Submitting the IA

To finally submit their IA, each candidate has to create a folder with hyperlinked documents  using the predefined template given by the IBO.

You can access the website template here.

The final submission folder should be labelled with the session number and candidate’s surname.

The top level of each candidate’s submission folder should contain:
•    a cover page in HTML format (see the template above)
•    a “product” folder, containing the final product (see the comments on JAR files below)
•    a “documentation” folder, containing the associated documentation (in PDF format)
•    a video, demonstrating the product functioning (in  AVI, WMV, MP4 or MOV format).
•    a completed form 4ICCS_e2017 as a PDF

From what can find out, you don’t need to include a full print-out of of the code you created, but you DO need to include a “running version* of your program. Normally, this can be done by creating an executable JAR file. Here is a video link that explains how to do this.

Candidates then hand their work to their teachers who completes this IA teacher comment sheet for their work.

The commentary sheet is then placed in the top folder of the work, each candidate’s work is then compressed (ZIPPED) and uploaded when requested as part the IBO sample for each exam centre.

The final ZIP file for each candidate can’t be more than 700mb.

 

*Comment from the IBO’s Norayr Ghazaryan (OCC Lead Faculty Member) on including the product

Q.  Is the student required or expected to provide a functional product that the moderator can execute, use and test on the moderator’s equipment?  If the student does not provide a product that functions on the moderator’s equipment, how will this be penalised?  If this is a requirement, or even an expectation, then what platform(s) and software systems will the moderator have available for running the product?

A. The candidates are expected to include their product in their submission, as it is considered a subset of the solution.  The candidates do not need to consider the hardware/software available to the moderator when creating their product (and to do so would go against the flexibility of choice intended by the redesigned course).  For this reason the product is not required to function straight off of the CD. It is sufficient for the school to include in the submission only the files and folders that are uniquely those of the candidate; the product at its most fundamental (and would work with the necessary hardware/software “off the shelf” as it were).  Font, browser, software, hardware issues can be resolved by the IB if necessary (see below) and the school should not go out of their way to add extra elements to the product folder to help with the running of the product.   In some cases the moderator will not be able to run the product; this is not immediately an issue and is why the video is required.  All the marks for the IA are awarded (by the teacher and the moderator) against the written documentation and video, and therefore there is no mark penalty for failing to include the product.  However if the product is not included the solution will be considered incomplete, from an administrative point of view, and the subject operations administrator at the IB office will contact the school requesting the missing product(s), as they would for missing cover-sheets and signatures.

The moderator will check that something is in the product folder (to ensure the submission meets the requirements outlined in the guide) but will not immediately do anything with the product.

The product will need to run if necessary; by “necessary”, we mean if the moderator, principal moderator and/or the IB wants to see exactly what the candidate has made in order to gauge authenticity.  If the moderator feels there is a contradiction between what is described in Sections A – C, and what is shown in the video (for example an elaborate and complex technique not referenced by the candidate), they will investigate the product to ascertain if it is genuinely the work of the candidate.  If the moderator is unable to run the product, the moderator will contact the IB assessment centre who will escalate the situation and make arrangements for the work to reach someone who can execute the product.  This will only occur when authenticity is in doubt, and the functioning of the product will have no bearing the marks awarded; instead it may affect the candidates overall Diploma after an investigation from the Academic Honesty department. If the authenticity of the work is not in doubt, it will not be necessary to run the product.