Phases of CAS core requirements supported by bacPoint™

There are three phases for the IB Diploma CAS core requirements programme:

• CAS Planning - where students need to complete plans and have them approved by the CAS coordinator and signed off by the CAS activity supervisor
• CAS Activity Execution - where students undertake the various CAS activities in their plan and record their experience and learning in a journal using rich media, and where coordinators monitor progress and supervisors provide feedback to students
• CAS Reports & Assessment - where students need to complete self evaluation at the completion of each activity and the end of the CAS programme, and where supervisors and coordinators need to report and conduct assessments

Throughout each of these phases there are usually two other interested parties, the students' parents or guardians, and the principal and executive team. Each want to know just how the CAS  program is progressing and whether students are successfully completing their CAS plans.

How bacPoint™ CAS supports the Planning Phase

CAS planning

To assist the students and CAS coordinators, bacPoint™ CAS has comprehensive planning support which:

• simplifies and streamlines CAS planning
• provides structure for defining activities and their respective supervisors
• ensures easy distribution of activity lists to students 
• allows student activity selection rules to be pre-set
• supports IB student enrolment and defining of student cohorts
• enables completion of the planning documentation and process online by the students including selection of activities and the uploading of any scanned paper forms needed, e.g., parent or supervisor approvals
• conducts auto qualification of student plans before submission to the CAS coordinator - this means that submitted plans comply with fundamental rules defined for selection of activities and completion of plans
• tracks each enrolled student's planning progress - making it easy to indentify students falling behind or having difficulty in their plan completion
• has activity enrolment management - setting limits and tracking student enrolments and changes including an activity waiting list function - given sufficient interest a CAS coordinator may decide to expand the availability of a popular activity
• supports activity planning management - visibility of activity selection and demands on supervisor resources
• results in a student CAS plan with all required IBO CAS core requirements supporting documentation and any additional school specific forms and approvals stored in a central, easy to access location

CAS community messaging

• supports effective message communication between CAS coordinators, supervisors and students during the planning process
• supports audit review of captured communication at a later date

bacPoint™ security

• provides a secure CAS community with login user privileges and security so that participant's access to information, plans, and associated support information during CAS planning can be easily managed by coordinators

How bacPoint™ CAS supports the Activity Execution Phase

To assist the CAS coordinators, supervisors and students during the activity execution phase, bacPoint™ CAS provides:

A rich journaling function for students linked to their own personal storage space:

• provides students with an online journal which is used for documenting activity progress and reflections
• allows students to insert links into their journals, blogs and other web sites
• supports students uploading artefacts as supporting evidence or related interest for their activities
• automatically time stamps against activities through their journal entries
• tracks all subsequent journal entry changes by students providing them and coordinators insight into their journaling practices
• allows students to selectively share journal entries with peers and other participants in the CAS Community such as parents

Student plan activity time tracking and reporting:

• gives CAS coordinators up to date progress of students' progress against plans
• provides flexible reporting to alert coordinators of students falling behind
• presents high level views of student cohort progress and activity progress
• gives students up to date progress against their own CAS plans
• gives parents/carers up to date progress of their students against their CAS plans

CAS Calendar:

• gives CAS coordinators the ability to include events related to CAS activities
• displays other events impacting students or cohorts
• gives students the ability to maintain a calendar of their own key events
• includes coordinator posted events automatically in student calendars

CAS News:

• gives CAS coordinators a scrolling news area on the CAS home page to post relevant news for students
• displayed on the login page ensuring any news posted is immediately visible to any member of the CAS community the moment they log in to bacPoint™

CAS communication:

• supports effective message communication between CAS coordinators, supervisors and students during their activities
• records and stores any interactive message communications with reference to student activities
• supports IBO requirement to provide a central record of guidance given to a student during their activity

bacPoint™ security:

• provides a secure CAS community with login user privileges and security so that participant's access to information, plans, and associated support information during CAS planning can be easily managed by coordinators

How bacPoint™ CAS supports the Reports and Assessments Phase

To assist CAS coordinators, supervisors and students during the reporting and assessment phases at the completion of each CAS activity and the overall student CAS activities plan, bacPoint™ CAS provides:

CAS activity assessment tracking:

• keeps coordinators are up to date with status of completion of activities by students
• allows coordinators to receive student self evaluation forms and optionally supervisor assessments
• helps coordinators with status of completion of their own student assessments
• informs students about the progress of their CAS activities, e.g., hours completed but final forms not submitted
• displays to parents/guardians student activity progress
• provides relevant parties with access to CAS journals and activity outcomes

Central record management and database:

• allows students, supervisors and coordinators to optionally upload completed final activity assessment forms, letters and assessments to include with student journals, plans and other CAS records
• maintains all CAS records centrally, paper documents and completed paper forms can be uploaded as appropriate, simplifies compliance with IBO directives for maintaining CAS records centrally
• provides CAS coordinators with a centralised CAS records storage facility for easier assembly, review and assessment of each student's CAS performance
• simplifies the assembly of a students' CAS records for publication and or submission to the IBO

Publishing function for students' CAS records:

• provides the ability to publish a student's CAS journal, forms and related entries and records providing the student and parent with an electronic record/portfolio/graduation journal of their CAS experience
• maintains all CAS records centrally, paper documents and completed paper forms can be uploaded as appropriate, simplifies compliance with IBO directives for maintaining CAS records centrally
• provides CAS coordinators with a centralised CAS records storage function for easier assembly, review and assessment of each student's CAS performance
• simplifies the assembly of a students' CAS records for publication and or submission to the IBO

CAS programme reporting:

• provides overall assessment reporting for CAS programmes and students as student activities are completed and students complete their CAS requirements