27 July 2026
BigSky, Benilde’s official online learning management system, is moving to a new way of organizing and presenting course content. The New Content Experience (NCE) gives faculty and students an updated interface for accessing and working with course materials. BigSky has been part of Benilde’s learning environment since 2016, when the College adopted D2L’s Brightspace platform as its official cloud-based learning platform.
The change follows a year of pilot training by the Center for Educational Technology (CET). From the first to the third term of Academic Year 2025-2026, CET conducted 13 NCE training sessions with 394 faculty participants from different schools, programs, and academic support units.
For students, BigSky serves as a central place for course activities, learning materials, announcements, and submissions. The NCE updates how course content is organized and displayed, giving users a cleaner way to move through lessons and course materials.
The new experience keeps the core functions faculty already use in BigSky. The pilot introduced changes to the interface and terminology, including the use of terms such as units and learning outcomes. Faculty can continue creating quizzes, uploading content, and managing their courses.
Faculty feedback from the pilot was positive. Participants gave the training an average score of 4.88 out of 5 for helping them understand the differences between the Classic Content Experience and NCE. The walkthrough received 4.83, while faculty confidence in managing NCE materials received 4.67. Participants also rated the interface 4.74 for intuitiveness and gave the training an overall satisfaction score of 4.78.
The side-by-side comparison of the Classic Content Experience and NCE helped faculty understand the changes. Step-by-step demonstrations, live walkthroughs, and hands-on activities also gave participants time to practice using the new interface.
The feedback also points to possible benefits for course delivery. Faculty identified better content organization, clearer learning pathways, easier management of units and lessons, and better alignment between learning outcomes and activities.
CET will continue supporting faculty as the College moves toward wider adoption of NCE. The pilot report recommends a phased transition with clear timelines, refresher training, consultation sessions, self-paced resources, and more opportunities for hands-on practice.
The NCE transition comes as CET reaches its 10th year of work in educational technology at Benilde. Since BigSky became the College’s official learning platform in 2016, it has supported different forms of teaching and learning, including online, blended, and face-to-face courses. The NCE is the latest step in how Benilde continues to develop its digital learning environment.
