A logbook built from your own units, for any subject
It is online, inside your school’s own Google Workspace. Students do the whole lesson in it, from a knowledge check to writing they improve in green pen.
- Drama LogbookBackstageForGCSE, IGCSE and MYP
- Pastoral and character development LogbookTutor timeForAges 11 to 16
- Science LogbookA sample lesson on the heartForKey Stage 3 or MYP
Pick one up, or write your own subject on the last one.
The same book, built round your subject
Every logbook has the same three parts: something to do first, the work itself and what you see as the teacher. What goes in them comes from your units.
The students in these samples are invented and the marking is real. The bands are MYP ones, as an example. Your logbook uses your own grades and the wording of your own assessment criteria.
How a logbook gets built
It takes about four weeks from the day I have your units.
You send me one unit
A scheme of work, a unit outline or just a description, with the criteria it assesses.
You check every word
Your lessons are written out in a Word document first, so nothing is built until you have read it.
I build it and test it
The checks and the marker are written from your criteria, then tried out with a pretend class.
It is set up in your school
Someone in IT publishes it in your Google Workspace with me on a call that takes about half an hour.
What it costs
Every logbook is built by me from your units, so the price is for the build and you aren't paying for each student. Prices are in US dollars because I work with schools around the world.
- Your first course or year group, up to four units
- $2,000
- Each extra course or year group
- $1,200
- An extra unit added later
- $250
- Support and updates each year
- $450
- The first two schools, in return for honest feedback and a short testimonial if it works for you
- Half the build fee
The price covers the whole build. Your lessons are written into the logbook and you check every word before anything is made. The logbook is licensed to one school, I keep the engine and you own your units and all of your students' work.
If you stop the yearly support the logbook carries on working, but updates and help stop. For a whole school pastoral programme, send it to me and I'll give you a price.
For whoever looks after your school’s data
This is the part to forward to your IT or data protection lead.
Inside your school's own Google Workspace
- What is kept
- Each student's name, class and school email address, along with their answers and any photos or clips they add as evidence.
- Where it is kept
- In a Google Sheet and Drive folders that belong to your school, inside your own Google Workspace. Nothing is held anywhere else.
- Who can open it
- Only your school's accounts. A member of your staff owns the logbook and its data. Evidence files can be opened by people in your school who have the link. I only see student work if you choose to share something for support.
- How it runs
- As a Google Apps Script web app that one member of your staff publishes for your school's domain. It runs with that person's permissions and knows who a student is from their school Google account.
- What the marker is
- A set of rules written from your criteria. No student work is sent to an AI service.
- Backups and deleting
- It can make a weekly copy of its data in the same Google account. Deleting the Sheet and the folders removes everything.
- What IT needs to do
- Create one Google Apps Script project and publish it for school accounts. I guide them through it on a call that takes about half an hour.
- What it runs on
- Google Workspace for now. I'll build a Microsoft version with the first Microsoft school that wants one.
Outside that line there is nothing. No student work is held by me or sent to an AI service.
Who builds it
I'm Amy Garside, an IB head of department who has taught drama in the UK and in international schools. I built the first logbook, Backstage, for my own drama classes because marking process journals took up so much of my time.
The tutor time logbook followed, for pastoral and character development. I've since trained other staff to use Backstage. Amy Garside Media is my business and it also builds websites for schools and small businesses.
Questions you might have
Can it be made for my subject?
It can, as long as a teacher from that subject works with me. The science lesson is a sample to show the idea and a real one would start from that department's own units and mark schemes.
What do you need from us?
Your units or scheme of work with the criteria each one assesses and one person in the department I can ask questions. Someone in IT also needs to publish the logbook in your Google Workspace, which takes about half an hour with me on a call.
Does it use AI to mark?
No. The marker follows rules written from your criteria and it only ever suggests a band, so the mark is still yours to decide. I use AI coding tools to help me build the logbook, but no student work goes near them.
Does it work for exam courses?
Yes. I build it from your board's specification and mark scheme. Exam boards have rules about how much feedback a teacher can give on assessed coursework, so I check those rules for your board first and the logbook is built to keep to them.
We don't use MYP bands. Does that matter?
No. The examples on this site use MYP bands from 1 to 8 because that is what I teach. Your logbook uses your own grades, such as GCSE 9 to 1, and the wording of your own assessment criteria.
Do students need new accounts?
No. They open a link and sign in with the school Google account they already have.
We use Microsoft. Can we still have it?
Not yet. It runs on Google Workspace today and I'll build the Microsoft version with the first school that wants one.
Send me one unit
Tell me which subject or course it's for and paste in a unit outline or just describe it. I'll reply by email and tell you what a logbook for that unit would look like.
I work from Dubai with schools around the world. My hours are Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm Dubai time.