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 

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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.

The Search
Get
Jump to any unit NAME Help 
from any page  menu 

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.”

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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 

Options for
content
Click i
through
to lesson 

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Lessons include the same content items that you saw in rows in the Unit View but with more
information to guide you through it.

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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.  

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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

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