A category that applies to an item or series of items. There may be several items that fall under the same category. However, categories are not a necessity if you choose not to use them.
Item Name:
A name used to help identify the item.
Item Short Name:
A shorter name for the item, used in places where space is limited, such as on reports. This shorter name still needs to effectively identify the item.
Item Description:
A description of the item itself.
Display Type:
How the choices that the observer can select are displayed for this item. Single Choice Listbox: Displays as a Listbox ( ) that will only allow a single answer. Single Choice Radio Buttons: Displays as radio buttons ( ) that will only allow a single answer. Text Box: Displays a text box for entering short-hand answers. Text Box Long Answer: Displays a larger text box for entering multi-line answers, e.g., full sentences.
Required:
The observer will be required to complete the score portion for this item before finishing the observation. Required only applies if the score portion for the item is shown. For example, a coach who is not permitted to score learners would not be able to enter the score portion of this item, so required would not apply in this case.
Evaluative:
Check this box if the item is meant for determining the performance level of a learner with respect to a specific teaching strategy, possibly through the use of rubric levels. If the observer is not qualified to perform such a judgment on the learner’s performance (as in the case of an instructional coach), the observer would only be able to make comments, and would not be able to enter data related to a performance level.
Enable Aggregate:
Check this box if the item produces data that could be grouped for the purposes of graphs or reports.
Enable Comments:
Places a comments box on this form items' section of the observation form allowing the observer to mark comments specific to this item.
Comments Help:
If comments are enabled, this will appear on the observation form below the item comments. This provides instructions on completing the comments portion of the item.
Enable Attachment:
Allows the observer to upload a file to be used as evidence for this item
Evidence:
Will display the text entered with checkboxes. Evidences can be checked off by the observer during the observation.
Rubric:
An explanation aiding the observer in what choice(s) to select for this item. Rubrics help the observer make decisions when the choices are performance levels on a numerical continuum.
Coaching Tips:
Questions or statements that the observer may use after the observation to help learners improve their performance. Learners cannot view them in self-observations.
Choices:
The possible performance level descriptors or terms an observer can choose for an item to describe learner performance. For items marked as "Enable Aggregate," the "Value" must be numeric to allow for math calculations, such as averaging.