IB Diploma Unit Plans
DP - Unit Video overview
Note: All units planned on the ManageBac+ DP unit template have been migrated over to the new DP unit template structure for teachers to either continue editing and developing or archive if they are no longer needed.
DP - Adding a new Unit
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
Under the Classes tab, select the class in question. Next, select the Tasks & Units tab. To add a new unit, click Add Unit on the right. If you wish to edit an already existing unit, click the 'Unit Name'.
Class > Tasks & Units > Add Unit
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.
DP - Unit Navigation
Once you have entered the units basic information, you will see the complete in-line unit template.
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.
Quick Navigation Buttons
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.
Planner: An in-line edit mode allowing you to browse the full unit while editing.
Stream & Resources: Group Tasks, Learning Experiences & Resources in a stream. Add Lesson Plans or identify Learning Support
Assessments: Add Tasks and assessment coverage details
Collaborative Planning
Online Presence: See if your colleagues are on ManageBac+ and if they are editing a unit section. Your profile photo will appear with an Orange circle around it, and your colleagues profile photo will have a Blue circle around it.
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. Your menu will switch to a Lite Menu view to provide addition screen space when planning.
Ongoing Reflections: Click the speech bubble icon to open the right-hand side Reflection section. @Tag 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.
DP - 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. You can also choose to make the unit an Interdisciplinary Unit, which allows you to share it with other subjects by selecting additional subjects.
Please note that the original unit subject is always set to the subject of the class it was created in.
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 & Objectives and Syllabus Content 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.
DESIGN & IMPLEMENT
Following the unit Planner further into the next section will show the sub-section:
Assessments.
Any information added to the Assessment tab from the top navigation bar of the Unit will automatically be listed in the DESIGN & IMPLEMENT > Assessment section of the Planner 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.
DP - 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
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Create new resources including:
- Assessment Tasks
- Website and Video links
- Upload or Link Files
- Upload Photos
- Write a journal Note
- Use the Resources list to organise unit resources into Plans. Filter for resources by type and click the arrow button for any resource to add it to the Stream of the unit in the selected Plan (if any created).
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 a experience, description and duration
- 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.
DP - Assessments
Assessment & Resources
- 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.
DP - Generating PDF Planner
Under the Planner tab, click Export to PDF on the right-hand side. There's an option to export the unit planner with the reflections as well.
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.
IB Middle Years Unit Plans
MYP - Unit Video overview
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MYP - Adding a new Unit
Adding MYP 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 MYP Units via the Tasks & Units tab in your class
Under the Classes tab, select the class in question. Next, select the Tasks & Units tab. To add a new unit, click Add Unit on the right. If you wish to edit an already existing unit, click the 'Unit Name'.
Class > Tasks & Units > Add Unit
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.
MYP - Unit Navigation
Once you have entered the units basic information, you will see the complete in-line unit template.
Note: While ManageBac+ provides default templates for the MYP units, your school can customize this via Settings. This tutorial uses the basic ManageBac+ template as a framework.
Quick Navigation Buttons
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.
Planner: An in-line edit mode allowing you to browse the full unit while editing.
Stream & Resources: Group Tasks, Learning Experiences & Resources in a stream. Add Lesson Plans or identify Learning Support
Assessments: Add Tasks and assessment coverage details
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 Blue.
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. Your menu will switch to a Lite Menu view to provide addition screen space when planning.
Ongoing Reflections: Click the speech bubble icon to open the right-hand side Reflection section. @Tag colleagues to bring them in to the conversation and leave reflections throughout the unit.
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.
MYP - 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 MYP Units has been adjusted to reflect the 4 main sections of the Unit Outline.
- Summary
- INQUIRY: ESTABLISHING THE PURPOSE OF THE UNIT
- ACTION: TEACHING AND LEARNING THROUGH INQUIRY
- REFLECTION: CONSIDERING THE PLANNING, PROCESS AND IMPACT OF THE INQUIRY
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. You can also choose to make the unit an Interdisciplinary Unit, which allows you to share it with other subjects by selecting additional subjects.
Please note that the original unit subject is always set to the subject of the class it was created in.
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: ESTABLISHING THE PURPOSE OF THE UNIT
The Inquiry: Establishing the Purpose of the Unit section now covers a multitude of unit planner tabs from previous MYP unit plan iterations in ManageBac+. We start the section with a list of all Key Concepts and Related Concepts to be selected.
After that are the Conceptual Understandings and Global Contexts, as well as their Explorations. This is then followed by the Inquiry Questions and Statement of Inquiry.
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.
MYP Subject specific information can be found and selected in the Curriculum section of the planner.
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 MYP Unit Planner layout to their needs.
ACTION: TEACHING AND LEARNING THROUGH INQUIRY
Following the unit Planner further into the next section will show two separate sub-sections:
Assessment and Learning Experiences.
Any information added to the Assessment tab from the top navigation bar of the Unit will automatically be listed in the ACTION: TEACHING AND LEARNING THROUGH INQUIRY section of the Planner and vice versa.
This reduces the need for teachers to add the same Assessment information in different places of the unit plan.
Standards and Benchmarks
School administrators may add their own standards and benchmarks into ManageBac+, which will then be available for teachers to select from within the unit plan templates. To begin, go to Curriculum > Standards and Benchmarks in the unit plan template. Click Edit Section to select the available standards for the unit.
If you do not see the standards you want to use for this unit plan, click Configure Standards. This will allow you to select from all existing standards enabled by your administrators on ManageBac+.
You can search by subject, and filter by grade level/strand. Click Add to Unit to enable the selected standards and then keep selecting more grade levels/strands, or Add to Unit and Return to go directly back to the previous page.
If you do not see the standards you want to use within the Configure 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.
REFLECTION: CONSIDERING THE PLANNING, PROCESS AND IMPACT OF THE INQUIRY
The REFLECTION: CONSIDERING THE PLANNING, PROCESS AND IMPACT OF THE INQUIRY 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.
MYP - 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
- Use the Resources list to organise unit resources into Plans. Filter for resources by type and click the arrow button for any resource to add it to the Stream of the unit in the selected Plan (if any created).
Note: There is no limit to the number of resources added to your ManageBac+ account, however each individual file must be under 500mb.
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 a experience, description and duration
- 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.
MYP - Assessments
Assessment & Resources
- 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
MYP - Generate PDF Planner
Under the Planner tab, click Export to PDF on the right-hand side
- 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 Dashboard > Curriculum > Middle Years > Curriculum.
IB Primary Years Unit Plans
PYP - Unit Video overview
Note: All units planned on the ManageBac+ PYP Legacy template have been migrated over to the IB PYP default template for teachers to either continue editing and developing, or archived if they are no longer needed.
PYP - Adding a new Unit
Adding Units and Resources via Quick Add
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 and Editing Units via Classes
Via Classes > select your IB PYP Homeroom class > Tasks & Units. Here you can see the current unit, upcoming tasks and a calendar of units shared with the class. On the right navigation panel, click Add Unit.
Adding a new unit will prompt you to input a Title, select the start month, week and duration of the unit, and an optional unit description.
Select a subject(s) focus, enter your Central Idea, identify the Transdisciplinary Theme and add Lines of Inquiry. Click Create Unit & Add Resources to create the Unit of Inquiry and access the complete unit template.
Note: These fields can also be completed later on. To edit an existing unit, click on the unit and then navigate to Summary and click Edit Section.
PYP - Unit Navigation
Once you have entered the units basic information, you will see the complete in-line unit template.
Note: While ManageBac+ provides default templates for the IB PYP, your school can customize this via Settings. This tutorial uses the basic ManageBac+ template as a framework.
Quick Navigation Buttons
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.
Planner: An in-line edit mode allowing you to browse the full unit while editing. Add additional
Stream & Resources: Group Tasks, Learning Experiences & Resources in a stream. Add Lesson Plans or identify Learning Support
Assessments: Add Tasks and assessment coverage details
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 similar to Google Docs. 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. Your menu will switch to a Lite Menu view to provide addition screen space when planning.
Ongoing Reflections: Click the speech bubble icon to open the right-hand side Reflection section. @Tag colleagues to bring them in to the conversation and leave reflections throughout the unit.
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: View customized in-school guidance, as well as From Principles into Practice and IB Standards & Practices notes.
View other Units : Click the unit name to quickly navigate to other units in the class to cross-reference your planning.
PYP - Building your UOI
The Planner
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.
Plan - Summary
- Share the unit across year levels by ticking the year level check box
- Identify your subject(s) focus and share units to classes with these subjects enabled
- Update the start month, week, duration and hours of the unit. The unit will fall on your class unit calendar and Whole-School Curriculum accordingly
- Enter a unit description which will be shared with members of the class.
- Note: Ticking draft unit will hide the unit from your class schedule, as well as hide it from Students & Parents. Read more about drafting & hiding units here.
Plan - Inquiry
- Enter your Central Idea in the text box. Each text box provides rich-text formatting options such as bold and italic text, numbered or ordered lists, embedded media or files, and the ability to insert links and tables.
- Identify the units Transdisciplinary Theme and select from a list of theme descriptors.
- Click Add Line of Inquiry to create a LOI. Edit existing LOI by updating the text in the field, or delete by checking the box and Save Changes.
- Note: Units on a Specialist template will exclude the Transdisciplinary theme.
Plan - Learning Goals
- Enter Connections to past and future learning, outlining opportunities for students to develop conceptual understandings to support the transfer of learning across, between and beyond subjects.
- Add Learning Goals and identify co-constructed Success Criteria between students and teachers.
- Select from your schools Scope & Sequence, selected by Subject, Phase or Year Level, organised by Overall Expectations, Conceptual Understandings, and Learning Outcomes that you plan to address.
- Use the search box to search for a particular standard.
- Note: Submit a standards import request to update your own school-specific curriculum standards.
Plan - Key and Related Concepts
- Select your Key Concepts.
- Once selected, identify the subject focus and list related concepts to provide a lens for conceptual understandings within that subject for that concept.
- Note: Any text box on ManageBac+ supports any written language. Select the text direction from left-to-right or right-to-left.
Plan - Developing IB Learners
- Select your Learner Profile connections and add a description.
- Note: Units can be edited at any point in time, thus if you have missed a skill, you can edit and select when needed.
Plan - ATL Skills
- Click Add ATL Skills, select an Approaches to Learning category to view full skills list and add a description.
- Use the search box to find a particular skill.
- Note: For lists, we recommend to use ordered or unordered lists with indentation.
Plan - Action
- Address opportunities for Student-initiated action.
- Note: If you are typing a lengthy comment entry, click the Full-screen arrows button to expand the edit box.
Design & Implement - Assessment & Resources
- Add coverage on Ongoing Assessment.
- Create Tasks to assess student work and progress.
- Identity Resources that will be used to enhanced and extend learning.
- Outline opportunities for Student Self-Assessment and Peer Feedback.
- Note: Use the left-hand unit outline to quickly navigating up and down the planner via Quick Links.
Design & Implement - Learning Experiences
- Enter coverage notes on Designing engaging Learning Experiences
- Address how the unit will Support Student Agency
- Note: Learning Experiences can be created directly under the Stream & Resources tab
Reflect - Reflections
- Reflections are supported both in-line with each section of the planner, as well as a summary at the end of the planner.
- Enter Reflections on Looking forward and back on the unit, as well as Subject Specific Reflections
- Note: Reflections are carried over with the unit from year to year, so you can track historical changes, and continue to develop the unit over time. Select the term dropdown to view reflections from prior academic years.
PYP - Stream & Resources
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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 500mb.
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
When adding a resource to a Unit, the Add Resource menu will show options for title, description and to select if you want to add the resource to the Stream directly or not. By default, resources are added to the Resources section.
The Resources section of the Unit allows for filter by resource type via the Filter button. You can also add a resource to the Stream by clicking the arrow button next to each resource. Editing and additional resource options are available via the 3 dot menu for each resource.
Note: All resources listed in the Resources section of a unit can be added as Task resources to individual tasks. If a resource is added to the Stream, it will be unavailable to be added to a task.
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 Plans via Lesson Experience button at the top of the Stream & Resources page.
- Enter a lesson experience title, description and duration
- 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.
See an example of Arranging Lesson Plan Resources below:
PYP - Assessments
Assessment & Resources
- 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
- Note: Task assessment settings can be customized by an admin in your schools Settings
PYP - Generate PDF Planner
Under the Planner tab, click Generate PDF Planner on the right-hand side
- 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 Dashboard > Curriculum.
C1 Non-IB Unit Plans
C1 - Unit Video overview
C1 - Adding a new Unit
Via the Tasks & Units tab in your class
First select a Class and click the Tasks & Units tab. This will take you to the page above. By clicking Add Unit from the right navigational menu you will be able to create a new unit for your class.
-
Create a Title for your unit, select the start date and length of the unit in weeks. Click Create Unit and Add Resources. This will create the unit and allow you to add further details in the unit planner.
Note: Units will automatically be shared with other classes of the same subject and grade level.
- Description - Add descriptive text to your unit plan
- Inquiry - Establish the purpose of the unit by adding a Central Idea
- Guiding Questions - Add conceptual, factual or debatable guiding questions to lead students to new insights by reviewing the knowledge gathered through the unit
C1 - Unit Navigation overview
C1 unit planners can be enhanced by adding further subject, programme and school content. To edit a unit, please navigate into the class and select the Tasks & Units tab. There, select a unit. From here you can select any of the following tabs: At-A-Glance, Planner, Stream & Resources, Assessment.
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.
Planner: An in-line edit mode allowing you to browse the full unit while editing. Add additional
Stream & Resources: Group Tasks, Learning Experiences & Resources in a stream. Add Lesson Plans or identify Learning Support
Assessments: Add Tasks and assessment coverage details
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 similar to Google Docs. 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. @Tag colleagues to bring them in to the conversation and leave reflections throughout the unit.
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.
View other Units : Click the unit name in the Summary section to quickly navigate to other units in the class to cross-reference your planning.
C1 - Editing a Unit Plan
Curriculum
In the Curriculum section, you can select appropriate Aims, Objectives and Syllabus points for the unit. Aims, Objectives and Syllabus are pre-loaded and available for all Pearson and Cambridge subjects for example.
To add aims, objectives and syllabus points to your unit planner select the desired ones and click Save Changes for the section.
For the rest of the sections, you are able to add guidance in the form of text through the text editor and select checkboxes for certain skills, dispositions, etc.
After customising the unit planner content in one section make sure to click Save Changes. The system will not let anyone else edit the section as long as you are still editing it.
Adding Standards and Benchmarks
School administrators may add their own standards and benchmarks into ManageBac+, which will then be available for teachers to select from within the unit plan templates. To begin, go to Curriculum > Standards and benchmarks in the unit plan template. Click Edit Section to select the available standards for the unit.
If you do not see the standards you want to use for this unit plan, click Configure Standards. This will allow you to select from all existing standards enabled by your administrators on ManageBac+.
You can search by subject, and filter by grade level/strand. Click Add to Unit to enable the selected standards and then keep selecting more grade levels/strands, or Add to Unit and Return to go directly back to the previous page.
If you already added the specific subject/grade/strand of standards you wanted to target in your current unit within a previous unit, there is an option at the top to select the standards from other units. Once you enable the standards, you will be able to select them within your unit plan in checkbox form.
If you do not see the standards you want to use within the Configure 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.
Unit Plan FAQs
Unit Templates
Schools can customise the unit plan layout and structure for all programmes via Settings > Select a Programme > Curriculum > Unit Planner Template. It is possible to Add New Template if your school wants to diversify unit plans within any given programme. Each unit template can have items enabled or disabled on the right navigation panel. Titles and Hint texts can also be customised in each template for the enabled sections.
Remember to click Save Changes at the bottom of the page to update all existing units of the template.
Unit Authors
Same subject teachers from different classes can be added as co-authors
Units are shared with any class of the same subject & grade level. Teachers can be added as Authors of units if they teach a class of the same subject & grade level of the unit.
Adding Unit Authors
Administrators and current authors of units can add authors to units by navigating to the unit in question and clicking Add Author on the right navigation panel.
Select the author from the dropdown menu list and click Add. If you see "no available authors", or are unable to find the teacher in the list, please ensure they are firstly added as a teacher in a class of the same grade and subject as the unit.
As long as are you a teacher of a class of the same subject & grade level as the unit, you will see an arrow on the Unit to browse it in full, and optionally add yourself as an author.
Unit Sharing
It's important to understand that Units are automatically shared with classes of the same subject and grade level on ManageBac+, as well as automatically carried over to the next academic year. This means that you can continue to use the same units in multiple classes and over many years if you wish to do so.
Any teacher of a class of the same subject and grade level of the unit, will find the units automatically populate under the class' units tab. Thus there is essentially only 1 iteration of the unit, and any changes made are reflected on the unit no matter which class accesses it.
Units have been configured in this way to drive collaborative planning, sharing of resources and streams, and saving teacher's time to focus on in-class teaching.
Are Units specific to a class?
- Units are not class-specific: meaning that if you edit, archive or delete a Unit in one class, it will also edit, archive or delete the Unit from all classes it's shared with. The benefit of this means that you can save time and collaboratively plan units with multiple authors across different class sections.
- Units are not tied to a class: meaning that if you edit, archive or delete a Class, it will not impact the Unit. The Unit will still be accessible from any class that matches the subject and grade level of the unit.
- Units are not term / academic year specific: and do not need to be transitioned. Units automatically carry over from year to year, meaning as soon as you have your class setup for the new term, your units will be ready for you. The Reflections tab provides an academic term dropdown, to permit recording of historical notes and changes of the unit over time.
- Differentiated delivery: The Stream & Resources tab of a unit is unique to each class however, permitting teachers to configure Lesson Plans, Tasks & Resources catered to the needs of that specific class section or grade level. If you wish to share a Lesson Plan, Task or Resource across units, you can directly import the entire Stream from one class to another, or add in specific Resources via the Resource Bank.
How can I manage Units with multiple classes and authors?
- Active - If a unit is Active, it will appear in your classes Unit Calendar and Schedule.
- Draft (Class-specific hidden)- If there is a unit shared with your class that you don't want to use, you can mark it as a Draft to hide it, while leaving it unaffected in other classes. Drafted units are not visible to Students & Parents, and thus this status may also be used to prepare incomplete units prior to sharing with your community.
- Archive (School-wide hidden) - If there is a unit you wish to remove from all classes, as it's no longer being taught, you can Archive it. Archived units can be accessed in the future and made Active if needed.
- Delete (School-wide, Permanent)- Please note, Deleting a unit will remove the unit and all of its content entirely and cannot be restored.
Hiding & Finding Units
Via your Class > Tasks & Units
Select the class from the Classes tab. Click on the Tasks & Units tab to view all units currently shared in your class. To find units marked as Draft or Archived, tick the Include hidden units box and click Filter in your units list. This will bring up all drafted and archived units. You can un-draft a unit by clicking the Active button.
Click Show Stream to expand the list of items in the Unit Stream. You can move the items around using the cursor icon for each item listed on the left. You can further edit or use each item via the vertical 3 dots menu.
Each Unit will show how many Online Lessons (learn more about Conducting Online Lessons in our tutorial) and Tasks are linked to the unit.
Via a Unit > Planner > Summary section
Teachers can also mark units as Draft or Archived in the Summary section of any unit. Select the Unit title from the Units list. Then open the Planner tab and click Edit Section for Summary. Tick the box for Draft to hide this unit from the unit list of the class. Unmarking a unit from Draft can be done in the same process.
> Drafting a Unit / Hide from your Class
Mark unit plans as draft by navigating to Tasks & Units > select your unit > under the Planner tab, in the Summary section click Edit Section > Draft > Save Changes.
Drafting a unit will remove it from your classes unit calendar only. It will not impact the unit from showing in other classes. Drafting also hides the unit from students & parents.
Locating Draft Units
If a unit plan is not appearing in your class gradebook, please check to ensure that the unit is not drafted.
Navigate to your class > Tasks & Units > tick "Include hidden units" > Filter. Draft units will appear with a draft symbol in the unit list. Select the unit to edit and un-draft the unit plan if you wish to populate it back into the class schedule.
> Archiving a Unit / Hide from all Classes
Mark unit plans as archived by navigating to Tasks & Units > select your unit > under the Planner tab, in the Summary section click Edit Section > Archived > Save Changes
Archiving a unit will remove it from all classes' unit calendars. It will be stored in the archived units repository on the Curriculum tab. Archiving hides the unit from all students, parents and teachers within the classroom.
Locating Archived Units
Navigate to your class > Tasks & Units > tick "Include hidden units" > Filter. Archived units will appear with an envelope archive symbol in the unit list. Select the unit to edit and un-draft the unit plan if you wish to populate it back into the class schedule.
Archiving & Unarchiving units via the Curriculum View
Archived units can be accessed via the Whole School Curriculum. Navigate to Dashboard > Curriculum > IB Diploma Years > select your grade, and you will find the unit in the bottom right-hand side ARCHIVED UNITS. To unarchive the unit click on the box next to the unit name.
> Deleting a Unit
It is not recommended to delete units, unless they have accidentally been created, have no data in them, or were created for testing purposes.
You can delete a unit by Navigating to your class > Tasks & Units tab > select the unit > Delete Unit.
Warning
Note: This is final and complete, it is not possible to restore a deleted unit.
What can Students & Parents see of Units?
- Students and Parents are only able to view Active Units. Drafted and Archived Units will not appear on the Student and Parent user interface.
- The At-a-Glance view represents what a Student or Parent can see of a Unit, essentially the Stage 1 view of the planner.
- Students and Parents will also be able to see any resources or lesson experiences organised within the Stream View.
Changing Unit Template, Subject & Grade Level
A section is missing from my unit, where can I enable it?
Navigate to Settings > Select the relevant programme > Curriculum > Unit Planner Template. To turn sections of your unit plan template on or off, tick or untick the boxes listed under the Plan box on the right-hand menu.
Each area listed in the unit plan template can be given customised titles and hints to better match your school's vocabulary. Once done, click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
I want to change the template for my unit
To change the template that your unit is using, navigate to the unit > click the Planner section > under Summary click Edit Section. Here, under Unit Template, you can select from the available templates in your account under and Save Changes.
I want to change the grade of my unit
You are able to share the unit across grade levels by navigating to the unit > click the Planner section > under Summary click Edit Section. Here, under Share with, you are able to select additional grades to share the unit with.
If you would like to change the default grade of the unit, please reach out to the support team at support@ManageBac.com with a direct link to the unit, and the grade the unit should be changed to.
I want to change the subject of my unit
To change the subject of the unit, please reach out to the support team at support@ManageBac.com with a direct link to the unit, and the name of the subject the unit should be changed to.