How to complete an In-Person Observation

In-Person Observations are observations that give users the ability to provide summative feedback on a mentee’s performance. In-Person Observations function much like Video/File Observations except they remain separate from any artifacts shared with you. This form option can be a great way to review more than one artifact at a time or keep a running record of notes while observing the mentee.

Users can attach videos, documents, images, audio, or exemplars to the observation and give feedback using informal notes or a rubric. Coaches completing the observation can schedule a meeting, add new goals, adjust the mentee’s current goals, and keep a record of private notes.

You can complete an in-person observation by navigating to either the Quick Actions menu or your Coaching Corner.

Quick Actions Menu

To start an in-person observation from the Quick Actions menu, hover over the lightning bolt icon in the top, right hand corner of your navigation bar. In the dropdown list, select 'New In-Person Observation.'

This will load a pop-up window asking for you to choose the user for whom you are completing the observation for. Click on the dropdown arrow and enter the name of the user in the text box provided.

Choose the user's name from the dropdown list and click 'Start Observation.'

Coaching Corner

To start an in-person observation from Coaching Corner, click on 'Coaching Corner' in your top navigation bar. Then select the 'Observations' tab. On your Observations page, click the 'New Observation' button and select 'In-Person' in the dropdown list.

This will load a pop-up window asking for you to choose the user for whom you are completing the observation for. Click on the dropdown arrow and enter the name of the user in the text box provided.

Choose the user's name from the dropdown list and click 'Start Observation.'

Completing an In-Person Observation Rubric

You will then be brought to a default rubric template to complete an observation from. To choose your rubric, click on the dropdown list for 'Select a Data Form' on the right side of the page, underneath the artifact and select your rubric template from the list of data forms. The webpage will automatically update with the new rubric applied.

To fill out your rubric, click any of the '+' icons to display different sections of your rubric and fill in the necessary information the rubric asks for. 

Most rubrics will display a Rubric Grid Component that requires you to select a specific Answer Choice along a Criteria Grading Scale. To enter your answer, click on any of the cells along the row of your specified criteria.

Rubric Scoring

Depending on the settings of the rubric template used, you may see an Overall Score displayed at the top of your rubric.

You may also see Section Scores specific to combined total criteria answered within specific Rubric Grid Components.

Saving Your Progress

As you complete your rubric, the information entered will automatically save to our servers! However, you do have several manual saving options via the Actions button found in the top, right-hand corner of your form.

• Save as Draft - choose this to save your current progress. This will save your form to Coaching Corner>Observations>Draft Observations.
• Save as Complete - choose this to publish your observation as completed privately. Doing so will not share the observation with anyone, nor will it share with the user whom you are completing the observation about. You will need to share the form with others or choose 'Complete and Share' for the observed user and/or others to see it.
• Complete and Share - choose this to publish your observation as completed and automatically share it with the observed user. 

Other In-Person Rubric Sections
There are other aspects included in an observation including the Overview,
Attachments, Notes, Goals and Meetings tabs.

Overview - On this tab, you can edit the title of the observation and add a
description. You can even specify the Cycle and the Type (informal or formal). You can also add any Observation Tags.

Attachments - On this tab, you can attach helpful documents for the mentee or
have the mentee attach documents. If you click on the attachment, you will be able
to easily view the attachment as you work on the observation.

Notes - If you do not wish to perform a formal observation on a rubric, you can also
keep notes here to publish as feedback for the other user.

You can also keep Private Notes about the user by selecting ‘Private Notes.’ These
notes will only be visible to you and will carry over from observation to
observation.

Goals - While performing an observation, you can manage the active goals for a user,
including adding a new goal or managing the progress of another goal.

Meetings - To schedule a meeting for a debrief of the observation, choose
'Meetings.' You can click 'Add a Meeting' to create a new meeting or filter the meetings listed in this view.