🧩 What Are Modules?
Modules are the core features that make up the Otus platform. Each module is designed to support a specific part of the teaching, learning, and administrative experience, from creating assessments to tracking student growth to communicating with families. Example:
💡 Tip: Not every module is available to every user. Access is determined by your account type. Not sure what account type you have? Check out the Account Types Overview for a full breakdown of roles and access.
Available In: Main Admin, Admin
Primary Use: View high-level insights into how the district is using Otus through interactive charts and data visualizations.
What It Does:
Provides a bird's-eye view of district-wide Otus activity
Displays interactive charts to help admins identify trends and engagement patterns
Supports data-informed decisions at the district and building level
❗ The Activity Dashboard is not available in all districts. Contact your Otus Client Experience Partner to learn more about enabling the Activity Dashboard.
🏢 District
Available In: Main Admin, Admin
Primary Use: Search for and manage teachers, students, and groups across the district or assigned sites.
What It Does:
Search for all sites, teachers, and students across the district
Create and edit student groups, teacher groups, and recognitions
Main Admins have visibility across the entire district; Admin accounts are scoped to their assigned sites
💡 Tip: Use student and teacher groups to streamline how you organize and communicate with users across your buildings.
🏠 Home
Available In: Teacher, Student
Primary Use: A central notification feed for class activity and a running To Do list for outstanding tasks.
What It Does:
Displays notifications for assessments, lessons, Class Board activity, recognitions, and blogs
Keeps outstanding assignments and tasks visible in the To Do list on the right side of the page
Helps teachers and students stay on top of what needs attention each day
🔔 Activity
Available In: Family
Primary Use: A notification feed that keeps family members informed about their student's class activity and outstanding to-do items.
What It Does:
Receives notifications for assessments, lessons, Class Board activity, recognitions, and blogs
Displays outstanding assignments and tasks in the To Do list
Keeps families connected to their student's day-to-day activities in Otus
🎓 Classes
Available In: Main Admin, Admin, Teacher, Student, Family
Primary Use: The Classes module serves different purposes depending on account type. Classroom management for educators and Class Board access for students and families.
What It Does:
Main Admins, Admins, and Teachers can view class lists, student profiles, assign student groups, assign recognitions, view the Class Board, access the Mailbox, and view Class Information
Students see a tile for each of their classes; selecting a tile takes them directly to the Class Board
Families can view their student's classes and access the Class Board
💡 Tip: The Class Board is a great place for teachers to post announcements, share resources, and build a sense of community with students and families.
👨👩👧 My Students
Available In: Family
Primary Use: Gives family members a dedicated space to access information specific to each student linked to their account.
What It Does:
Displays a tile for each student linked to the family account
Shows positive and negative recognition indicators (+ and - icons) at a glance
Selecting a student's profile picture or name navigates to that student's class list
📖 Lessons
Available In: Main Admin, Admin, Teacher, Student
Primary Use: Create and assign a series of activities for students to complete at their own pace or as directed by the teacher.
What It Does:
Main Admins, Admins, and Teachers can create, preview, and view assigned lessons
Students can complete lessons assigned to them
Lessons can include a variety of activity types to support differentiated instruction
💡 Tip: Lessons are a great way to build structured, multi-step learning experiences that students can move through independently.
Available In: Main Admin, Admin, Teacher, Student, Family
Primary Use: A shared resource library where teachers can upload and organize materials for students to access.
What It Does:
Main Admins, Admins, and Teachers can upload resources, organize them into folders, and share them with students and other teachers
Students can upload their own resources, organize them into folders, and share them with their teacher
Families can view the resources available on their student's Bookshelf
Available In: Main Admin, Admin, Teacher, Student
Primary Use: Create, assign, and grade assessments that measure student growth and mastery.
What It Does:
Main Admins, Admins, and Teachers can create, assign, and grade assessments, as well as send copies to other users
Main Admins and Admins can share assessment folders across the district
Students can complete assessments assigned to them
Available In: Main Admin, Admin, Teacher, Student, Family
Primary Use: Enter and view grades to measure student growth and overall performance.
What It Does:
Main Admins, Admins, and Teachers can view the gradebook, enter and edit grades, filter results, and add comments to the Assessments view
Students and Families can view and filter the gradebook and read comments left by teachers
💡 Tips:
Otus has two gradebook views, Assessments View and Standards View.
Districts can make both views available or choose to enable just one.
The gradebook looks different in student and family accounts compared to teacher and admin accounts.
🗂️ Plans
Available In: Main Admin, Admin, Teacher, Student, Family (participating districts)
Primary Use: Design individualized learning plans for students and track their progress throughout the year.
What It Does:
Allows educators to build personalized learning plans for each student's goals
Tracks student progress against plan objectives over time
Supports collaborative planning between teachers and administrators
❗ Plans is not available in all districts. Contact your Otus Client Experience Partner to learn more about adding Plans to your district.
Available In: Main Admin, Admin, Teacher
Primary Use: View and analyze student data from both Otus assessments and third-party sources.
What It Does:
Main Admins have access to 3rd Party Assessments, Attendance, Recognitions, Assessments, Standards, Report Cards, Queries, Historical Reports, and Exports for all students in the district
Admins have access to the same data points for all students within their assigned sites
Teachers have access to 3rd Party Assessments, Attendance, Recognitions, Assessments, and Standards for students in the classes they teach
✍️ Blog
Available In: Main Admin, Admin, Teacher, Student, Family
Primary Use: A space for informal, conversational-style communication between teachers and students.
What It Does:
Main Admins, Admins, and Teachers can create, view, and comment on blog posts, and adjust settings related to permissions
Students can create and view blog posts and leave comments if the teacher has enabled that setting; students can also mark posts as private so only their teacher can see them
Families can view blog posts created by their student or their student's teacher
💡 Tip: Families can only see blog content created by the teacher or their own student. They are unable to see posts or comments made by other students.
🗃️ Portfolio
Available In: Student, Family
Primary Use: A curated collection of student work, including assessments, blog posts, artifacts, and file uploads.
What It Does:
Students can add items to their portfolio and leave comments on them
Families can view their student's portfolio
Main Admins, Admins, and Teachers can also view and add to student portfolios, but must be accessed via the student profile.
Available In: Main Admin
Primary Use: Manage all district-wide settings from a single, centralized location.
What It Does:
Controls grading scales, mastery settings, and standards
Manages admin user permissions, student profile pictures, and family information
Configures grading periods and third-party integrations
💡 Tip: Many Control Center settings are configured during onboarding with the help of your Otus Technology Coach. If you have questions about your district's specific settings, reach out to your Technology Coach or the Support Team via the in-app chat.
❓ Help
Available In: Main Admin, Admin, Teacher, Family
Primary Use: Access the Otus Knowledge Base of help articles directly from within the platform.
What It Does:
Selecting the Help module opens the Otus Help Center in a separate webpage
Users can search for articles, how-to guides, and resources across all Otus features
The experience is the same for all account types that have access
💡 Tip: No need to navigate to the Help module to reach our Support Team. Just look for the chat icon in the bottom-right corner of any page in Otus.