Uploading and organising student portfolios as a teacher or admin

The ManageBac+ Team
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Select Portfolio in the left-hand menu, or open a student's profile, then select the student. Add photos, files, journal entries, videos and links to their Timeline, set Goals, and use Files to organise work by subject. Admins set student and parent access in Settings > select the programme > Portfolio > Access & Permissions.

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Uploading and organising student portfolios as a teacher or admin

For teachers and admins adding work to student portfolios, organising files and preparing IB DP eCoursework.

I want to Go to
Find a student's portfolio Portfolio roster
Use the timeline Portfolio > Timeline
Add items to the timeline Portfolio > Timeline
Set goals and add reflections Portfolio > Goals
Organise files by subject Portfolio > Files
Prepare IB DP eCoursework Portfolio > Timeline and eCoursework
Add an item for many students Portfolio roster > Bulk Portfolio
Set student and parent access Settings > programme > Portfolio > Access & Permissions

Find a student's portfolio

  1. Select Portfolio in the left-hand menu, or open the student's profile.

    Screenshot: Portfolio in the left-hand menu
  2. Choose the academic programme and year level. Use Filter to show one homeroom advisor's students, and sort By Advisor or Alphabetically. The IB DP roster also shows each student's eCoursework submission status.

    Screenshot: IB DP portfolio roster with the eCoursework submission status column
  3. Select a student's name to open their portfolio. Use the student list on the left to move between portfolios.

Use the timeline

The Timeline shows the photos, files, videos and journal entries a student has collected over their time at school, newest first.

Screenshot: Portfolio timeline with items in date order, newest first
  • Students and teachers can add items. Parents can be given read-only access to the whole portfolio or to single photos or files.
  • Collaborators (files, items, comments or reactions) are listed in the right-hand panel.
  • Everyone can like and comment on items, if students and parents have Messages permissions. Make a comment public to the student and parent, or private to the author, teachers and admins. You can notify people by email.
  • Files students submit to Tasks in their classes appear on the timeline by submission date. Teachers can open most of them in the class with the view icon.
  • Each item can be starred, shared as a direct link, exported, edited or deleted.

Add items to the timeline

  1. On the student's timeline, choose the type of item to add: photo, file, journal entry (with the full rich text editor), video link or website URL.

    Screenshot: Options for adding an item to the portfolio timeline
    Screenshot: Form for adding a new timeline item
  2. Drag and drop files and photos from your computer, or add them from Google Drive. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are converted to PDF when uploaded.

    Screenshot: Adding files to the portfolio from Google Drive
  3. Choose the date the item should appear on the timeline. You can add items for past dates.

  4. Use Privacy to choose which types of user can see the item.

    Screenshot: Privacy options when adding a portfolio item

There is no limit on the number of items, but each file must be under 500 MB. Homeroom advisors can add an item to Multiple Students at once. Students and parents can be notified by email when items are added.

Set goals and add reflections

Teachers and students can set goals from Goals > Add New Goal. Optional guidance is provided.

Screenshot: Goals with the Add New Goal button
Screenshot: Adding a learning goal with optional guidance
  • Goals can have a due date, separate from the date they were created.
  • Teachers can set internal goals that students and parents cannot see.
  • Parents, teachers and students can like and comment on goals.
  • Tick the checkbox next to a goal to mark it achieved. Achieved goals add badges to the timeline. Select Show Completed Goals to see them.
Screenshot: Internal goal option hidden from students and parents
Screenshot: Show Completed Goals with ticked goals

Reflections range from plain text to formatted multimedia entries, with optional guidance. The text box supports full rich text editing, including videos, files, text direction and links. You can save a reflection as a Draft and expand the box to full screen for longer entries.

Screenshot: Adding a reflection with the rich text editor

Organise files by subject

The Files tab gathers file submissions from Class Tasks & Year Group Deadlines into subject and core programme folders. If your school uses ManageBac+ for classes, class assignments and documents on the student's CAS, EE and TOK worksheets are organised here automatically.

Screenshot: Portfolio Files tab with subject and core programme folders
  1. To add a file yourself, select Add New File and choose the Personal folder or a project folder. You can upload up to 10 files at once, each up to 50 MB. Only files can be added here.

  2. To file work under a subject group, upload it to a task or deadline in a class of that subject group.

  3. Drag and drop files between folders, or download a file by selecting its title. Document files can be annotated with the built-in annotation tool.

Files added straight to folders in Files do not show on the timeline. Submissions to tasks and deadlines made with Google Docs do not show in the portfolio.

Prepare IB DP eCoursework

  1. On the timeline, tag items that need to go to eCoursework with the IBeC button. Use the EC3 filter to show the items that need uploading to EC3.

    Screenshot: EC3 filter on the portfolio timeline
    Screenshot: Timeline items tagged for eCoursework
  2. When you select the EC3 button on a file, choose the subject group and subject it belongs to.

    Screenshot: Choosing the subject group and subject for a tagged file
  3. Tagged files go into the eCoursework folder, sorted by subject group. Only teachers can see it. Select Generate IB Forms to create supported IB forms.

    Screenshot: eCoursework folder with files by subject group and Generate IB Forms
  4. For files submitted to tasks and deadlines with annotations, select Annotated File on the timeline, choose named or anonymised, and select Generate PDF. Download it with the download icon, or drag it into eCoursework to submit it in place of the original.

    Screenshot: Annotated File and Generate PDF options on a timeline item

Files from the timeline or Files can both be dragged into IB eCoursework. Upload eCoursework to Files, where you can organise it by subject group.

Our IB school code is wrong in ManageBac+

The eCoursework integration does not work with an incorrect school code. Submit a request and we will update it.

Add an item for many students

Admins, and teachers who are homeroom advisor to at least one student, can add portfolio items in bulk.

  1. On the Portfolio roster, choose a Programme and Year.

    Screenshot: Portfolio roster with programme and year selected
  2. Select the item type under Bulk Portfolio in the right-hand panel.

    Screenshot: Bulk Portfolio options in the right-hand panel
  3. Enter a Title, then select Browse or drag files into the upload area.

  4. Set Privacy, tick the students who should get the item and save. The total count shows at the bottom right.

Set student and parent access

Admins choose what students and parents can do in Settings > select the programme > Portfolio > Access & Permissions.

Screenshot: Portfolio Access and Permissions settings
Students Parents
Where Left-hand menu > Portfolio Left-hand menu > Portfolio
Can see Their own portfolio only Their own children's portfolios only
Can do Post to the timeline, set and complete goals, add reflections, upload and edit photos, files, videos and websites, like and comment Like and comment on the timeline. View only: no editing, goals or reflections
Screenshot: Student view of their portfolio
Screenshot: Parent view of their child's portfolio

Common questions

Can students upload work to their own portfolios?

Yes. Share Uploading & Organising your Portfolio with them.

Should I upload to Goals & Timeline or to Files?

Both work for eCoursework, but Files lets you organise work by subject group.

Screenshot: Goals and Timeline and Files tabs on the portfolio
Can I add to portfolios from a phone or tablet?

Yes. Use the ManageBac+ app for iOS (Apple App Store) or Android (Google Play Store) to upload files.

Can I message all students in a year level?

Yes. Go to Year Groups > select a year group > Discussion > Create Discussion.

Screenshot: Create Discussion in the year group Discussion tab

Still need help?

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