CAS Portfolio on ManageBac

Every IB Diploma student at ISKL will have a ManageBac (MB) account for their Core elements: CAS, Extended Essay (EE), and Theory of Knowledge (TOK). The 'CAS worksheet' on MB is the online CAS portfolio.

The CAS portfolio is the space for IB Diploma students to:

• Plan their CAS programme

• Reflect on their CAS experiences

• Gather evidence of involvement in CAS.

As CAS does not have any scheduled class time, it is important for students to demonstrate all the great things that you are doing for CAS in your CAS portfolio. The contents of your CAS worksheet on MB serve as the main evidence of your CAS progress, especially for your CAS progress semester reports.

The CAS Team will check your entries on MB and leave messages for any clarification of feedback, which will also be delivered to your ISKL email account.

You can add your co-curricular activities as 'CAS experience' entries and your CAS project. In each entry, you will discuss why you chose a particular CAS experience and your goals, and discuss how you have been working towards them in your reflections. You can upload photos, videos, planning documents, certificates, etc. to personalise each entry. For supervised CAS experiences, you will ask your CAS supervisor to review your participation and contribution at the end of the commitment period (e.g. one Athletics season, one academic year, as determined by the HS Activities).

Your progress status is shown by the 'Learning Outcomes' bar graph, CAS timeline, and different symbols (read 'MB CAS Progress Symbols' to learn more).

1. Log onto ManageBac

You can access ManageBac from your High School Student Portal. Or click here: ManageBac.

LOG IN: Your full ISKL mail address, e.g. ibstudent19@iskl.edu.my (type in the complete email address).

PASSWORD: Before you attend your first IB/ CAS Orientation in August of your Junior Year, you will have received a welcome email from ManageBac, asking you to create your password. It is important that you remember this password, as you will need it whenever you access ManageBac.

2. Access Your CAS Worksheet

Once logged onto MB, click on 'IB Manager' and your graduating class group. Then click on CAS. This will direct you to your 'CAS worksheet'. See the screenshot below.

3. Add a New CAS Experience/ Project

4. Reflections

Click on the 'Reflections and Evidence' tab and the 'Add New Reflection' button to write your reflections. Be sure to:

• Click on the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom of the screen every 15 minutes or so. This is really important because ManageBac does not have the auto-save feature that most Google applications have.

• Check the particular CAS learning outcome(s) that will relate to your reflection. This is necessary in order to show your CAS learning outcomes progress in the 'Outcomes' bar graph.

The default setting is the journal reflection, but you can also upload photos, video links, and documents from your computer.

REFLECTING during and after your CAS experience/ project allows you to strengthen your understanding of yourself as an IB Diploma student. Your reflections also serve as evidence to demonstrate how you have been engaging with and achieving your CAS learning outcomes. You need to record short reflections every two to three weeks in the 'Reflections & Evidence' tab in your entry. Show your understanding of your growth as an IB learner by reflecting on your actions, interactions with others, ideas, thoughts, insights, and intended and unintended outcomes. Read more about the reflective process and personal development here on the 'Reflections' page.

5. Getting Your Entry Approved by CAS Coordinator/ CAS Advisor

All of your entries on ManageBac must be approved by the CAS Team soon after you add them. This is important in order to ensure that you have selected an appropriate co-curricular activity or decided to initiate a CAS project that is in line with the IB CAS guidelines.

Please complete all of the items above. If some essential items are missing from your entries, then the CAS Team will leave you a note with detailed instructions for you to complete them properly.

If you have completed your CAS experience/ project entry correctly, then it will be approved. You can see the status change with the blue 'thumbs-up' icon. In the unapproved entries, you will see the orange clock icons.

For your CAS experiences/ projects with a non-ISKL supervisor, you will need to ask them to complete this CAS Experience Advance Permission Form and share it with all parties, including the CAS Team, as 'Editors' to the Google Doc. This is important for us to be able to see the version history of the document. If your non-ISKL supervisor cannot access a Google Doc, then you can have the copy printed and scan the signed copy, and email it to the CAS Team.

6. Getting your Entry Marked as Completed

After completing your commitment period for your CAS experience and achieved your desired outcomes for your CAS project, you will need to do the following in order for your entry to be marked as completed:

• Check that you have all of your reflections that discuss your engagement and achievement of your goals, and uploaded any required documents or optional items to demonstrate your work in the 'Reflections and Evidence' tab of your entry.

• Click on the 'Request Supervisor Review' button in your entry to obtain your supervisor's review.

Once you have pressed that button, an e-mail will be sent to your supervisor asking for verification of your successful participation.

For CAS experiences/ projects undertaken with non-ISKL supervisors:

• In addition to all the items mentioned above, upload at least one photo or video clip of yourself in action with your collaborators and supervisors, and any other relevant material, such as a certificate of attendance, etc. in the 'Reflections and Evidence' tab.

• If your non-ISKL supervisor can conduct the supervisor review via email, follow the same procedure as above.

• Otherwise ask your non-ISKL supervisor to conduct the supervisor review using the CAS Experience/ Project Verification Form.

As stated above, it is necessary to plan and set goals before undertaking CAS activities and projects in order to consciously engage with them as experiential learning. And reflections written during and after the activities and projects will allow you to become aware of what you have actually learned and what benefits or implications your actions had for others. Otherwise, you will only remember certain parts of the activities and projects as 'school memories' (e.g. 'it was fun', 'it was challenging', etc.). Recalling that the objective of CAS is to engage with and achieve all of the CAS learning outcomes through your regular participation in different activities and at least one project with a reasonable balance in the three strands of CAS, it is important for you to understand the CAS stages, including goal setting. This process will help you in your overall personal growth and development:

The emphasis in CAS is on helping students to develop their own identities, in accordance with the ethical principles embodied in the IB mission statement and the IB learner profile. Possibly, more than any other component in the Diploma Programme, CAS contributes to the IB’s mission to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect' (p. 2 CAS Additional Guidance for 2010 and Thereafter).