Dipika Ingale ManageBac Community Ambassador
At the end of every academic year, teachers and coordinators spend a significant amount of time and effort uploading eCoursework submissions to IBIS from various archiving systems. With each subject having its own unique set of requirements, students and teachers must also dedicate time, often outside of school hours, to organising their coursework in order to fulfil the assessment criteria.
During these busy periods, the workload falls heavily on teachers and coordinators. In my school, we recognised the need to reduce the manual intervention required and establish a more effective, digitised way to upload eCoursework to IBIS.
Previously, we had been using Google Drive to collate student submissions. However, after attending a ManageBac Training Academy workshop on ‘Managing the IB Diploma: IBIS and eCoursework’, I learned about ManageBac’s Portfolio functionality. This feature allows teachers and students to collate and organise student coursework in one place. When it is time to upload submissions, simply tag them as “IBeC”, then drag and drop them directly to IB eCoursework.
We reviewed both systems, and compared the processes involved:
| ManageBac | Google Drive |
|---|---|
| eCoursework files are automatically validated within ManageBac to ensure that the correct file type, file size and number of files are selected for each requirement. | Student folders need to be created manually in Google Drive. You then need to create a subject-specific folder and add the files. These steps vary based on the number of students you have. |
| The eCoursework Dashboard presents clear outlines of upload requirements for each subject and session, including file type, file size and number of files. | You need to tell students about the file type required, the file size that the system will accept, and the number of files to upload. |
| eCoursework files can be directly uploaded to the eCoursework Dashboard with a single click of the’ Add Submission’ button. | You need to select the files to upload manually, one by one. |
| Students can upload these files by themselves or teachers/coordinators can do it on their behalf. | You need to download the student files for each subject group, then check each file before uploading. |
| Teachers can approve the files on ManageBac directly. | Teachers need to look at each file and folder to approve – another manual process. |
Going forward, we will be using ManageBac to undertake all our eCoursework submissions. Students will be advised to tag their assessments using the “IBeC” tag to identify these as submissions. This will promote student ownership and responsibility in submitting their work before the respective deadlines, easing pressure on teachers and coordinators. The process will deliver organised functionality for all stakeholders, supporting more effective time management, and clarifying IB format requirements in terms of size, file format and duration of videos, for example.
If you are new to the ManageBac Portfolio, you can learn more here.
As Senior Systems Analyst, it is my responsibility to ensure that our whole school community is prepared for the implementation of new technologies and processes. To streamline the implementation of a new eCoursework process in your school, I recommend the following best practices:
Analyse the current process for uploading eCoursework online. This should include an analysis of the end-to-end process, the dependencies involved, the timeline for uploading (including any holidays and deadlines), the lead times for drafts and final submissions, and any teacher/coordinator approval processes that are required. Doing so will ensure there is consistency in implementation across different departments and teams.
Communicate with students throughout the process. The system should inform students and teachers about deadlines at the start of the IB DP, send reminders when necessary, and notify relevant parties if deadlines are missed.
Have a designated, consistent and predictable system in place to preclude the need for manual uploads. This should include a timeline for submissions, step-by-step guidance to make the process faster and easier, and a mechanism to track progress.
Provide support to students during their submissions to make the process smoother and easier. This should include time for feedback, approving submissions and tracking their status, a deadline for accepting submissions, and a structure for providing guidance.
Historically, the IBIS registration and eCoursework submission process has always been a laborious and manual endeavour involving multiple stakeholders and a reliance on various teams working together. Despite our best efforts, the process was often fraught with errors, as entries had to be manually inputted. This proved to be a source of frustration for coordinators, consuming a significant amount of their time and energy in following up, inputting, and checking for errors.
When I first introduced the use of ManageBac for the IBIS registration and eCoursework submission process, it seemed too simple and efficient to be true. Initially, coordinators were skeptical about its efficacy. However, after using this tool to successfully complete the IBIS registration and gear up for eCoursework submissions, they were astounded at the savings in time and effort.
Reflecting on the process, it is clear that implementing ManageBac has brought about significant improvements in our IBIS registration and eCoursework submission process. Not only does it save coordinators a significant amount of time and effort, but it has also led to a smoother and more accurate process overall. This serves as a reminder that even long-established processes can be improved and streamlined with the use of the right tools and approach.
The registration process this year on IBIS went smoothly since we made use of ManageBac to transfer the relevant data. There were a few minor errors, such as the naming conventions from ManageBac to IBIS, but we were able to manually rectify this for the students on IBIS. Overall, the system was effective, and with our understanding we’ll be able to build on and continue these procedures in the coming years.
Brian Haynes, DP Coordinator
ManageBac has been the platform that every teacher has used with us, high school students. All of our documents have been submitted through ManageBac, wherein we have then received feedback, plagiarism reports, and more. The Portfolio – eCoursework feature was essential for organising files. With many files routinely uploaded onto ManageBac, this feature helped us find everything in one place, and keep track of all of the submissions, revisions and versions. Moreover, this feature helped facilitate the process of uploading official IB documents, since all information was easily accessible.
Aanya Choksi, DP 2 student
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About the Author
Dipika Ingale
ManageBac Community Ambassador
Dipika Ingale is a Senior System Analyst at Oberoi International School – Mumbai.
She looks after all the applications used by teachers, parents, staff, and students at their school. She ensures that each individual in the school has access to the systems and gets hands-on practice in using them. Being an IT professional, she loves to support her school community with the effective use of technology. She is a ManageBac Community Ambassador.