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Roll up, roll up… great things are coming in our partnership with Faria Education, which will provide our Subscriber Schools with access to ManageBac+. ManageBac+ is Faria’s learning management solution, which streamlines lesson planning, assessment and communication all in one place.
The collaboration is now being extended with an exclusive ICA programme within ManageBac+, which iing tailored specifically for ICA Subscriber Schools. This means no more curriculum confusion. Now you can weave ICA structures through every aspect of your curriculum management and delivery.
We caught up with Faria Education’s Dr. Leila Holmyard and our Head of Curriculum Jacqueline Harmer about what the newly tailored ManageBac+ means for your school.
How has the partnership evolved since it began and what milestones have already been hit?
Leila: ManageBac+ has served international schools for a really long time. We have always had schools that implemented the International Curriculum using our solutions, but they have had to amend our framework to fit the International Curriculum structure. However, we found that not all schools were making the same adjustments, and we wanted to increase consistency to ensure effective delivery of the International Curriculum. So, last year we decided to work with the ICA to create a tailored version of ManageBac+ with all the ICA structures and terminologies built in.
How will the ICA-tailored version of ManageBac+ differ from the version schools are already using?
Leila: Schools that are already using ManageBac+ have to individually customise ManageBac+ to create a structure that suits them using our existing frameworks. In the new version, everything will be pre-built for them and tailored for the International Curriculum. This will make things easy for new schools, because they will be able to turn on the programme and find everything already there.
Schools already using ManageBac+ might have things set up in a way that suits them, which is fine; they don’t have to make the transition. But if they would like to, they’ll get a version of ManageBac+ that is tailor-made for the International Curriculum, and we will be able to help them with the transition.
What features do you think ICA schools will be most excited about in the new ManageBac+?
Jacqueline: The integration of the International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC) is particularly interesting, because it gives schools a repackaged method to monitor their students’ learning. Throughout the IMYC, students are encouraged to become more independent and take control of their own learning. Part of that is the Exit Point project at the end of each unit – an independent project that gives students the opportunity to show what they’ve learned and why it is important.
By integrating the IMYC into ManageBac+, we are hoping to give teachers a way to hand over more of the responsibility for learning to their students. Students will have a specialised project-based learning template where they can plan and manage their own Exit Points in ManageBac+, with the ability for the teacher to monitor it where necessary. So, the integration with ManageBac+ will make it easier for teachers to foster student agency while maintaining visibility of progress, reducing administrative workload and supporting more personalised learning experiences.
Leila: I completely agree. When we started planning the ICA programme on ManageBac+, we were initially thinking about curriculum planning – tailoring frameworks that already exist with International Curriculum content. But where we have realised we will really add value is by creating a more holistic learning experience. We are building a template for co-curricular activities where students can map all the things they’re doing within and outside of school and link them back to the Personal Learning Goals. We’ve also created ICA student portfolios, where children can capture their learning in real time through photos, audio and videos, and then add their own reflections connecting each piece of evidence to a Personal Learning Goal. So, students will get a fully integrated learning experience where they’re constantly encouraged to connect all their learning together. For older students, ManageBac+ really helps as an organisational tool. They can have their timetables, tasks, classes and goals all in one place. It’s their one-stop shop for time management and tracking their achievements.
How will the partnership improve day-to-day teaching and learning for educators using the International Curriculum?
Jacqueline: All around the world, everybody knows that teachers are overloaded. Educators are constantly looking for platforms that can save time on administrative tasks so they can focus on what matters: teaching and learning. The new, ICA-tailored version of ManageBac+ will make all the important admin easier to complete, meaning that teachers can focus more on delivering great learning for their students.
It’s also the case that in international schools, there can be quite a transient population. Teachers move around a lot, so having a technology solution with all the information in one place will be a huge help to ensure a smooth and coherent onboarding experience.
Leila: Technology is never going to replace human interaction in schools. But, if you have good technology, you can increase the time you have for human interaction. If everything is in one place, streamlined and connected, teachers can focus on being there with their students and creating those wonderful learning experiences.
How will the new partnership benefit leaders?
Leila: In the future, we are looking to introduce an academic analytics feature for the ICA. It will collate student progress, so that school leaders and educators will be able to get a snapshot of one individual’s progess, then zoom out and analyse it by class, subject, cohort or the whole programme level. Giving school leaders access to a broad range of insights into student Learning Outcomes and curriculum implementation means they can analyse changes in their school over time and evaluate progress against ICA learning goals throughout the year.
What does the next phase of the partnership look like?
Leila: Right now, we’re in the development stage for the new ICA programme framework on ManageBac+, which will be available for schools by next academic year. Some of our other projects, such as the academic analytics, will be coming in further in the future. So, we are not stopping this summer – we will be looking to continually enhance our provision. Feedback from ICA schools will play a central role in shaping future developments, helping us ensure that ManageBac+ continues to meet the evolving needs of educators and learners.
What is really valuable about working directly with Jacqueline and the ICA team is that we can provide an authentic reflection of the International Curriculum, which schools can then customise to suit their school context.
Jacqueline: Feedback from schools is really important. Often, we have insights that come from customisation requests, which give us ideas of how to improve the integration further. It is not a case of the partnership being complete once the programme has launched in ManageBac+ – we will continue to take insights and feedback and work out how we can provide the best value for ICA schools.