"IB Pedia": Informing Educators of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program Through Collaborative Website Development

Research shows that schools that adopt the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP) face challenges in fully implementing the programme due to lack of educator understanding of IB MYP terminology. A school in Southern California seeking IB MYP reauthorization is the setting for this action research project which seeks to answer the question: What content and qualities of a website may better inform educators of IB MYP expectations? A review of research literature indicated that educators would benefit from a collaborative effort in building a website that provided official and paraphrased definitions, specific examples of the terms’ meanings in practice, and related links to resources for further clarification of the terminology. Literature also indicated that effective collaboration requires structures and instructions that are clearly understood by the stakeholders of the project, as well as peer evaluation to calibrate the site’s pages. Dubbed “IB Pedia,” this project is intended to exist as a working document to provide educators with an asynchronous IB MYP resource. Currently limited in size and scope, future potential exists for the expansion of use and collaboration with other schools’ educators, as well as to provide students and parents with this resource for greater understanding of the IB MYP.