Write-Up Workspace

The Write-Up Workspace is a dedicated environment for drafting observation reports and evidence-based narratives. Unlike the FBA Workspace, the Write-Up Workspace works with all observation methods and is designed for concise, single-session or cross-session write-ups focused on specific analysis questions.

You record sessions as usual, then come to the workspace to organize evidence, draft narrative text, and export as PDF. All evidence citations are grounded in your actual session data.

When to use the Write-Up Workspace

The Write-Up Workspace is appropriate when:

• You want to write a brief observation summary or evaluation narrative after a session
• You need to cite specific behavioral metrics (frequency, duration, interval percentages) in a report
• You’re building a cross-session report showing trend data
• You prefer a simpler, more streamlined environment than the FBA Workspace

For detailed functional behavior assessments with ABC pattern analysis, conditional probabilities, and hypothesis development, use the FBA Workspace instead.

Accessing the workspace

From the Student Hub, tap “Write-Up.” A write-up link appears for any student with at least one completed session. If you don’t see it, make sure you have finished and saved at least one recording session.

Layout overview

The workspace is a two-column layout:

• Main area — Narrative editor. A rich text editor where you compose your report.
• Right sidebar — Evidence rail. Your session data organized for insertion into the narrative. The rail is collapsible and resizable.

The editor is the primary workspace; the evidence rail supports it by surfacing citable data points. You review evidence on the right and click items to insert citations into the text on the left.

Toggling and resizing the evidence rail

Press *Cmd+* (Mac) or *Ctrl+* (Windows/Linux) to toggle the evidence rail open or closed. You can also drag the divider between the editor and the rail to resize it. The layout adjusts automatically — the editor takes up the available space.

Evidence rail

The evidence rail surfaces data points designed for quick insertion into narrative text. It has four main sections:

Measured Behavior metrics derived from the session data: frequency counts, duration percentages, interval percentages, latency averages. Each metric is a discrete citable item. A small count badge shows how many times each metric has been cited already (e.g., “2 / 4”).

Context (or “Happening”) Session-level context items: activity phases, transitions, and session notes. These provide the instructional or situational backdrop for your observations.

Notes Observation notes and hashtag entries with elapsed-time stamps (e.g., “At 2 minutes into the observation, student began off-task behavior”). These are direct observations you recorded during the session.

ABC patterns ABC behavior chains and most-frequent antecedent→behavior→consequence sequences. Only appears when the session has ABC data.

The specific content in each section depends on your recording method and what data was collected. For interval methods, Measured shows interval percentages and counts; for frequency, it shows event counts and rates per minute; for duration, it shows percentages of session and elapsed time; for ABC and narrative methods, it shows event summaries. Activity-specific metrics appear as separate Measured items when activity context tracking is enabled.

Narrative editor

The main panel is a rich text editor pre-loaded with a basic template:

1. Observation Summary
2. Methodology
3. Key Findings

Write directly in the editor as you would in any word processor. You can add, rename, or reorder sections. Formatting options include headings, bold, italic, bullet lists, numbered lists, and tables.

The template is a starting point, not a requirement. Delete or reorganize sections freely to match your district’s format.

Editor toolbar and formatting

A formatting toolbar appears above the editor by default, with buttons for headings, bold, italic, lists, and tables. Click the Aa button in the editor byline (top right) to toggle the toolbar on or off.

Lock mode

The workspace has a lock toggle that switches the write-up between Draft and Final modes. When locked, editing and AI actions are disabled. This is useful for completed reports you want to preserve without accidental changes.

Click-to-cite workflow

1. Single cite — Click a rail item to insert it at your current cursor position in the editor.
2. Multi-select — Shift+click or Cmd+click a rail item to add it to a selection set (does not immediately insert).
3. Batch cite — Press Cmd+Enter to insert all selected items as one consolidated citation, joined with correct spacing.
4. Clear selection — Press Escape to deselect all items (or close the workspace if nothing is selected).

Capitalization and citation formatting

The editor automatically adjusts capitalization when inserting a citation mid-sentence. If the cursor is in the middle of a sentence, the citation’s first letter is lowercased so it reads naturally. For example: “During the observation, the student was on-task in 72% of intervals.”

Citation tracing

When you hover over a rail item, sight·line highlights the matching citation trace in the editor, so you can see where that metric has already been cited in your draft.

AI drafting

The Write-Up Workspace offers two AI-powered drafting surfaces, both available only when you have the Pro+AI tier and a configured AI provider (local model or API key). See AI Setup for configuration.

Cold-start draft (empty editor)

When the editor is empty or nearly empty, a cold-start offer appears. It shows a summary of the evidence collected and offers two actions:

• Draft from data — Opens the Draft from Data sheet, a modal where you select which evidence to include. AI then generates a full first draft of your write-up from the selected session data.
• Start blank — Dismiss the offer and begin writing manually.

Re-draft (existing draft)

Once you have text in the editor, the Re-draft from data… button appears in the editor byline (top right). Click it to regenerate the draft using the same modal as the cold-start, letting you adjust which evidence to include and then replace your current draft.

Slash commands (method-specific starters)

Type / anywhere in the editor to open a slash command menu. The menu shows method-specific starter sentences built directly from your session data — for example, “On-task: 85% of intervals (42 of 50)” for interval methods, or “Frequency: 8 times · 0.4/min” for frequency methods. These are deterministic, data-grounded sentences that you can insert and edit. Unlike AI drafting, slash commands don’t hit an LLM — they’re quick, data-aware shortcuts.

Navigate with arrow keys and press Enter to insert. The command is inserted at your cursor position.

Bubble menu (text selection)

Select any text in the editor and an AI bubble menu appears (only if AI is enabled and not locked). It offers three actions:

• Rewrite — Rephrase the selection with a different emphasis or structure.
• Translate — Translate the selection to another language.
• Tighten — Condense the selection while preserving meaning.

These actions replace the selected text in-place and are useful for refining AI-generated or manually drafted paragraphs.

Export and sharing

The Export menu offers three options:

• Copy Formatted — Copy the write-up to your clipboard as formatted text (includes rich text, heading levels, and emphasis when pasted into other apps).
• Copy Plain — Copy the write-up as plain text, stripped of all formatting.
• Export PDF — Generate a formatted PDF file with student name, observation dates, method, and all narrative sections.

The PDF is generated locally on your device. No data is sent to a server. The output is formatted for standard letter-size pages and is suitable for evaluation files, IEP attachments, and documentation binders.

Tips for effective write-ups

1. Start with evidence. Scroll the evidence rail first to see what data is available, then use that to outline your narrative structure.
2. Use citations for specificity. Instead of typing “the student was mostly on-task,” click the metric citation to insert exact percentages and counts.
3. Leverage activity breakdown. If data differs by instructional setting, cite each activity separately so your report reflects the real variation in performance.
4. Edit inserted citations lightly. Citations are templates designed to be readable as-is. Minimal tweaks (like swapping “was” for “remained”) preserve clarity.
5. Use slash commands for quick starts. The / menu offers instant, data-accurate sentence starters that beat typing from scratch.
6. Review AI drafts carefully. AI-generated sections are first drafts. Always read them, verify they match your data, and adjust language or emphasis as needed.

See Exporting for more on PDF export options and formats.