If you've upgraded your brightwheel subscription to include Experience Curriculum, you are in the right spot!
Learning observations can easily be logged for a student from the Lesson Plan itself or by going through the general Add Activity flow. This can be done from the web or mobile app.
Observations are a way for educators to log student observations to track progress toward specific developmental skills on the app and follow a set of state standards or learning frameworks!
Log Observations via a Lesson Plan
When using Experience Curriculum, we recommend logging observations through the lesson plan because it will automatically populate the appropriate Experience Curriculum skills for that activity and streamline the experience!
ℹ️ Observations can be logged and managed from the web and mobile app. Learn how to perform these steps on the web or review below to perform on the mobile app.
Log in to your account on the app
Use the Room drop-down menu at the top of the page to view the appropriate room
Click the Learning icon on the bottom toolbar
💡If a Lesson Plan is assigned to that room for a specific week, it will be visible here. If nothing is visible, the room and week have no assigned Lesson Plan and this must be assigned from the web before an observation can be logged in this manner.Click the applicable Learning Activity in the Lesson Plan
Click Log observation
Select the student(s) and then click Next
💡If you are saving the observations as a draft, selecting students is not requiredUpdate the Time if needed
Click the cogwheel in the top-right corner
Confirm the EEL Skill Continuum framework is selected or select if not
The Experience Curriculum skills associated with that activity should automatically populate in the Milestones section
Click the > next to each skill to track the student's specific progress
Click the + sign next to the student's name
Select their specific progress level
Repeat these steps if logging an observation for multiple students
Click Update Progress when finished
Check or un-check the Staff Only box
💡Learn more about this option and sharing observations with parents belowAdd or update the optional Note
Add an optional photo by clicking the camera icon and taking a picture or selecting from your library
Tap Add Observation, or Save to drafts
To edit & post observations drafts, view the Manage Observation Drafts section below.
Log Observations via the Activity Flow
ℹ️ Observations can be logged and managed from the web and mobile app. Learn how to perform these steps on the web or review below to perform on the mobile app.
Log in to your account on the app
Use the Room drop-down menu at the top of the page to view the appropriate room
Click the Add Activity icon on the bottom toolbar
Select Observation
Select the student(s) and click Next
💡If you are saving the observations as a draft, selecting students is not requiredClick the cogwheel in the top-right corner
Confirm the EEL Skill Continuum framework is selected or select if not
Update the Time if needed
Click the + sign next to Milestones to log specific skills achieved
Select the skill category
Click the + sign next to the student to indicate their specific progress
Select their specific progress level
Repeat these steps if logging an observation for multiple students
When finished, click Record Progress
Repeat these steps to track progress for multiple skills related to an activity
Check or un-check the Staff Only box
💡Learn more about this option and sharing observations with parents below!Add an optional Note
Add an optional photo by clicking the camera icon and taking a picture or selecting from your library
Tap Add Observation, or Save to drafts
To edit & post observations drafts, view the Manage Observation Drafts section below.
Manage Observation Drafts
Created Observations can be saved as a draft, edited, and posted at a later time! This allows staff to save their progress in case they are pulled away and need to return to the observation when available. Observation drafts can be edited and deleted at any time.
Log in to your account on the mobile app
Use the Room drop-down menu at the top of the page to view the appropriate room
Tap the Add Activity icon on the bottom toolbar
Tap Drafts in the upper right corner
Select the draft you’d like to edit, delete, or post
To delete a draft, tap the 🗑️ icon in the upper right corner
To edit the draft, make changes to the observation and tap Update draft
To post the activity, tap Add Observation
ℹ️ Once logged, observations can only be edited or by deleted by Staff roles. Review our Edit or Delete Actions resource to learn how to take these steps.
Share Observations with Parents
Similar to logging activities, administrators and staff can log observations as Staff Only or allow them to be visible to parents. To allow parents to view the observations, the Staff Only checkbox should be unselected. When the Staff Only checkbox is selected, the observations will be visible only to administrators and staff and will not be visible to parents. Administrators can bulk approve staff-only posts through the Room Feed on the web.
Our platform also offers several Learning Reports that can be printed to share with parents as well!