The plans module in Otus allows administrators to design district-specific academic, behavioral, or personalized learning plans for any student and track their progress across classes and school years. It all starts when an administrator creates a template.
❗️Templates can only be created by administrator accounts. Teachers can add students and add updates to a student's plan.
With the flexible tools in the Template Builder, it's easy to create a unique template for administrators and teachers across the district to enter data and monitor student progress on any type of plan.
Creating the Template
From the plans module, select Create Template in the top right corner:
Title and Settings
Provide a title, overall scale, and description. Then choose customization settings.
Title: Enter a descriptive name for the plan. (60-character limit)
Status: Choose a scale to use in the status drop-down menu.
The status allows educators to identify the current overall status of the plan for each student. The scale used here can differ from any item status (see Add Sections and Items section below).
The list of scales is drawn from the grading scales available in your district. (See FAQ for more)
❗️The grading scale cannot be changed once the plan has been published.
Template Description: Describe the goals and objectives of the plan. Format your description with different text styles, bullets, and links. (5000 character limit)
💡 Tip: Include specific instructions about items in the plan, examples showing what should be entered in each column, and/or the expected goals or results.
Customization: Toggle ON/OFF to allow educators to customize plans.
ON (default) - Allows teachers and administrators to show or hide certain plan items from specific students. Find additional guidance here.
OFF - No items in the plan can be hidden or shown by any teacher or administrator including the administrator who authored the plan.
Customization can be toggled ON or OFF again after publishing. Learn more information about customization and editing a published template feature.
Example: |
Adding Sections, Columns, and Items
Each row or item in the template is comprised of customizable columns. Each section can have a unique set of columns. We've included examples of completed templates at the bottom of this section.
Sections and Columns
Enter a Section title (Required).
Enter a Section Description (Optional).
Enter an Items column heading (Required). (140 character limit)
Enter a Status column heading (Required). (140 character limit)
Delete the column or move the column to the left or right, if there are additional columns.
Use caution when deleting a column from a published template. Learn more.
Add Text, Status, Dropdown, or Date columns.
If you wish to delete the default status column (#4), add at least one additional column in order for the delete option to become available. A minimum of one column is required.
Add items individually or add several items at once.
Add Section
Delete Section
Reorder Sections
Move sections to a different location on the template.
Items
Enter the name of the item (Required). (140 character limit)
Delete item.
Use caution when deleting an item from a published template. Learn more.
If using a Status column, choose a scale: Establishes the grading scale used for this item. It can be the same scale as the template's overall status, or each item’s scale can be unique. However, the scales cannot be changed after publishing. Learn more.
Connect 3rd Party Data: Choose a 3rd party dataset and assessment to automate updated scores into your plan.
If using a Dropdown column, type in the text box to add the dropdown selection options.
Add a new item or several new items to the section.
💡 Which column type should I choose?
Status columns are best for tracking performance or progress over time, and can also be used to view data visualizations on the current status for all students within the item.
Dropdown columns are best for limited, one-time selections that do not require analysis or tracking of performance/progress (e.g. staff member names, frequencies for interventions, curricular resources).
Text columns are best when there are a large variety of possible entries and options do not need to be limited.
Reorder Sections
To move sections of the plan template around, click the Reorder Sections button.
Click on the section you'd like to move, drag it to the correct order, and select save.
Clone Sections
To clone (make a copy of) a section, select the ellipsis menu for the section you wish to clone, then select Clone Section.
If you have multiple sections, please note that the cloned section will appear at the end of the list of sections. You may need to scroll to the bottom of the plan template in order to view, edit, and reorder the cloned section as needed.
Saving & Publishing
Preview
Click Preview to get a sneak peek at what your published template will look like.
Save as Draft
Click the Save button to save a draft. The current progress of the template will be saved into the template list.
In the plans list, each draft template is indicated by a tag in the author's list of templates. The draft tag will be removed as soon as it is published.
Publish
The template will be available to all teachers and administrators in the district as soon as it is published.
💡 Tip: Complete the template entirely before publishing. If changes need to be made to the article after publishing, follow the guidance in this article.
Setting Plan Permissions
By default, administrators can adjust permissions for any plan template that they have created. However, other administrator users can be permitted to edit template permissions. This will allow them to set permissions for student and family access to the plan template.
First, navigate to the plans module. Select the ellipsis beside the plan you'd like to allow access to and choose Permissions.
➡️ General Permissions
Toggle on to allow other administrator users to update the plan template permissions.
➡️ Student Permissions
Give students access to view their plan, view any notes or items attached to their plan, or provide status updates.
➡️ Family Permissions
Give access to family users to view their linked student's plans, view any notes or items attached to their students' plans, or provide status updates.
➡️ Educator Permissions
Choose to allow other administrators or teachers to edit permissions for individual plans.
Example Template
Cloning or Sending a Copy of a Template
Cloning
When using Otus Plans, a template can be cloned to allow for easy re-creation of the content or structure. To clone a template in plans, follow the steps below.
Only administrator accounts can clone templates. Teacher accounts are not able to clone templates.
Step 1: Navigate to the plans module.
Step 2: Identify the plan you'd like to clone. Select the ellipsis to the right.
Step 3: Select Clone.
The clone is placed at the top of the Plans list.
The word -Copy is appended to the end of the title.
The cloned plan is marked as a Draft. Once the title is changed, the draft status will be removed.
Sending a Copy
Step 1: While on your list of plans, select the ellipsis next to the desired plan and choose Send Copy.
Step 2: Type in the email address of the administrator you would like to send a copy of the plan template to and then select Send.
You will receive one of two messages:
 The copy was sent successfully. |  The email address entered was incorrect. |
Things to Consider
If the recipient of the copy is not in the same district as the sender, all non-points grading scales will be removed. The points grading scale will remain. The recipient will need to add grading scales to those items.
If the recipient of the copy is in the same district as the sender, the template will remain exactly as is with all of the same grading scales.
If you are not the original creator of the plan template you wish to send a copy of, you'll want to clone the plan first. Then you can send a copy of the clone.
Otus Live
Click here to view a video from our Otus Live series on how to get started with plans and how to create a plan template.
Click here to view a video from our Otus Live series on how to get started with plans and how to create a plan template.
FAQ
Click here to view frequently asked questions.
Click here to view frequently asked questions.
Once published, who can see this template?
All teachers and administrators in the district can see and add students to the plan. Learn more here.
Can we create a grading scale that is only used for plans (and not used in assessments)?
Yes! From the Main Admin account, in Control Center, create the desired grading scale and keep the boxes for Viewing and Creating Assessments unchecked. More information can be found here.