To be successful in in district utilization of the observations module in eDoctrina, there are a number of configuration steps that should be performed at the beginning of the year that must be done by a district administrator or some district lead. Although much of the rubric configuration should be done prior to setting up the details, tasks like assigning the appropriate rubric or framework for a staff member to be evaluated on or providing observers with the appropriate access is something that needs to be revisited every school year. This document will contain all of these steps and how to perform them successfully. If there is a need for any extra observation rubrics or forms that do not already exist in eDoctrina, then consider building one with the assistance of this guide or an eDoctrina team member.

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Access to the OBSeRVE Dashboard

The first step to managing OBSeRVE is to ensure that all users in the district that will be performing observations have access to the OBSeRVE Dashboard. If a user cannot see the OBSeRVE Dashboard under Quick Links, then they will need to be marked as an Observer in their user profile.

To provide access for a certain user to the OBSeRVE Dashboard, find their profile in the "User accounts" page.

Find the Security Settings section of the user profile and check the "Observer" checkbox.

Assigning Observation Rubrics to Staff Members

In most districts there is a minimum required number of observations that need to be performed for each teacher in each school year. Although assigning a rubric to a staff member in eDoctrina is not a required task, doing so has great utility as assigning each staff member something provides a visual of how minimum requirements are being met throughout the year. Not to mention, there are some great filters that are available to help monitor the completion of yearly observations that are only useful if staff members have been provided a rubric assignment or framework. This is a pretty simple task that has very high impact, which means this task is considered one of the most import best practices for beginning of year setup.

Observation rubric assignments are done from the Assignments layout view of the OBSeRVE Dashboard.

To make a single user rubric assignment, find the observee in the list by utilizing the available filters. The best way to identify a user in the list is by searching by last name in the Search field, but other filters may also be used. Just remember that if there is difficulty finding some user, then it is always a good practice to Reset Filters. Once the desired user is located in the list, find the button next to the observee's name amongst the other common action buttons.

Once the button is clicked, a pop-up window will appear prompting to select the rubric that needs to be assigned. One or many can be selected as long as they are not part of the same rubric.

Once selected, click the button to complete the rubric assignment. If successful and the correct filters are selected, the assigned rubric should display and show a number of "R" buttons that represent the minimum required items for each observation type.

To make a rubric assign for multiple users in one action, eDoctrina offers a Mass Assign tool that can be used to expedite this task. In many cases, observation rubrics will need to be assigned to a group of observees, such as all "Non-tenured" teachers. To do so, simply select the respective checkboxes next to the desired staff members' names from on the Assignments Layout and click the button on the top of the screen. After the mass "Assign" button has been selected, the process is completed the same way as outlined for singular assignment. So use the filters advantageously and remember that once a checkbox is selected in this layout view, it will remain selected even if the filters have been changed. The selections will only be erased if the page is refreshed.

Assigning Observers to Staff Members

Before taking the initiative to assign specific observers to specific staff members, it is important to understand the default access for the different user types that exist in eDoctrina. If someone is a district admin user type, then they will automatically be granted access to create and manage observations for all staff members in the entire district. On the contrary, school admins will ONLY be able to see(observe) and manage staff members that exist in their school own school. Going further, there is the possibility for a teacher user type to have access to the OBSeRVE Dashboard, but they will be limited on access that might depend on a department code or some other access rights. In some cases, these default access rights need to be modified as, for example, some school admins will need to observe teachers that are in other schools within the school district as an independent observer. The ability to "Assign an Observer" is included to accommodate for this need.

The primary utility of this tool is that if an observer or evaluator has been assigned to any staff member, then they will be able to find this person on the OBSeRVE Dashboard to start and complete the required observation(s). Although there are some districts that want to assign observers in the beginning of the year so their observers can use the observer filter on the OBSeRVE Dashboard to limit the list of staff members that they will see.

Assigning an observer is done from the User accounts screen. Instead of entering the the profile, the onservation rubric assignment can be made right from the listing of users.

To assign an observer to one teacher select the button next to the users name in the user listing. A pop-up will appear prompting to select the desired school admin, the observation rubric they will be using, as well as a prompt asking to what to do with already existing assignments.

To complete the observer assignment to a staff member, select the observer that will be performing the observation for the selected teacher and the the rubric that will be used. It is not required to select any of the radio buttons where the rubric assignments are listed as it is possible to simply assign the observer without indicating which rubric or observation type that they will be completing for this teacher. Just note that if a specific observation type is selected, then the observer may only see that option on the Assignments layout view of the OBSeRVE Dashboard. The option to remove all existing observers is available, but keeping them assigned is the default. Click the button to complete the assignment. All assigned observers and the selected observation rubric will be listed next to the user once they have been made and can be removed at any time by selecting the trashcan next to the assignment. Notice that observer assignments are linked to specific years, so this task must be revisited each year in the beginning of year setup if it is being used.

To assign an observer to multiple teachers simultaneously, simply select the checkbox in the left most column for the desired teachers and click the "Assign Observer" button at the top of the screen.

Providing a School Admin access to another School within the District

This tool should only be used for users who are linked to one building, but will also need full access to another building within the district. This feature will does not work with District Admin user types because they already have full access to district staff members. As opposed to assigning this school admin user to each staff member through the observer assignment as described above, it is sometimes easier to provide them with the permissions to observe any teacher in a building other than their own. To give a school admin access to view/observe teachers in a different building, click the button next to their name from the users homepage and add the school to their profile as shown in the image below.

As this above described setting to provide "Additional schools to provide observations" is only applicable to the OBSeRVE Dashboard, there may be some scenarios when a user will need access to everything in the linked schools, which can include assessments, unit plans, or even student goals. If this is the case, then it is possible to have a secondary school linked to any users account to extend their default access. In the example below, this School admin user will have access to all content within both of these listed buildings.

There are two ways that this can be configured: through manual/automated staff imports OR manual assignment. If the import method is the decided method, it is important the the line items on the imported file include linkage to all schools that are required for this observer. This is the recommended way because the lack of the required manual maintenance that is needed as the other method will require making the admin a Flex User to prevent changes from being revert through the nightly file transmission between the student information system and eDoctrina.

If it is decided to add this extra school manually, simply click the on the user accounts screen for the desired user, then find the User Account History section of the user editor. Here is where one can add or delete any other linked settings and toggle them to be active or inactive. Just remember that if the staff list is loaded through automation, it is also important to update their profile to be a Flex User or set their profile to Do not update from imports

If an observation rubric or form has been created by an eDoctrina team member, this is probably a good thing because they will move the district rubric assignment to the upcoming year as long as the district is in good standing. But if an observation form is managed internally, then each year will require that new assignments, however many there are, to be made by a district admin or some district lead user.