From the 2nd of May to the 4th of May 2015, I attended a three day IB DP History workshop in Melbourne. It was a very busy and well attended event, with over 300 hundred participants in total and 35 history teachers from all over the southern hemisphere in our workshop.
Below are the notes I’ve taken for each day:
- IB DP Workshop Day 1, A general overview of the changes in the new course. How to construct a course. Big changes to Paper 1: Four instead of five sources, new OPVL, new question specific mark schemes.
- IB DP Workshop Day 2, overview of changes to Paper 2, new mark bands. We did a lot of trial marking. Grades were often higher than we expected. There is more ‘positive’ marking.
- IB DP Workshop Day 3, IA has been completely overhauled, three sections now. Also looked at approaches to teaching and learning.
My key take aways:
- Marking: There is a very clear tendency to award marks for what is there, rather than penalise students for what is NOT there. The participants in the workshop were often surprised by higher than expected marks during trial marking. There seems to be a push towards generosity. The rationale (and a valid one in my opinion) is that the top mark band should be achievable and should be awarded. A strange culture of being very harsh and demanding has crept in History in the last course, and the IB is trying to change this culture. The new mark bands for Paper 2 and 3 are a big improvement on the old course.
- Paper 1: Big changes: Four sources instead of five, one of them visual. OPVL now adds content. One source will be evaluated. specific rubrics for specific questions.
- Paper 2: Some great changes: Mark bands are totally new, out of 15. The 15 should be achievable. A limited amount of command terms will be used. Questions will be broader, no more named events or people. Students will compare regions only, not left or right wing leaders.
- Paper 3: No huge changes to structure, but dot points and topics have changed. Mark bands have changed too. Still a lot of content and a lot of detail required.
- IA: Big changes. Three sections only. OPVL may contain content. Suggested word count. Different approach to bibliography, no marks (see rationale). Reflection section, close ties with TOK. The new mark band are designed so the top mark bands can be awarded. Examiners will award marks for what is there, rather for what is NOT there.
