Otus (education)

Last updated
Otus
Otus-logo.png
Type of business Private
Type of site
 Education Technology
Available inEnglish, Portuguese
Founded2012
Headquarters Chicago, IL
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s) Chris Hull, Pete Helfers, Andy Bluhm
Industry Education
Services Student Performance Platform, Learning management system, Data warehouse, Classroom management tools
URL www.otus.com
Current statusActive

Otus is an educational technology company providing a learning management system, data warehouse and many classroom management tools for K-12 students, teachers, parents, and administrators. Otus was nominated as a finalist of two 2016 Codie awards in the "Best Classroom Management System" and "Best K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution" categories, one 2018 Codie award for "Best Student Assessment Solution", and two 2019 Codie awards for "Best Data Solution" and "Best Administrative Solution". [1] [2] Otus was a finalist in EdTech Digest's 2016 "District Data Solution" and "Learning Management System" categories. [3] Otus co-founder Chris Hull was also announced as one of the National School Boards Association's "20 to Watch Educators for 2016". [4]

Contents

History

Founded in 2012 by Chris Hull and Pete Helfers, two social studies teachers at Illinois' Elm Place Middle School, Otus was designed to replicate the ideal K-12 classroom experience that the two teachers envisioned. [5] After receiving a grant to bring 1:1 computing iPads to their students, both quickly recognized the limitless potential that classroom management tools offer, but were disappointed with the effectiveness of the current apps on the market. [6] Believing that they could do better, Chris and Pete started to develop Otus while continuing to work their respective teaching jobs, their end-goal being to create an all in one classroom management system integrating everything necessary to run a classroom. [7] After reaching out to Chicago-based hedge fund manager Andy Bluhm, who provided them with $2M in funding, Otus was officially launched in August, 2014 and has grown domestically and internationally since. [8] As of May 10, 2016, Otus owns the trademark phrase "Student Performance Platform." [9] Otus has recently partnered with NWEA to become a MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) Authorized Data Partner. Starting Fall 2016, all users of Otus will be able to see and take advantage of MAP data directly in the Otus platform. [10]

Functions

Otus competes with other learning management systems such as Edmodo, Blackboard Learn, Schoology, Moodle and Canvas by Instructure to provide educational tools on a district and school wide basis. Otus in particular aims to offer "everything a mobile classroom could possibly need for both teachers and students" [11] and does so by providing attendance tracking, a digital bookshelf for uploading files, in-app annotations, assignments, papers, polls, blogs, quizzes, and more. Otus integrates third-party apps, such as Khan Academy, PARCC, and many more through their "toolbox" program. Everything a student does through the Otus platform is integrated into a deep learning program called "analytics" on the Otus app, which compiles information from all first- and third-party apps and creates a student profile easily accessible by teachers and parents at the teacher's discretion. Otus is freely available for use by students, teachers, and parents, but requires a subscription fee for district administrators. [12] Otus is available on iOS for teachers and students, and the web for all users. [13]

Related Research Articles

Educational technology is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refers to the industry of companies that create educational technology.

Edline was a learning community management system used for school and class organization. It provided district, school, and classroom level website support for administrators, parents, teachers, and students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Jtest is an automated Java software testing and static analysis product developed by Parasoft. The product includes technology for Data-flow analysis, Unit test-case generation and execution, static analysis, and more. Jtest is used by companies such as Cisco Systems and TransCore. It is also used by Lockheed Martin for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program (JSF).

Doon Public School is a co-educational private secondary school, in Paschim Vihar, Delhi, India. The school uses English as the medium for instruction. The school is housed in an imposing red brick structure and is over forty years old. Apart from being rated amongst the Top 10 Best Public Schools in Delhi/ NCR, the school also prides in the distinction of being awarded the Best E School in Delhi/NCR.

Mimio is a brand name of a line of technology products aimed at the education market. The primary products were originally focused around computer whiteboard interactive teaching devices. MimioCapture devices also allow users to capture all of the ink strokes that are written on the whiteboard. When used in conjunction with a video projector it turns the ordinary whiteboard surface into a fully interactive whiteboard. The product line has been dramatically expanded in the last two years as described in the "Hardware Products" and "Software Products" sections below.

Futurekids, Inc. is a privately held internationally franchised K–12 educational software company headquartered in El Segundo, California, which focuses on technological literacy and computer literacy.

Acumatica provides cloud and browser based enterprise resource planning software for small and medium-sized businesses. The company is headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, in the Seattle metropolitan area.

ExploreLearning is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based company which operates a large library of interactive online simulations for mathematics and science education in grades 3–12. These simulations are called 'Gizmos'. The company's website describes their library of over 450 Gizmos as the world's largest collection of such materials.

PD 360 is an online library of educational professional development video programs broken into segments. The product was developed by the School Improvement Network, and it has since been renamed Edivate. The segments are topical based with classroom examples featuring various educational experts. PD 360 has increased student achievement in schools in North America.

Instructure, Inc. is an educational technology company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is the developer and publisher of Canvas, a web-based learning management system (LMS), and MasteryConnect, an assessment management system. The company is owned by private-equity firm Thoma Bravo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edsby</span>

Edsby is a cloud-based software application that combines social networking with class and student management features. It is a learning management system with data aggregation and analytics features for K-12 students, teachers, and parents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CallidusCloud</span> US enterprise software and SaaS company

The SAP Sales Cloud, formerly CallidusCloud, is an enterprise software and software as a service (SaaS) company headquartered in Dublin, California. The company markets services for sales effectiveness, sales management and sales execution software and services.

Google Classroom is a free blended learning platform developed by Google for educational institutions that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignments. The primary purpose of Google Classroom is to streamline the process of sharing files between teachers and students. As of 2021, approximately 150 million users use Google Classroom.

ClassDojo is an educational technology company. It connects primary school teachers, students and families through communication features, such as a feed for photos and videos from the school day, and messaging that can be translated into more than 35 languages. It also enables teachers to note feedback on students' skills and creates a portfolio for students, so that families can be aware of school activities outside of meeting with teachers.

Concentric Sky is a software development company located in Eugene, Oregon. The company was founded in 2005 by Wayne Skipper, and grew to nearly 90 employees prior its sale to Instructure in April 2022. In 2015, Cale Bruckner was promoted to President of the company. Skipper continued to serve as CEO until the company's sale. Concentric Sky is the maker of Badgr and is a well-known contributor to the development of open technology standards focused on advancing equity outcomes for learners and workers.

Cambridge Semantics is a privately held company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts with an office in San Diego, California. The company is an enterprise big data management and exploratory analytics software company.

Quickbase, Inc., is a software company providing a low-code application development platforms. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company was divested from Intuit in March 2016. In Jan 2019, Private-Equity firm Vista Equity Partners announced buying a majority stake in Quickbase from Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe for a reported $1 billion. Competitors include Appian, Oracle APEX, Microsoft PowerApps, Smartsheet, Mendix, and OutSystems.

itslearning is a digital learning management system developed by the Norwegian company itslearning AS. It is designed for both K12 and higher education. The LMS allows teachers to deliver materials to students, including assessments, Office 365 documents, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MobyMax</span> Educational technology website

MobyMax is an online education program used by grades K-8. MobyMax includes 27 subjects, including math, reading, phonics, language, vocabulary, spelling, writing, science, social studies, and state test prep. The program also provides classroom tools such as assessments and progress monitoring, and also offers games, badges, and contests to motivate students.

Learnosity is an Irish-based education technology company. It produces a set of tools that businesses use to build online assessment and learning products. The company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland and has offices in Sydney, Australia, New York, USA and Los Angeles, USA.

References

  1. ↑ "2016 Finalists". www.siia.net. Archived from the original on 2016-04-10.
  2. ↑ "Otus Named SIIA Education CODiE Award Finalist for Two K-12 Categories".
  3. ↑ "2016 – Finalists & Winners". 15 March 2016.
  4. ↑ http://www.nsba.org/newsroom/press-releases/national-school-boards-association-names-%E2%80%9C20-watch%E2%80%9D-education-technology
  5. ↑ "About Us".
  6. ↑ "About Us".
  7. ↑ "EdTech Management Platform Otus Expands To District Level | Chicago Inno". chicagoinno.streetwise.co. Archived from the original on 2015-08-18.
  8. ↑ "Chicago hedge fund manager Andrew Bluhm backs education tech startup Otus | Crain's Chicago Business". 25 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "STUDENT PERFORMANCE PLATFORM Trademark of Otus - Registration Number 4957673 - Serial Number 86819392 :: Justia Trademarks".
  10. ↑ "Otus Chosen as Northwest Evaluation Association MAP Authorized Data Partner".
  11. ↑ "Otus: The Complete Learning Management System for the K-12 Classroom".
  12. ↑ "EdTech Management Platform Otus Expands To District Level | Chicago Inno". chicagoinno.streetwise.co. Archived from the original on 2015-08-18.
  13. ↑ "Announcing… Otus on Any Device! - Otus". otus.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-05.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.