MPB Educators’ Express – your source for building the 21st century classroom
General information
“HotChalk” is the newest educational resource brought to you through MPB Educators’ Express – your source for building the 21st century classroom. “HotChalk” is a web-based learning environment which combines a learning management system with a digital content distribution platform. It provides the tools for collaboration for K-12 teachers, students and parents to improve education and drive measurable student results.
- How do I get started using this new service?
If you have not created an account, please create an account by linking to http://www.hotchalk.com ; click on the box – “Free 14 day trial to NBS News Video…” located to the right of “Join Today”. You will be re-directed to a log-in page. Enter user information to create an account. IMPORTANT: Make sure to select the box agreeing to the terms of use and privacy policy. You will then be re-directed to a page requesting your zip code information, and next information regarding your association with a school district.
- Why do I have to provide my zip code and school district information?
This information is used to identify you as a valued member of our Mississippi community of educators. The learning environment system (i.e. HotChalk) provides us with administrative tools useful in determining which resources are useful to our teachers and students.
- Do you have any tutorials or training on use of this resource?
Yes. After you log-in to the system, you will be on the “My Classes” page of the learning system. Tutorials (video streaming) and User guides (PDF format) are located on the right-hand side of the page. Currently the topics covered are “My Classes” and “My Library”.
The Learning Environment of the content distribution system centers on the “MyClasses” tab. MyClasses automates daily teacher and student activities and provides a safe, secure, online environment for teachers, students and parents to interact. It will enable you to
- Create your specific classes;
- Maintain a classroom grade book and roster;
- Add resources, activities and documents;
- Build assignments and link them to a lesson plan;
- Create completely new lesson plans;
- Create ‘Quick Assignments’; and
- Create quizzes and other assessment tools
Note: Resource guide PDF format available
HotChalk User Guide My Classes - Resource Guide Link
“My Library” is a digital content browser that allows you to easily find and access educational resources including lesson plans, e-books, videos, images, podcasts, audio files and more. By linking that content to your existing or new lesson plans within “MyClasses”, you will improve student instruction and learning with a single click.
Note: Resource guide PDF format available
HotChalk User Guide My Library - Resource Guide Link
- Could you tell me more about the curriculum manager resource?
The Curriculum Manager is a stand-alone online tool which provides a level of automation to create and maintain curriculum maps, as well as easy correlation with state educational standards. It is designed to be flexible. It comes with a default curriculum template that can be adapted to any state’s educational standards and requirements. Educators can then copy/paste links from appropriate resources from the systems digital content browser, MyLibrary, and align those resources with standards and content they choose.
Features & Benefits:
- Reduce your teachers’ daily prep time dramatically by easily integrating all of your local and licensed digital content into dynamic, content-rich curriculum maps and lesson plans
- Enable new teachers to ramp up quickly and easily and get immediate results
- Quickly create, edit, schedule and align your curriculum maps to state standard objectives for each subject and grade level
- Easily add suggested resources to individual topics within the pacing guides
- Publish your curriculum maps as PDFs or templates to your teachers for immediate use and lesson plan development
- Do you have a list of videos that we can choose from?
Mississippi users are able to search video content only from the following producers Weston Woods, PBS, National Geographic with a 14-day trial of the NBS content.
The easiest way to search out the list of content is to search by company/producer name. To preview all the titles of a producer together select one of the following: Weston Woods, PBS, or National Geographic. Then input that producer in the search bar located in “MyLibrary” section and the result will be all the content available from that one provider.
- What are the target subject areas for your resources?
- Math
- Science
- Music
- Language Arts
- Computers & Internet
- Social Studies
- Art
- Physical Education
- How will this learning system impact the students?
Students will have a direct link into their classroom – from any computer with an Internet connection. All they have to do is login to access all the materials they need to get their homework done faster and be the best student they can be. Students can
- Receive and hand in homework
- Keep track of assignments and tests
- Check on due dates
- Ask their teacher questions
- Discuss issues with classmates on message boards
- View their grades
- What role does a parent play in the learning system?
A parent’s involvement in their child’s education is an essential foundation of academic achievement. Every day in the classroom can be a valuable learning experience for a student. And now parents can be an integral part of that experience and ensure that their child is reaching his or her full potential throughout the year, not just at test time. The parent can now
- View their child’s attendance and grades online;
- Receive automatic email notification for assignments;
- Keep track of all upcoming tests and projects; and
- Email teachers to discuss their child’s progress.
Note: Parents must be provided a student code by their child’s teacher and create a user name in order to have access. |
