SPOT is available for anyone to use by following these instructions:

• The SPOT protocol currently lives in the GORP Platform (Generalized Observation and Reflection Platform). To make an account go to https://gorp.ucdavis.edu/users/sign_up. Under ‘choose an institution’ choose ‘SPOT’. (We set SPOT up as an institution for now to make it as easy as possible for SPOT users to have access to the SPOT protocol by default and all of the other presets for SPOT.)

• Once your account in confirmed and you are logged in, choose NEW OBSERVATION under Quick Start. By default, the course that appears should say ‘SPOT Observation’ and SPOT should be selected for the protocol. Then choose ‘Start Observation.’ After you choose ‘Start Observation’ a screen will open with an observing interface.

• The interface is designed to be intuitive to use. Clicking the buttons for the different actions logs the different teacher and student activities. After you save and end the observation the SPOT visualizations will automatically load. Hovering over the different parts of the visualizations displays more information.

• To get back to your observation list (to view past observations) or start a new observation, use the menu on the upper left.