ManageBac+ has always relied on thoughtful feedback from schools to help shape the platform. This article brings together some of the most notable school requested improvements across programmes, workflows, and user views.

If you would like to suggest a new enhancement, please refer to our guide on submitting a feature suggestion.

Overview

This article is intended as a resource collection rather than a procedural guide. It summarises feature improvements requested by schools across key areas of ManageBac+, including curriculum, assessment, reporting, attendance, integrations, mobile access, and user experience.

The updates below are organised by functional area so you can quickly review the types of improvements that have been delivered over time.

What’s New

CAS, SA, and Service Learning

• Admins can add notes and interviews before any experiences have been added. (March 2019)
• CAS experiences can be bulk created for multiple students or an entire year group. (March 2019)

Essays and Projects

• IB DP TOK presentation marks can be shown or hidden in the student view. (2017)
• RPPF form responses by students are viewable in roster format. (2017)
• EE reflections automatically save the date when students enter reflections for the RPPF form. (2019)
• Word counters were added to RPPF reflections for student reference. (2017)
• RPPF forms can be bulk generated for a year group in one click. (2018)
• Support was added for the revised TOK Essay and Exhibition with customisable project templates. (2020)
• Project based learning enhancements allow schools to build their own project based learning programmes. (2021)

Tasks and Assessment

• Teachers can view one another’s task details by default through the year group calendar. (2019)
• Archived students are visible in archived classes to support historical grade analysis. (2019)
• Full task descriptions are included at the end of PDF exports of unit planners. (2018)
• Task rubrics include IB document roman numerals for easier task specific clarification. (2018)
• Gradebooks now auto save across all programmes. (2019)
• MYP term grade assessment includes ATL skills assessment options. (2018)
• Term and Task Category averages can be shared with students and parents. (2020)
• Task Category colours apply to progress bar graphs in the gradebook. (2020)
• Task results can be hidden from students and parents without drafting the task. (2021)
• Events, deadlines, and online lessons were differentiated more clearly. (2021)
• Student differentiation within tasks. (2021)
• Dropbox submissions can be locked individually or in bulk. (2021)
• Due dates can be extended for individual students. (2021)
• Field checker for term gradebooks. (2022)
• Binary assessment for MYP. (2022)
• Term Grades rubrics can be archived. (2022)
• A separate page was added to bulk export task grades by grade level in classes linked to that grade. (2023)

Report Cards

• Term grades are automatically exported to Excel whenever report cards are generated. (2018)
• PYP report cards include class attendance. (2020)
• DP percentage averages can be included in report templates. (2020)
• Stamps can be uploaded to templates and included on report cover pages. (2021)
• Improved reporting, proofing, and review. (2021)
• Improved gradebook design. (2022)
• Cumulative term grades from up to four terms can be included in report cards. (2022)

Transcripts

• Other and preferred names are optional on transcript templates. (2019)
• GPA can be included in transcript data exports to Excel. (2018)
• A compact one page transcript format is supported. (2018)
• Cumulative GPA across all years a student has been enrolled is supported. (2018)
• Transcript titles can be customised. (2020)

Unit Planning and Curriculum

• Conceptual understandings are included in PDF exports of unit planners. (2017)
• All PDF planners can be bulk exported into ZIP files through Whole School Curriculum. (2017)
• Unit planning text boxes include bold, italic, and other formatting options. (2018)
• Online lessons and Zoom integration were added for remote learning. (2020)
• With DP units moving to inline planner format, all units support unit templates. (2020)
• Unit calendar views and pacing guides are available across all academic programmes. (2020)
• ATL skills were added to IB DP unit planners. (2020)
• Lesson experiences can be reordered. (2020)
• Flexible unit plan template editor. (2021)
• Interdisciplinary planning and assessment. (2021)

Imports and Exports

• Guardian and child relationships are included in school directory exports. (2018)
• Gender and birth date can be included in class list exports to Excel. (2019)
• Exported term grades support numerical cell formatting for improved readability. (2017)
• Student ID and email were added to the full school behaviour incidents export. (2017)
• Student and parent phone numbers are included in class list exports to Excel. (2017)
• Required fields are identified in user import template CSV files. (2020)
• Most export formats were updated to XLSX format. (2020)

Attendance

• Excusal comments are included in daily Excel exports. (2017)
• Daily attendance digests can be sent to teachers with admin level attendance permissions. (2017)
• Student photos are displayed next to names on attendance classroom rosters. (2019)
• The timing of absence alerts sent to parents can be customised in Attendance settings. (2018)
• Attendance supports a 14 day rotation cycle. (2019)
• Attendance data can be exported by academic term, month, week, or day. (2017)
• Custom attendance class periods and a broader restructuring of attendance options were introduced. (2020)
• Enhanced weekly timetable and attendance. (2022)

Partners and Integrations

• Parents synced from OpenApply are automatically added to the Parents Association group. (2019)
• Turnitin can be enabled for tasks across all programmes. (2019)
• Multiple submissions can be added to Turnitin deadlines, with drafts excluded from the similarity index. (2019)
• Zoom integration was added for remote learning. (2020)
• AssessPrep and ManageBac+ class integration. (2021)

Teacher and Admin Views

• Teacher permissions can be customised to differentiate between users, including access to the Attendance Manager, report generation, student profiles, class creation, class visibility, and more. (2018)
• Teachers can collapse the left hand menu for more space while grading and annotating. (2018)
• Student engagement analytics dashboard. (2020)
• Teacher profiles were updated to align profile views. (2020)
• Enhanced global search. (2020)

Parent and Student Views

• Parents and students can be temporarily blocked from ManageBac+ while new class rosters are created between academic years. (2018)
• Parents can view full task details and teacher uploaded task attachments. (2019)
• Reports can be hidden from individual parents and students where needed. (2017)
• A dedicated tasks and deadlines view was added to help students see upcoming work more clearly. (2020)
• Student profiles were updated so student and teacher views follow the same structure. (2020)

Mobile

• A redesigned iOS app was introduced, supporting administrators, teachers, students, and parents. (2019)
• ManageBac+ launched on Android devices for all user types and programmes. (2020)
• Scan Coursework and Attendance Manager were added to mobile. (2020)
• Push notifications were introduced for the mobile app. (2020)
• Coursework annotations became available in both the iOS and Android apps. (2020)

Tips & Best Practices

For the latest information on new feature releases and product improvements, we recommend checking the ManageBac+ blog regularly.

You can also review and vote on feature development priorities, as well as submit product feedback, through our Product Board.

• Read the latest updates on the ManageBac+ blog.
• Vote on ideas and share feedback through our Product Board.

In Summary

• This page highlights a wide range of school requested improvements delivered across ManageBac+.
• The updates are grouped by area to help you review enhancements in assessment, curriculum, reporting, attendance, integrations, mobile, and user experience.
• You can continue to follow product updates and share feedback through the blog and Product Board.

These improvements reflect the continued development of ManageBac+ in response to feedback from schools.