Setting Up an Observation

The setup screen appears when you tap Start Observation from the Student Hub. Everything you configure here is saved with the session — you can always review what method and behaviors were used when you look at past results.

Choosing a method

A grid shows all eight observation methods. Tap one to select it. A brief description and use-case note appears below the grid. If you’re unsure which method to use, see Observation Methods for detailed guidance.

The method choice determines what the recording screen looks like and what statistics are calculated at the end.

Adding behaviors

Type a behavior name and press Enter or click Add. You can add as many behaviors as you need for the session.

Definitions: Each behavior has an optional definition field. Definitions appear during recording when you press ?, so you don’t need to memorize descriptions mid-session. Writing even a brief definition (“out of seat without permission”) helps with consistency, especially for IOA sessions with a second observer.

Custom keyboard keys: Each behavior is assigned a default key (1, 2, 3…). To change a key, click the key badge next to the behavior name and type a new key. Keys n, Space, and / are reserved and cannot be assigned.

Reusing behaviors from a previous session: If the student has prior sessions, sight·line offers to pre-fill the behavior list from the most recent session. Accept to load them all, or start fresh and add manually.

Timing

For interval recording methods (whole interval, partial interval, MTS), set:

• Interval length — how long each scoring interval lasts (common: 10s, 15s, 30s)
• Total session duration — how long the observation runs

Common presets are available (20 min / 15 sec, 15 min / 30 sec, etc.), or enter a custom configuration.

For frequency, duration, latency, ABC, and narrative recording, timing is open-ended by default — the session runs until you end it manually.

Phase labels

Add a label to mark the current condition — “Baseline,” “Intervention,” “Preferential Seating,” “Peer Tutoring,” or any label that makes sense for the assessment. Phase labels appear on result charts and are used for phase-level comparisons in the comparison screen.

You can add or change phase labels mid-session without stopping the timer. If you don’t set one at setup, you can always add it later from results.

Templates

Save any configuration as a named template. Templates capture: method, behaviors (with definitions and key assignments), interval length, session duration, and phase label.

To save: tap Save as Template before starting, enter a name, and confirm.

To load: tap Load Template at the top of the setup screen. Templates are stored in the Library and can be reused across students.

ABC tag sets

If you chose ABC or Narrative recording, a tag set selector appears. Choose a tag set to pre-load specific antecedent and consequence tags for the session. Tag sets are created and managed in the Library.

If no custom tag set is selected, a default set is used.

Activity context

Enable activity tracking to record what instructional activity is occurring during the session. When enabled, an activity bar appears at the top of the recording screen with five options:

Activity	Shortcut
Large group instruction	Shift+1
Small group work	Shift+2
Independent work	Shift+3
Unstructured time	Shift+4
Other (custom label)	Shift+5

Switching activities during recording creates a timestamped transition. This lets you later analyze behavior rates broken down by activity type — for example, whether off-task behavior is higher during independent work than large group instruction.

See Activity Context for more.

IOA session code

To link two independent recordings for inter-observer agreement (IOA), enter a shared session code before starting. Both observers enter the same code on their respective devices.

The code is arbitrary — any string works, as long as both sessions use the same one. Example: ioa-room204-2024-10-15.

After both sessions are complete, link them from the Results screen to calculate agreement metrics. See Inter-Observer Agreement for details.

Peer comparison setup

If you chose Peer Comparison as your method, an additional configuration section appears:

• Peer label — a name or code for the comparison peer (not a student in your caseload)
• Alternating interval — how often to switch between observing the target student and the peer (e.g., every 10 seconds)
• Same behaviors — peer and target share the same behavior list

During recording, the screen alternates between “Observe: Target” and “Observe: Peer” prompts. sight·line calculates the discrepancy ratio automatically in results.

Entering data after the fact

If you can’t record live — perhaps you collected data on paper in the field — you can enter the session manually using the Manual Entry feature. Tap the Manual Entry dropdown next to the Start Observation button on the Student Hub, then choose between summary entry (pre-calculated values), interval grid (tick-by-tick data), or detail entry (method-specific transcription).

See Manual Entry for detailed guidance on transcribing paper notes and back-dating observations.