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Proposal Process

The Seven Steps

Overall, I think the process of proposing the use of Otus has been thought provoking and a confidence booster. When I say confidence booster, I mean that it has given me the tools I need in order to meet the needs of all of my students. I felt like I was under serving many of my students this past year because our curriculum was not differentiated. By having the time to get to know Otus, I feel empowered and knowledgeable about the tools it features. I am very excited to see what Otus is going to be able to do next year. I think it has so much potential not only for differentiating assessments, but also for formative assessments, warm ups, polls, discussions, and creating differentiated lessons. My goal is to first focus on assessments and learn how to create them well. Then, I will use Otus for more activities in my classroom.


Gif from Giphy


The most positive aspect of this journey was actually beginning the process to implement Otus with my science department. We met, virtually, to discuss what each tiered assessment might look like and created examples of differentiated assessments. I think this was the right first step before learning Otus because once we do, we will hit the ground running and start creating our assessments. Besides the beginning of implementation, I have also received valuable feedback from the peer review. I think it is important to see something from the perspective of another educator.

Gif from Giphy


Along the way, there have also been some challenges. After talking with one of our school administrators, she was not sure if Amplify would be able to transfer question banks into Otus. This was concerning because we want to work to create several tiers for the assessments. Without a question bank, we would have to type and format them manually. The questions tend to be lengthy with pictures needed for comprehension, which would be time consuming to add into Otus. However, at our last department virtual meeting, she did say that Amplify will be able to transfer questions. This is huge because it will make differentiation faster and simpler. We won't have to flip back and forth, from Amplify to Otus, when making assessments.


After creating this proposal, I understand the importance of the role of a Learning Specialist and Instructional Designer. Without them, districts would not know which applications to invest in. There are so many needs within one school, and it is hard to know what is the best fit. The Learning Specialist and Instructional Designer really are the driving force when it comes to research, presentation, and implementation of tools. I have a newly found respect for those who take on this job because I know it is not easy. However, it is rewarding once you see all of the possibilities created from that tech tool.
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