Manual

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Manual and Documentation

Quick Start

We encourage you to watch the following videos to see how to get started with On Task quickly!

 

Taking an Observation

Setting up the Session

• Enter the student’s name, or tap the folder icon in the top right to select from previously saved students.

• Enter the teacher name. Note that this is the name of the educator who is actively teaching, not you, the observer.

• Enter a subject, and optionally you can name the session to more easily reference later.

• Tweak the length, interval, and control student status if you wish. If you find yourself constantly changing these, it may be easier to change the default settings in the preferences on the main menu.

When you are ready to begin the session, tap Begin.

 

Running the Session

Running the session is fairly simple. When the screen flashes, mark the student either on or off task, by pressing the green or red button respectively. Halfway through the observed student’s observation interval, you will be prompted to take an observation for the control student.

Tags


Using the tags is an important feature. They help bring more insight into what specific trends result in certain behaviors. Be sure to tap the tags to more accurately reflect the current learning environment.

Note that the names and colors of the tags are fully customizable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Redirects

If the student requires a prompt from the teacher to be redirected back on task, tap this button. The data from the teacher redirects can be combined with the Timeline chart for valuable insights into whether the redirects work, and in which cases they do or do not prove effective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

Tap this icon to jot a quick note about what’s going on in the current environment. It’s important to keep these quick, as you don’t want to miss observations. However, the note taking screen won’t obscure the observation window, so you’ll be able to take an observation while simultaneously writing a note.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Menu

Tap this to access the in-session menu, where you can end a session prematurely, or pause it briefly.

Understanding the Data

Reading the Data Screen

The data screen shows both the overall on task percentage, as well as the on task percentage for any specific tags, if they are used. Note that only the tags that are used will be displayed. In addition, the “untagged” label will only be present if other tags were used, as it’s irrelevant otherwise.

Other Information on the Data Screen

Observed By

This should be your name, the observer, as taken when you registered for the account the first time you launched the app (either as a registered user or as a guest), or as edited under the Settings menu.

Consistency Percentage

This percentage is a measure of how consistent you, the observer, was in taking observations. You may miss some data points here and there, but it’s important to have a generally high consistency percentage. A low consistency percentage could indicate the data isn’t an accurate sample. For example, perhaps the student got rowdy, so the observer jumped in to help, missing a whole series of off task data entries.

Session Length

This will be the actual length of the session, NOT the intended length that was designated before the session. This is relevent when a session is ended prematurely.

Total Data Points

This will be the total number of data points taken for the observe student only.

Exporting Data

On Task can share it’s data in a variety of formats to a variety of services. Share via Airdrop, iMessage, Mail, Dropbox, Google Drive, just to name a very few.

Access the share options at the bottom right of the main data page.

Summary

This exports a text-based summary of the session which includes the information visible on the main data screen. For users of the original On Task, this is comparable to the share functionality in that app.

Export .tsk File

On Task 2 introduces a proprietary .tsk filetype. Exporting this file allows a user to open the session directly in On Task on their own device.

Spreadsheet Export

On Task 2 now allows you to export a .csv file with all of the session’s data. Open this file in Numbers, Excel, Sheets, or any other spreadsheet application of choice.

Chart Export

This saves the charts as standard image files.

 

Understanding the Charts

Timeline

The timeline is a technology exclusive to On Task. It presents data from left to right, displaying the beginning of the session to the end. If the student was on task, the timeline will be above the center line, and if the student was off task, the timeline will be underneath it.

If no tag is used, the line will simply be a gray color. If a tag is used, the relevent color will be used instead, with a legend at the top to help you easily reference which color represents which tag.

Teacher redirects will be displayed via a white bar extending upwards from the timeline.

The notes are displayed as a note icon underneath the timeline, and can be tapped to reveal their contents.

Pie Charts

The pie charts are the simplest way to visualize data. The largest chart represents the overall on task percentage, whereas the smaller charts break down the individual tags.

Combined Pie Charts

The combined pie charts help you to visualize how each tag fits into the overall time spent in the session. Each tag is represented by a color, the brighter version represents on task, whereas the darker hue on the right shows the off task percentage.

Nested Pie Charts

The nested pie charts show the overall on task percentage in the outer ring, whereas the individual tags are exhibited in the inner rings.

Settings

App Settings

Your Name

This should be the observer’s name. You set this up during the app’s initial launch. You can edit it here.

General Session Settings

Use Control Student

On Task provides the ability to observe just one student, or observe a peer as well. It’s important to use a control student so your observe student has a reference, but if you’d rather not use a control student, you can turn that off here, or from the setup screen when beginning an observation.

Default Session Length

This will edit the default amount of time a session will run. Note that you have the option of changing this session-by-session from the setup screen when beginning an observation. However, if you find yourself consistently running a longer or shorter session than the default, you can save yourself some time by changing the default time here.

Default Time Interval

This edits the default time interval. As with the session length, you have the option of changing this session-by-session from the observation setup screen. It’s also important to remember that if you are using a control student, the control student’s observation will be due halfway through the time interval. For example, if you use a 20 second time interval, you’ll need to take a data point every 10 seconds, so each student has a 20 second time interval between data points.

Random Interval

Instead of using a set time interval, you can elect to use a random interval, which will set a time interval randomly between 10 seconds and 60 seconds. Each session will have a new random time interval applied.

 

Session Notifications

Screen Flash

This disables the white screen flash. It is recommended to leave this on, as it ensures consistent observations are taken. However, there may be times when a bright flash is inappropriate, so you can disable that here.

Vibration

If you’d like your phone to vibrate when an observation point is ready, enable this option. Important Note: Due to limits in the iOS software, vibration will only work if you have Vibrate on Ring and/or Vibrate on Silent enabled in your iPhone settings, under Sounds.

Tags

You can edit the tag names here. By tapping Change Color to the right of each tag name, you can select a different color to represent each label.

 

Lock

Enable PIN

If you want to ensure confidentiality from prying eyes, you can enable this feature. This will prevent anyone from viewing the data without using a four digit PIN that you select. Important Note: If you forget your PIN, we cannot reset it. The only way to use On Task at that point is to delete and re-install the app, which will delete all your existing data. It’s important to write your PIN down in a safe place!

Enable Touch/Face ID

If you prefer to use your fingerprint or face to secure your data, you can enable that here. This option is not available until you set up a PIN, which is used as a backup.

Strict Privacy Mode

This mode prevents all sharing of data and all syncing of data between devices (which will be available in a future update). When this is enabled, all data can only be stored locally, and it’s important to remember that when you delete the app, all data is permanently removed. To enable this setting, you must have a PIN code set up. Also please note that if you remove your PIN, this setting will also be turned off automatically.

 

Help

Enable Tooltips

By enabling the tooltips, you can do a long press on elements in the app to bring up a quick description of what that feature is.

Create Demo Session

Tapping this button will create a new student session under the name “John Doe.” You can use this to explore how a complete session might look before you use the app.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you offer discounts to schools?

Yes! Educational institutions that wish to buy On Task in bulk can do so for a discount. It will be available in your institution’s VPP program. Contact us if you need help.

I have an iPhone and an iPad. Can I use On Task on both?

Yes you can. On Task is a universal app, which means you don’t have to buy a separate version for your iPad. Presuming all of your devices use the same Apple ID, you can purchase On Task one time, and use it across the board on all of your devices. Important Note: Currently, data does not sync between devices, so you’ll need to manually export data between devices. This feature is currently under development.

Help! I locked my data and I can’t remember my PIN!

Unfortunately, for liability reasons, we can’t recover your PIN. You can reset On Task to its factory settings (which will remove the data lock) by deleting the app and re-installing from the App Store. The download will be free; you won’t have to purchase On Task again to do this.

Why so expensive? I only paid 99 cents for my favorite game.

Games profit from other revenue streams than the initial app purchase, for example in-app purchases and banner ads. Productivity apps generally don’t engage in this behavior, which is why these kind of apps are more expensive than games, across the board. Our pricing is extremely competitive with other similar apps, particularly considering the feature-set On Task provides in comparison.

Still have questions?

No problem! Feel free to reach out directly with any feature requests, bugs, comments, questions, or just to say hi!