March, 2020

ManageBac and Atlas

Process for IB Curriculum Updates

fariaedu.com
Who We Are: Standards & Curriculum Team

Bernard Merkel
Director of Client Services
bernard@onatlas.com

• The team has been facilitating standards &

curriculum updates since 2002

• In addition to supporting the IB

programmes, we host over 600 sets of
standards from across the world

• We have over 28 years of standards

experience on our team

ManageBac and Atlas Process for IB Curriculum Updates 2

Recurring Updates
Approx. Approx.
Preferred lead
Update Source development time development time Ideal roll-out
time
for ManageBac for Atlas

DP & MYP Subject

Coordinator notes &
Guides and other
Subject Guides 1 year 2-6 weeks 1-4 weeks June-August
programme-level
provided by Schools
updates

IB Assessment Forms IB 2 months 4 weeks n/a Sep-Oct

May & Nov Exam

IB 1 month 1 week n/a Dec and June
Calendars

Subject codes IB 1month 1 week n/a June-August

TOK - biannually
Prescribed Coordinator notes
1 week 1 week n/a Film - annually
works/essay titles/films Schools
Music - biennially
Addition of Subjects
e.g. MYP Sign
Schools n/a 2-4 weeks 1-2 weeks As requested
Language, DP SBS
Subjects

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Process

• Curriculum team extracts data • Curriculum team directly updates the Atlas standards
database
• Developers implement update
• For planner structure updates, Atlas creates the new
• Curriculum team carries out quality assurance planner as a sample to show schools and work with them
to determine best time to transition

• Support & Sales, Marketing, PD departments notified

• As appropriate:
• Update of support materials, website, blog, social media
• Internal training
• Production of related PD materials e.g. blogs, webinars
• Through collaboration with our community of users

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Quality Assurance

• Curriculum team reviews updates on Staging before • Standards Team reviews updates to a staging system
deployed to Production before being released to schools
• Updates are cross-checked by S&S when school-
• For planner updates, Atlas works with teachers, schools,
requested
and IB consultants to determine how to make them
• External consultants support updates requiring
available for schools
significant development work
o Addition of IBCP • Schools provide feedback on use of planners /
o PYP Next curriculum and what is available and we make changes
o Group 1 Learner Portfolio based on their feedback
o TOK 2020

• Advice directly from the IB, for example:

o Laura Griffin - PYP Next

o Guillermo Duff - Group 1 Learner Portfolio

o Rachel Poirier - MYP unit plans

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Managing Transitions: Curriculum Updates
• Challenge:
2 year curriculum means we must simultaneously
support the old and new course for 1 year
• Solution:
Curriculum materials for the old and new course are
both visible in Units for the 1 year overlap
For new components, such as the Learner Portfolio, Class
creation date determines whether old or new course is
visible (applied retrospectively in June-Aug to classes
created from May onwards)
ManageBac and Atlas Process for IB Curriculum Updates
• Provide the new syllabus / objective standards as soon as
it is available
• When the older objectives / syllabus are no longer used,
the team makes them “obsolete,” meaning that the
objectives or syllabus information that have been
previously aligned to can still be seen, but they can no
longer select them moving forward
• Only if a school requests do we complete delete / remove
a set of outdated objectives / syllabus from their site
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Managing Transitions: Curriculum Planner Updates

• Process: • Atlas works with each school to determine how to

transition from one one planner to another (i.e. PYP to
Consult with the IB & use IB documentation to guide
enhanced PYP)
decision-making & development

Consult a focus group of experienced users to provide • Atlas team determines how curriculum data might get
feedback during development transferred from area to area but school makes the final
call on what makes the most sense for them
Supplement with advice from external consultants

• Once the planner is confirmed, Atlas applies the new

• Challenge: layout and transferred any data over to the new planner
System-level alignment of requirements of the IB and to the existing courses
programmes, such as different recommended planner
structures for PYP, MYP and DP/CP

ManageBac and Atlas Process for IB Curriculum Updates 7

Communication with Schools
Minor updates, e.g. changes to subject guide
• Schools are notified via the blog and social media
• Support material is updated to reflect changes

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Communication with Schools
Major updates, e.g. new features & programme-level updates
• Schools are notified via in-app messages, the blog and social media
• Support material is updated to reflect changes
• New support materials e.g. webinars are produced to assist teachers through the transition
• Company Updates are released periodically to highlight major developments

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Moving Forward
Access to the Programme Resources Centre
• Do not need to rely on schools to provide material and direction
• Quicker and easier to verify school requests

More direct collaboration with IB Curriculum Managers

• Reduce the need for external consultants
• Ensure that future development supports IB best practice
• Improved internal understanding across all departments of IB curriculum requirements in order to better support
schools’ needs

Increased lead time on major developments, such as enhanced PYP

• Earlier development work means earlier implementation
• Less anxiety from schools

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