Where is the best place to post a daily agenda?
How can I distribute individual copies of Google Docs to my students?
Where can I do a quick check of student learning?
The answer to the above three questions (and more) can be found here! This article will outline when it is best to use Class Board, Lessons, or Assessments within Otus.
The general definitions of each are as follows:
Class Board: Each class has its own Class Board, best compared to a "bulletin board" that can be accessed by both students and parents. Ideas for using the Class Board:
Lessons: A series of learning activities students progress through that are not attached to a grade; activities range from reading directions to watching videos. Ideas for using Lessons:
Assessments: Simple, Rubric and Advanced Assessments provide a means of assessing student learning using points and/or standards. Grades collected from these assessments are added to the gradebook and analytics. Types of assessments:
The following sections of this article outline example use cases for each of the above modules.
When to Use What
The following table outlines which module is best to complete each example task.
Task | Class Board | Lessons | Assessments |
Make an announcement for families. | ✅ |
|
|
Post a reminder message. | ✅ |
|
|
Share an agenda. | ✅ | ✅ |
|
Distribute resources. | ✅ | ✅ |
|
Do a "quick check" of student learning. |
| ✅ | ✅ |
Create activities for students. |
| ✅ |
|
Make copies of a Google Doc. |
|
| ✅ |
Assess student learning for a grade. |
|
| ✅ |
Create a "worksheet" for students. |
|
| ✅ |
Have students submit/upload work. |
|
| ✅ |
Class Board - Example Uses
Each class has its own Class Board, best compared to a "bulletin board" that can be accessed by both students and parents. The Class Board is most useful for posting announcements, reminders, or agendas.
See below for examples of ways to use the Class Board:
Weekly Agenda
Post a weekly agenda that can be seen by the students and parents. You can pin this announcement to the top, so it is the first one they see each time. You can replace it with a new agenda the following week.
💡 Tip: You can add links to each daily activity, so it is easy for students to know exactly where to go for each day.
Field Trip Reminder
Some students may have yet to turn in a permission slip for a field trip, or you may want to remind students and parents to bring a sack lunch.
💡 Tip: You can enable comments for questions students and parents may have.
Birthday Announcement
A great way to highlight birthdays in your classroom - an announcement dedicated to celebrating those turning another year older!
💡 Tip: To stay ahead of the game, you can build your birthday posts ahead of time and choose the date they are posted to the Class Board.
Lessons - Examples Uses
Lessons are a series of learning activities students progress through that are not attached to a grade; activities range from reading directions to watching videos.
See below for examples of ways to use Lessons:
Quick Comprehension Checks
You can ask Multiple Choice, True/False, or Short Answer questions as an activity in a lesson. These do not earn a grade in the gradebook but give you a way to assess learning in a more informal setting.
💡 Tip: You can embed images, videos, and audio recordings directly to the question (the example shown above has an embedded image).
Set of Directions to Complete a Task
One of the activity types of a lesson is called a "Page", which is essentially a document you can create, similar to a Word document. Students can read through the directions, click on any embedded links, and mark the activity complete when they are done.
💡 Tip: You can embed images, videos, and audio recordings directly to the question (the example shown above has an embedded image).
An Entire Elementary Day Schedule
In many cases, especially for elementary classrooms, you may want to post activities for the entire day, acting almost as a schedule for the students.
💡 Tip: You can upload any image to use as the "tile preview," which are the images displayed on the tile as you see above. These were made using a generic word processing program and saved as images.
Assessments - The Three Types
Simple, Rubric and Advanced Assessments provide a means of assessing student learning using points and/or standards. Grades collected from these assessments are added to the gradebook and analytics.
See below for examples of the three types of assessments.
Simple Assessment
Simple Assessments are best for quick comprehension checks that are graded, or assessments that only contain multiple-choice, true/false, or short answer questions that do not require intricate scoring.
💡 Tip: You can include images, videos, and audio recordings in your questions.
Rubric Assessment
Rubric Assessments are best for essays/papers, submitting artifacts or documents (Google docs, video, images...), or performance-based grades. The example below shows what a Rubric Assessment with a Google Doc attached looks like from a student's perspective.
💡 Tip: Rubrics can be used when students don't actually need to submit work. For example, you can create a Rubric for a performance-based grade where there isn't any student upload needed.
Advanced Assessment
Advanced Assessments are best for replicating activities that can be found on worksheets, longer and more detailed assessments, assessments that need many different question types, or when you want a variety of ways to score questions in an assessment (partial credit, alternate answers...).
💡 Tip: There are over 60 question types that can be used on Advanced Assessments. Check out the beginner's guide to become more familiar with the structure before diving right in!