Save as PDFScheduling an Observation
Scheduling an observation for a staff member in eDoctrina is basically creating an observation event without entering any data just yet. The scheduling tool allows observers to pick a date and time when an observation is planned. Upon scheduling, staff members can be notified with an email notification. The primary utilty in scheduling an observation is to mark an observer to a specific type of observation, but there is some other utility that is specific to district configuration as scheduling an observation could mean that the staff member will also have access to the observation form while it is still in scheduled state. Generally, if the person conducting the observation makes a change to the scheduled observation event, it will be updated to a more private Draft status where only the observer will have access until it is complete.
Scheduling observations occurs from the Assignments Layout. To schedule an observation, select the 
button next to the desired teacher's name.
A pop-up will appear prompting the user to select information about the scheduled observation.
- The Calendar tool allows the observer to see other observations that may also be on the calendar and provides a tool to quickly select the date and/or time of the observation that is being scheduled. While selecting the day from the calendar will populate the date automatically on the right panel, toggling to the week or day views of the calendar tool will let times be selected as well to be populated for the scheduled observation. This is a great tool to view all other observations that are occurring so no scheduling conflicts occur.
- The Category/Type selection is a single select radio button that allows the observer to choose which observation event they would like to schedule for the targeted staff member. There are some conditions that are configurable within the types that will also control whether or not an email notification will always be sent out, never be sent out, or provide the observer with the option on the bottom left of this pop-up.
- The Date, Start Time, and End Time that is populated here will be what is directly inserted to the observation event upon scheduling. These dates can be populated using the calendar tool or by manually entering the dates and times. The date is a required field while the times are not.
- The Schedule Comments are only used to add any important message to the staff member upon scheduling if and only if an email notification is being sent. These comments are not stored anywhere else, which means that an observer should not use this field unless the plan is to notify the staff member about the scheduled observation event via email.
- The option to Send Email to observee will exist only if the selected "Category/Type" is configured to allow optional email notifications. If this option exists, the default will be unselected which means the scheduling observer will have to remembber to select this checkbox if they plan on notifying the staff member about the scheduled observation.
When the desired selections have been made, click the 
button to add the observation to the Calender Layout.
For all scheduled observations, the observer will receive an email notification that will have a subject line that will list the name of the main form and the category/type of observation in a fashion that is very similar to this
[eDoctrina] Observation Scheduled - Teacher Observation - Announced
while the body of the email notification will include the date/time, the entered schedule comment, and the option to add the scheduled event to some external calendar.
Once an observation has been successfully scheduled, the Assignments layout view will update to show a 
for any staff member that has been assigned a rubric that has minimum requirements.
Also note that upon scheduling an observation, the observation is actually being created in eDoctrina for future use, therefore this scheduled event can also be found on the Observations Layout View or the Calendar Layout view.
