Creating IB Diploma Unit Plans video
Adding Units and Resources via Quick Add Menu
Clicking the top-right Quick Add (+) icon from any page allows you to create a new unit, assessment task, or upload resources into an existing unit without having to navigate to a class.
Adding Units via the Tasks & Units tab in your class
Select the class you desire to add or edit a unit from the Classes menu in the left menu. Next, select the Tasks & Units tile. To add a new unit, click Add Unit on the right-hand panel, or if you wish to Edit an already existing unit, click the 'Unit Name' > Edit Selection button of the section of the Unit Planner you would like to edit.
Create a title for your unit, select the start date, the duration of the unit in weeks, and then click Create Unit and Add Resources. This will create the unit. You can begin adding details on the sections below.
Unit Navigation Overview
Once you have entered the units basic information, you will see the complete unit planner.
Note: While ManageBac+ provides default templates for units, your school can customize this via Settings. This tutorial uses the basic ManageBac+ template as a framework.
Unit Planner sections
At-a-Glance: Provides a read-only unit summary view. This represents what a Student or Parent sees when accessing the unit. Upload a cover image to enhance visibility.
The cover image can be resized and moved to fit the At-a-Glance image field.
Planner: An in-line edit mode allowing you to browse the full unit while editing. This is where the majority of the planning document is stored.
Stream & Resources: Group Tasks, Learning Experiences & Resources in a stream. Add Lesson Plans or identify Learning Support
Assessments: Add Tasks and assessment coverage details for predetermined assessment types. The IB Subject Criteria will be listed here for selection.
Collaborative Planning
Online Presence: See if your colleagues are on ManageBac+ and if they are editing a unit section. Your name will appear in Orange, with your colleagues names in Green.
Real-time Editing: See edits from colleagues reflected in real-time without having to refresh the planner. Either Save Changes or Discard to undo unwanted edits.
Collaboration: Multiple teachers can plan collaboratively. The section they are editing will appear under the Authors section, with their name also appearing on the section in the planner. An “Edit Lock” feature prevents accidental overwriting, with teachers able to edit different sections at the same time, and the edit section button being disabled if another teacher is editing.
Section Navigational Tips
Unit Outline: A menu streamlining navigation, providing a snapshot of overall progress, and quick links to navigate throughout the planner.
Ongoing Reflections: Click the speech bubble icon to open the right-hand side Reflection section. @Mention colleagues to bring them in to the conversation and leave reflections throughout the unit.
User Mentions: Teachers can @Mention other teachers and admins within unit reflections. This includes unit reflections for all unit components on the Unit Planner (Curriculum, Connections, ATL Skills, etc).
Share & Star: Click the 3 dots icon in any section of the planner to share a direct link to your colleagues, or star a section to highlight it.
Guidance: moving through the planner will highlight the current section in the unit outline in blue for viewing and orange when editing.
View other Units : Click the unit name to quickly navigate to other units in the class to cross-reference your planning.
Editing a Unit Plan
Editing a unit is managed under the Planner tab.
- On the right-hand side you can generate a PDF planner
- View the last time the unit was edited
- Add unit authors to collaboratively build the unit.
- Note: Any teacher who is a teacher in a class of the same subject and year level as the unit will appear as an option in the Add Author list. Teachers can also add themselves as an author directly.
The planning process for DP Units has been adjusted to reflect the 3 main sections of the Unit Outline.
- PLAN
- DESIGN & IMPLEMENT
- REFLECT
These sections can be accessed in any order and edited as needed. In addition, the tabs for Stream & Resources and Assessment also allow for additional content that is relevant to the unit to be added.
Summary:
In the Summary section, you can edit the unit title, unit template (if multiple available) and duration. You can choose to share the unit between grades, save it as a draft, or archive the unit.
Please also note that you cannot remove a unit's grade level if you are editing from within a class of that particular grade level. If your unit is shared with multiple grades, go to a class of a different grade level to edit the unit and remove the undesired grade.
Click Save Changes to lock in any changes and move to the next section.
Inquiry & Purpose
The Inquiry & Purpose section now covers a multitude of unit planner tabs from previous DP unit plan iterations in ManageBac+. We start the section with text boxes for Transfer Goals and Essential Understandings.
After that are the Inquiry Questions and Missed concepts/misunderstandings.
Because the new Planner is now one continuing document, changes can be made to different sections rather than having to navigate from tab to tab.
Curriculum:
DP Subject specific information can be found and selected in the Curriculum section of the planner - this is organised via the Aims and Syllabus tab.
The different components to see on the Unit Outline can be enabled or disabled for the selected Unit template in the Settings. This will allow schools to customise their DP Unit Planner layout to their needs. See Customising Unit Planner Templates for further guidance.
Standards:
Non-IB standards can be tracked within the unit planner, via the Standards tab:
School administrators may add their own standards and benchmarks into ManageBac+ (see Adding Standards as an Administrator for further information), which will then be available for teachers to select from within unit plans. To select standards in a unit, navigate to Curriculum > Standards > Click Edit Section to select the available standards for the unit.
- Click on Add Standards
- Filter for the desired standards using the Standards Set, Subject, and Grade drop downs.
- Select the desired standards. The green standards represent standards that are already selected in the unit.
- Click Add Standards to add the standards to the unit or Add & Continue to add the standards and then select more standards
If you do not see the standards you want to use within the Add Standards process, it may mean your school administrators have not yet enabled them as an option. Please contact an administrator, who will need to follow our Enabling Standards process here.
Connections:
All IB DP units have a section where teachers can add TOK Connections or CAS Connections where applicable. Teachers can click on the icon to reveal excerpts "From Principles into Practice" or "Standards & Practices" that provide guidance on how to make these connections for teachers to reference as they fill out the text boxes or check the boxes for potential CAS Connections.
Approaches to Learning:
All IB DP units have a full list of ATL Skills added in the Approaches to Learning section of the unit planner. Select one of the skills icons to expand the corresponding list below the Descriptions Text Box where you can add additional descriptors as well as select pre-populated descriptors from the list generated by your ATL selections.
DESIGN & IMPLEMENT:
Following the unit Planner further down the planner will show the Assessment Section.
Any information added to the Assessment Section of the Planner will automatically be listed in the Assessment Tab from the top navigation bar of the Unit and vice versa.
This reduces the need for teachers to add the same Assessment information in different places of the unit plan.
REFLECT:
The REFLECT section of the planner provides an area where teachers can collaboratively reflect on the unit and teaching process prior, during and after the unit was completed. This section is organised by academic year so that teachers can revisit last year's reflections at the beginning of the next/new academic year.
Stream & Resources
Stream View
- Organise your tasks and resources into a visual layout in the Stream by dragging and dropping
- Items in the Stream are automatically shared for Students & Parents to view.
Resources
Create new resources including:
- Assessment Tasks
- Website and Video links
- Upload or Link Files
- Upload Photos
- Write a journal Note
Note: There is no limit to the number of resources added to your ManageBac+ account, however each individual file must be under 50mb.
Importing from Resources Bank
Importing from the Resource Bank allows you add unit stream and lesson experiences from other classes where the unit also appears.
1. Select the Unit where the Stream and Lesson Experiences need to be imported from.
2. Select which class the Lesson Experience is created in.
3. Select which Lesson Experiences to import and which resources in those to import.
4. Proceed to import or click Proceed and import Next if you want to add additional Lesson Experiences to this unit.
This will add these resources to your unit and resources section.
Lesson Experiences
Create Lesson Experiences via Lesson Experience button at the top of the Stream & Resources tab
- Enter an experience title
- Description and Guidance, as well as Teacher Notes are optional.
- Start Date & Time and End Date & Time are optional
- Click Add Lesson to create the Lesson Experience in the Stream view list.
Resources in the stream can be dragged into a particular Lesson Plan. This allows you to organise the stream across Weeks, Topics or even Learning Support individualised learning.
Assessments
- If you are only looking to create tasks and add assessment coverage, quickly reference this under the Assessments tab at the top of the unit plan
- The relevant subject specific assessment criteria are available either in the Assessments tab or the Design & Implement > Assessment section of the Planner.
Generating a PDF Planner
From any unit page, click Export to PDF on the right-hand side and select what export is needed.
As a form of best practice, it is recommended to download planners as PDFs once a term or academic year, so you have a local copy on file
Planners can also be bulk generated via Curriculum > IB Diploma > Whole School Curriculum > Bulk Generate PDF Planners.
Webinar
The following webinar walks through using ManageBac+ to manage Curriculum Planning in the Diploma Programme. Topics covered include admin set-up through Settings, editing unit plan layout, requesting Standards Imports, and the Unit planning processes for teachers and coordinators.
1) How can I add my Standards to Unit Plans?
You can add Standards via Settings > Diploma Programme > Units > Manage Standards. Either add Standards manually with Header, Sub-Header and Standards or request a Standards Import from us via the Request Standards Import button. Please see the complete tutorial on how to Import Standards here.
2) How can I add myself as an author, or add my colleagues as authors, to a unit?
Units are shared with any class of the same subject & grade level. Teachers can be added as Authors of units if they are added as teacher to a class of the same subject & grade level of the unit. Please click here for our complete tutorial on adding authors to units.
3) Where can I find "lost" units? How about archived units??
The most efficient way to re-organise unit plans, or locate units that may have been "lost", is via Dashboard > Curriculum. Each tile in the Whole School Curriculum represents a unit and can be dragged and dropped along the calendar to reorder the units.
Archived units can be found on the bottom right-hand side. We suggest to export the curriculum, or perform a keyword hot search to locate any units that have gone missing, such as if they have been moved to another grade or subject etc. Please see the link here for our tutorial on accessing and using the Whole School Curriculum.
4) What is the difference between Archiving a Unit vs Drafting a Unit?
Drafted units are hidden from the class schedule that the unit was drafted in. This does not impact the unit in other classes that it is shared across. Use drafting to hide units in a particular class section, or to hide the units from students & parents view. Please see here for further details.
Archived units are hidden from all classes they are shared between, and found only within your curriculum archive. Use archiving for units you no longer wish to use for the current term, but may need to use again in the future. Please see here for further details.