. It’s a great way to show that we are a small community that really cares about everybody here.”
Staff, faculty members, and students were encouraged to share their own wins with one another while they enjoyed lunch.
