FAQ - Teaching Made Easy, Child Observations iPad App

‘Teaching Made Easy, Child Observations’

is a recording and reporting tool, developed to assist educators in continuous documentation and assessment to meet the needs of individual learners.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I print my Child Observation?

The email feature is activated with the purchase of Child Profiles. When you have completed your observation, press 'save' in the top right hand corner. Go back to the 'Children' page. Tap on the Child's Profile Photo and click on 'View Observations' in the drop down menu. Open the observation that you wish to email by clicking on it, and the 'email' and 'duplicate' buttons will appear in the bottom right hand corner. Close the on-screen keyboard if necessary. Thank you for supporting Teaching Made Easy with your purchases.

I have purchased Child Profiles but I still can’t email?

• Sending email requires an internet connection.
• Your email settings can be reviewed on the Settings page of your iPad under 'Mail, Contacts, Calendars.'
• You need to save your observation before you can email it.
• Have you updated to the latest version of the app?
• Regularly delete the history on your iPad. To do this, double click the home button. Hold your finger on the app/s that show at the bottom of your screen. Click on the red box on all of them. This won't delete the app, only your history which can sometimes slow down the functionality of your iPad.
• To access a copy of the observations you have completed connect the iPad to your computer and open the app in iTunes.
• Reset your app. Log out of the app by clicking on the 'exit' door, close the app completely by deleting it from your history as detailed above.  Turn your iPad off and back on again and log back into the app.

Why can’t I email or print the Child Profile section?

If you wish to have a copy of the 'Child Profile' you complete for each child in terms of their personal information we recommend you take a screen shot of this information. To take a screenshot press and hold the Power button, and press the Home button on your iPad, release both simultaneously. You will hear a camera shutter sound. The image (screenshot) will be stored on your camera roll. The app was designed to complete and email your Child Observations, it was expected that other personal details of the children would likely be stored securely elsewhere and so to protect children's personal information, the ability to print these is not a function of the app. The app has a double password protection to ensure confidentiality.

Help! I’ve forgotten my username!

We do not have access to your username or any other personal details. If you can remember your Master Password go to the login page, next to 'Need an account?' it says ‘Sign up.’ You can sign up by entering a different username, email address and password but by using the same Master Password. This is the same process used when adding another user to your account. You can now access all your data.

Don't forget to write down your new username and password somewhere safe!

Why aren’t the Principles and Practices of the EYLF included?

It is the outcomes which refer to what you see children doing/saying/learning and therefore you record and report a child's progress against the outcomes in a Child Observation. The principles of the EYLF are essentially our beliefs as early year’s educators, for example, through your observation you are building reciprocal relationships, showing your commitment to reflective practices as you use what you observed to plan possible next steps etc. The practices are what you do as an educator. Through the learning story that you write about the experience of the child as you observed it (the observation), you are likely to refer to aspects of your teaching practice such as your responsiveness to the child (what you said or did), how the child has learned through play and any intentional teaching you did or plan to do as a result. You can show evidence of the principles and practices of the EYLF in your service simply by choosing ‘Teaching Made Easy, Child Observations’ for continuous documentation of learning.

How do I delete an observation?

You can delete a 'Child Profile' if a child leaves your centre.

You cannot delete a Child's Observation once it has been saved. This feature prevents Observations from being accidentally deleted. However, every 'Child Observation' is able to be reedited and saved. If you would like to remove/replace a 'Child's Observation' the next time you do an ob for that child just open the ob you'd like to remove/replace, change the date and edit the details as usual and don't forget to 'save'. It will replace the old observation with your new edited one.

How do I record an observation for a group of children?

Choose a child from the group experience. Open a new observation for that child. Click on the child’s name next to the word ‘Children’ and a list of the names of your Child Profiles will appear in a drop down list. You may ‘Select all’ or simply click on the names of the children who participated in the experience. After you have completed the observation and chosen the outcomes observed, add your photos and click ‘save’. A copy of the observation will be saved to the Child Profile Folder of each child you have selected.

Do you frequently do 'Group Observations'?  A great time saving idea is to name one of your 'Child Profiles' 'Group Experience'. Then select the children who participated by clicking next to the word 'Children' and selecting names from your list. When you ‘save’ the observation at the end, a copy will go into each Child's Profile Folder but you won't have to go into each one individually to email it and print it. You will be able to go to your Child Profile labelled 'Group Experience', email it once and print as many copies as you need for the children who participated. Another BIG time saver! This may also help you keep track of how many group obs compared to individual obs you do.

I noticed that some of the wording isn’t exactly the same as the EYLF?

I'd like to share some feedback from an educator and user of the app, she says 'I downloaded your app and I love it! Thanks so much! I am using a similar one at the moment but find your one much more user friendly and love that you can copy it into a pages or word document to add borders or clipart and insert as many photos as you like. The language of the outcomes are much more user friendly and parents can understand. It is obvious that a lot of time and effort has been put into this. Thank you once again for the development of such a fantastic app!'

The wording for the goals of the EYLF  are exactly the same in the ‘Teaching Made Easy, Child Observations’ app, the indicators under each outcome are only some suggested examples of what you might see children doing when they have achieved this outcome. A few of these have been simplified in our app for ease of understanding by the audience of your observations, usually parents. You might find a couple of useful additions such as 'takes turns' or 'shares' as these are essential skills we want for our children. We would be very concerned if professional educators were only speaking or reporting in the exact words of the framework. The EYLF was designed to inspire reflection and dialogue between professionals and was never intended to be prescriptive. Assessors will want to see evidence of the principles and practices of the EYLF in your setting and that the goals are being aspired to.

We hope you choose to use the ‘Teaching Made Easy, Child Observations’ app into the future to simplify your recording and reporting processes.

I would like to use the app with the Australian Curriculum outcomes for the students I take from Kindergarten and also with the Early Years Learning Framework outcomes for the preschoolers I teach. Is this possible?

Yes, you are able to use two curriculums on the one observation or change between them for different children. Add your EYLF outcomes to the current observation and press save. Go to the settings page and choose Australian Curriculum from the drop down list next to ‘Curriculum’ and press save in the top right hand corner to confirm your choice of curriculum outcomes.

Reopen your Observation and add Australian Curriculum Outcomes to your EYLF observation. We have also added a set of universal developmental outcomes which you may find useful to add to your EYLF observations.

Our centre has two iPads, can we share the Child Profiles?

The App was initially designed to not rely on an external server to store the profile and observation data. This decision was made to ensure the privacy of children's information. When you store confidential information on a server you always run the risk of unauthorized access. This was not a risk we were willing to accept. So all data is stored on the one device. Multiple users can have access to children's observations by using individual usernames and passwords for the app on the one device.

If multiple devices are to be used then Child Profiles would need to be purchased for each device. Completed obs (pdf) could be shared with the user/users of a different device by email or iCloud.

Apple says can share your content between devices using iCloud.

More information can be found here Apple iCloud

Click on the link below to learn more about fair use of apps for educational purposes. It is very important to follow Apple’s usage guidelines. This link provides more information about purchasing for educational purposes. There is also a link to Apple’s App Store License. Please read it carefully.

Apple Educational Apps

The link below details some examples of educational usage guidelines in practice.

Educational Guidelines in Practice

How much does the ‘Teaching Made Easy, Child Observations’ app cost?

The app is free to download and explore. Emailing and printing requires the purchase of Child Profiles. Child Profiles may be purchased at 10 for $10.49, 30 for $29.99, 50 for $49.99 or 100 for $99.99. Unlike other similar programs there is no on-going subscription fee for use of the app.

What Curriculums are available?

There are a selection of Curriculum Frameworks to choose from including -
(AU) EYLF
(AU) QKLG
(AU) Australian Curriculum – Foundation Year

(with additional Year Levels to be added in future updates)
(AU) MTOP - School Age Care
(UK) EYFS and Developmental Matters
(NZ) Te Whariki
(USA) ELSF

(USA) Common Core ELA and Mathematics PreK

(USA) Common Core ELA and Mathematics Grades 1-8

(Universal) Developmental Milestones

Other features

·       Spend more time with children and less time on recording and reporting.

·       Build individual portfolios of photo observations, stored by date, for each child.

·       Meet the requirements of National Quality Regulations by providing evidence of continuous recording, reporting and reflective teaching practices.

·       Instantly add photographs, document and save a learning experience. Easily open, refine and add outcomes to your observation at the end of the day if you prefer.

·       A selection of Curriculum Frameworks from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Universal Developmental Milestones for use worldwide to choose from.

·       Email your child observation to your computer for printing and storage or forward directly to parents.

·       Duplicate feature saves time in rewriting observations for multiple children when recording a pair/group experience.

·       Double password protection ensures the privacy of children's confidential information.

'Teaching Made Easy - Child Observations' is the most user-friendly app available for documenting children's play and learning, with the added benefit no on-going subscription fees.

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Third Party copyright and trademarks notice: All brand or product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products and services of, their respective owners.

EYLF: ©Commonwealth of Australia 2009

Australian Curriculum: ©ACARA

QKLG: ©The State of Queensland 2010

MYOP: ©Commonwealth of Australia 2011

Te Whariki: ©Crown Copyright 1996, Ministry of Ed
EYFS & DM: ©Crown Copyright 2013
ELSF: ©WV Board of Education 2010
Common Core: ©Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

Developmental Milestones: ©DEEWR 2012

Always use devices for recording and reporting student learning in accordance with the Educational Department Acceptable Use and Parental Permission policies of your region.

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