Adding an observation

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Please note: If you are completing a complex observation, you should save work regularly and then edit to carry on filling it in. Tapestry login sessions expire after an hour and it is also possible that a network blip could void your login session. If either of these things happen, when you press 'save’ on the observation you will be taken to the login screen and your work since the last save will be lost.
 

Adding an observation on Tapestry is really quick and easy; in this tutorial we’re going to look at how to do this on the browser version of Tapestry but if you want to see how to do this on the app you just need to select the relevant tutorial from below. 

How to add an observation on the app - iOS

How to add an observation on the app - Android

 

Let's get started looking at how to do this on the browser.

When you first login to your Tapestry account on a browser you will automatically be taken to the observations page. If you are already logged in and are on another screen in your account, you just need to click on where it says ‘Observations’ at the top of the page (1).

Once on this page you just need to click on the ‘+Add Observation’ button (2). 

 

So, you’re now adding an observation! The first thing you will need to here is to add a child or multiple children into the observation. To do this you just need to click on the 'Select Children' button.

Remember that if you add multiple children to an observation, the notes, media and/or assessments you add will apply to all the children. If you are observing a group activity but want to add different notes/media/assessments, you can create a group observation and then split this, which will allow you to add these separately- this tutorial talks you through how to do this. 

 

 

A pop-up will appear for you to select the child/ren. To do this, you just need to click into the tick box next to their name (1). If you want to add a whole group you can click on the 'Select all' button (2). If you have any, you'll see a separate list for your key children (3). This tutorial talks you through how to set up key children on your account. 

You can use the search box if you're looking for a specific child (4). And you can also use the other tabs at the top (5) to select children from the groups you have manually created on your account, or sort by the children’s cohort year.

 Once you've added the children you want to, you just need to click on the 'Done' button (6). 

Please note that you won't be able to save an observation on Tapestry without adding any children to it. 

 

 

After you've added the children, you'll see all their names underneath where it says 'Children' (1). You can remove any you didn't mean to add by clicking on the 'X' button by their name (2).

Next you can enter a title for the observation (3), you also need to do this to be able to save the observation. 

In the ‘Options’ section on the right-hand side you can see the current time and date, this will show as when the observation was created. If you want to change either of these things, you just need to click into the ‘Created’ field (4). 

By default, the observation will be set to be added to the child’s journal ‘After manager approval’ but if you are a manager or staff member with permission to change this, you can do so by clicking on the status dropdown (5). Managers can check and change who has permission to change the status of an observation by following this tutorial here. 
If you are given the choice as to when the observation is added to the child’s journal, there are four options you can choose from:

• Immediately: this saves the observation and adds it to the child's journal straight away. It will therefore be available to any relatives linked to the child on Tapestry and they may be notified depending on their notification settings.
• After manager approval: this saves the observation to Tapestry, but it will only be visible to staff members. The observation will not be visible to relatives linked to the child/ren included and they will not be notified. We recommended you use this option if you want to be able to edit the observation further before approving it. 
• Immediately, but only for staff: this saves the observation to Tapestry and adds it to the child's journal but makes the observation visible only to staff members. Relatives will not be able to view the observation and they will not be notified. You can use this option if there are certain types of observation you do not want to share with parents but want the observation to contribute towards a child's assessment score.
• On the creation date (scheduled): this means the observation won’t be published for parents and they won’t be notified if they are set up to do so, until the date you set in the calendar (4). Please see this tutorial for more information on how to schedule posts on Tapestry. 

If you are a manager, you also can change the author of the observation (6). 

In the ‘Notes’ section you can add your actual observation (7).
 

 

When adding text to an observation, it is possible to include a hyperlink to an external website. After the observation has been saved, these links will take the user to the website directly when clicked.

 

 

Underneath the notes section you may have a box called ‘Additional Information’. You can use this to enter further information about the observation or child. It is an optional feature that is not enabled by default. 

 

 

To enable or disable this a manager on your account just needs to go to the Control Panel (1), select ‘Settings’ from the left-hand menu (2) and then choose the ‘Observations’ option from that drop-down (3). You then just need to tick or untick the ‘Show Additional Information field’ option (4) and press 'Save' (5).

 

 

By default, relatives won’t be able to see this section, but if you do want them to be able to, you just need to change the user permission for this. This tutorial talks you through changing the user permissions for relatives. 

Next you can upload any media (pictures or videos), documents (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF) or audio files you want to, by clicking on the ‘Add Files’ button (1). Once you have selected the file/s you want to include, you just need to click on the ‘Start Upload’ button (2). 

You can rotate and/or crop any photos you have included by clicking on the ‘Edit’ button (3). 

If you have included any photos you didn’t mean to, you can remove them by clicking on the ‘Delete’ button for that file (4) or if you have several you want to remove you just need to select the tick boxes at the end of the row of the file (5) or tick 'Select All' (6) and then click on the ‘Delete Selected Media’ button (7). You will then get a pop-up box asking you to confirm this and after you do, the selected media will then be deleted.  

It's possible to change the order of media by using the up and down arrows next to each item of media (8). Videos, audio clips, and pictures will still sit separately to documents when the page is saved, but you can change the order of them in each of their groups e.g. change the order of documents within the documents section and change the order of photos, videos and audio files within the media section. 

 

 

Underneath the media section if you have any assessment frameworks enabled on your account you will be able to add assessments to your observation. Here you will only see assessment frameworks that are enabled on your account so it’s unlikely you will see as many as we have got here! This tutorial talks you through how to enable or disable assessment frameworks on your account. 

If you have 1 or 2 frameworks enabled on your account, you will automatically see these frameworks open. If you have more than 2 frameworks enabled, like we do, you just need to click on the ‘+’ button for the framework you want to assess with. 

You can add as many types of assessments as you like to a single observation by clicking on the button for each one you want to use. 

 

 

If any flag sets have been enabled on your account you will see these below any assessment frameworks on the left-hand side (1). To learn how to enable flags, take a look at this tutorial. If you have the EYFS 2021 flag set turned on you will also see a 'Reference Material' section on the right-hand side of the flags (2). 

To add flags to the observation just click on the flag set and you will then be presented with a pop-up box where you can select your flags (3). To learn more about using flags on Tapestry, take a look at this tutorial.

 

 

At the bottom of the page you may have a section called 'Links' (1). Page links on Tapestry allow you to link different posts to each other which can help you find posts related to each other. 

You will have the option to link observations to other observations (2) and if you have 'Reflections' enabled you will also have the option to link your observation to a reflection (3). Finally, if you have the 'Activities' feature enabled you will have the options of linking the observation to planned activities (4) and activities from your collection (5). 

This tutorial explains page links in more depth. 

 

 

The final thing to remember to do is click on the save button to make sure all the hard work you've just done entering the observation is recorded (1)! If you want to save that observation and immediately start adding another, you just need to click on the ‘Save & Add Another’ button (2).

 

 

 

Remember you can come back and edit your observation at any time, so if you’re done but need to exit Tapestry, just save the observation as ‘not in journal’ and you can come back to it. You can find the option to edit an observation on the main observations page just to the right-hand side of the observation.

 

 

 

 

 

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