IB Course Description Project: Intro

In this series, which I’m calling the IB Course Description Project, we’re building an audio catalog of International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP) courses and Career-related Programme (CP) core experiences for students, parents, counselors, teachers, and colleges around the world.

Each episode brings the syllabus to life by exploring the learning, teaching, and student experience behind every course. These conversations can support course registration, help colleges better understand IB courses, introduce new teachers and counselors to the curriculum, or simply provide a deeper understanding of what makes each course unique.

Want to be part of the project? Contact me (Jon Peterson) at IBMatters@mnibschools.org

Use the email above or the fan mail link to contact me with feedback, suggestions or to add your name to the teachers joining the project.

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Transcript

Jon Peterson 0:02

Welcome to IB Matters. In this series, which I'm calling the IB Course Description Project, we're building an audio catalog of International Baccalaureate Diploma Program DP courses and career-related program CP Core Experiences for students, parents, counselors, teachers, and colleges around the world. Each episode brings the syllabus to life by exploring the learning, teaching, and student experiences behind every course. These conversations can support course registration, help colleges better understand IB courses, introduce new teachers and counselors to the curriculum, or simply provide a deeper understanding of what makes each course unique. Every course description follows a similar format: a 10 to 15 minute conversation with a current IB teacher. Many of these guests are also IB educators who train teachers around the world, providing both classroom experience and broader curriculum expertise. I'll organize the episodes by IB subject group. If you're new to the diploma program, its courses are grouped into six subject areas that closely resemble academic departments found in most comprehensive high schools. Group one focuses on studies in language and literature, including courses such as literature and language and literature. Group two is language acquisition, where students study an additional language such as Spanish, French, Chinese, or many others. Group three, individuals and societies, includes subjects such as history, psychology, business management, geography, economics, global politics, and other social sciences. Group four is the sciences, featuring courses including biology, chemistry, physics, sports exercise, and health science, and several additional options. Group five is mathematics with multiple pathways designed for different interests and strengths. Finally, group six is the arts, offering courses such as music, film, theater, dance, and visual arts. Some courses span more than one subject group. For example, Environmental Systems and Societies bridges groups three and four. And courses like these will have dedicated episodes of their own. Both the diploma program and the career-related program draw from the same catalog of IB courses, although each has its own requirements for earning the diploma or certificate. Each program also includes a unique set of core requirements, and I'll be producing separate episodes devoted to explaining both the DP Core and the CP core. This is an ongoing project as I continue to interview outstanding teachers from around the world. Episodes will include chapter markers so you can easily jump to the course you're interested in. For example, the current group 3 episode includes history, business management, and economics. If you're only interested in business management, you can skip directly to that chapter. As new interviews are recorded for courses such as psychology, geography, and global politics, I'll simply add new chapters to the same episode. This project will take months, perhaps even years to complete. If you teach an IB course that isn't yet included, I'd love to hear from you. Please use the links in the show notes to schedule an interview. Most recordings take about 20 minutes and preparation is minimal. I'll be publishing the first interviews over the coming days and weeks. I hope you'll listen, share your feedback, and perhaps even volunteer to be part of the project. My hope is that this growing library becomes a valuable resource that showcases the outstanding work our students and teachers accomplish together and helps more people understand the depth and value of an IB education. Each course interview will typically include an overview of the course, key features of the syllabus, the internal assessments, the external assessments and examinations, differences between the standard level SL and higher level HL course, how the final IB score is determined, what students gain from taking the course, how the course prepares students for university and future study, the value of the IB version of the course compared with more traditional high school courses, unique features that distinguish the course, what the teacher enjoys most about teaching it, stories of student success, and final reflections and advice for prospective students. You'll also find a link in the show notes to the official IB subject brief for each course where available, if you'd like to explore the curriculum in even greater detail. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us for future episodes.