As far as television shows go, fictional portrayals of classrooms have proven to be long-standing fan favorites. In the 1970’s we laughed alongside the sweat hogs in Welcome Back Kotter. Then, in the 80’s we brushed up on our history knowledge with the characters of Head of the Class. In the 90’s we admittedly aligned ourselves with one of the cast members of Saved By the Bell. Then, in the 00’s we recited the tagline from Boston Public “if you thought being a student was hard, try being a teacher”.
Recently, at Otus HQ we had a philosophical conversation about this question: “If a new classroom television series was to air today what would it be called?” We all agreed that the show might very well be called, I Dream of Google.
Loyalty to Google
Both teaching and learning are experiencing a rapid metamorphosis in the way content is accessed, instruction is delivered, students are assessed, and materials are managed. This transformation is due in large part to Google. For teachers, Google Drive (docs, slides, forms, sheets, etc) has played a leading role in this change. Google Drive was the first cloud-based system that “took off” in education. In turn, many teachers and students have a strong affinity and loyalty to Google.
Due to this love for Google, when teachers first hear talk of implementing learning management systems they worry these systems will force them to stop using Google Drive. With Otus, this is simply not the case. Otus is a company created by and run by educators; we understand and value the many offerings of Google Drive. We also honor teachers’ time. Otus does not require you to abandon work that has already been created or ask teachers to change for the sake of changing. This is why our Google integration enhances the functionality of Google Drive features in a classroom setting.
Google Drive Integration with Otus
Teachers continue to use Google Drive with Otus and gain additional capabilities such as automatic grade reporting, immediate and easily accessible feedback, standards-based grading, and split-screen rubric grading. Otus also organizes documents and presentations by student and class. This functionality virtually eliminates the need for teachers to ever have to search their drive for items or figure out who is missing an assignment. An additional bonus of using Otus with Drive is that students use Otus to turn-in assignments rather than sharing through Google. This process eliminates “shared with you” email notifications and helps teachers get one step closer to the lofty goal of an email inbox at “0”.
As much as television shows portray classrooms to be all fun and games, at Otus we know that “real-life” classrooms do not come with a built-in laugh track. Teachers work tirelessly to make sure the needs of their students are met and that all students are performing. Otus’ integration with a proven K-12 asset like Google Drive is one of the many ways that Otus strives to make teaching and learning in the 21st century as seamless as possible. Otus makes tasks more efficient and effective so teachers can do what they do best: ensure that all students experience success.
If you are an administrator looking for the best K-12 learning platform, Otus is one system to teach, grade, and analyze. Find more info here, or request a demo below.
