March 17, 2023 RCSD Educator Blog

Chat GPT Update
Chat GPT is no longer blocked for RCSD Educatorson District Wifi. It is still blocked for students on district devices. A reminder for staff to never put any student information on platforms like this or any platform that we do not have a student data privacy agreement with. We look forward to continuing to learn how to use this tool as educators. We will share interesting/educational articles about GPT like the one below:

100 Prompts for Teachers to Ask ChatGPT- Alice Keeler

LITE Tech Tip- Spring 2023

Looking for some new tech tips?  Please see the document below with some Tech Tips from our RCSD LITE team members.

LITE Tech Tips- Spring 2023

Mystery Science Elementary Teacher Feedback

As we start trimester three, we are hoping to gather feedback on Mystery Science and how it is working in your classrooms. This feedback will provide us with an understanding of how we can better support you with the implementation and use of Mystery Science and how you feel this product is supporting our students' science learning. Any feedback you can offer would be greatly appreciated. 

Please complete this form by 3/17/23.  Thank you! 

Contact: Megan Spears

Otus Gradebook Reminders

After Tri 2 Report Cards, there were a few common things that came up regarding the grade book that we wanted to make sure we clarified:

-Due Dates Matter!  All assignments should have a due date that falls within the Trimester you want that grade to appear.  Within Otus when assigning anything, but especially grading rubrics, include a due date that is within the grading window. If a due date is not added, the grade gets placed in the grading window that the teacher grades the assessment, not when it was assigned. Adding a due date is the best way to guarantee accuracy of assessments within grading windows.  For example, if you assigned a rubric in Trimester 2, but updated a grade on March 3rd, the system thinks that grade is now for Tri 3 since there is no due date.

-Make sure learning behaviors are being used as the standards selected in the learning behavior grade book and academic standards in the summative grade book.

-All sites should be giving a preview of the report card.  It is important that you look at the preview and update before final grades are sent out.

Otus Updates

Assessment View

On March 17th, Otus released an Assessments view in Gradebook, giving standards-based educators a quicker way to:

-View all assigned assessments in a class, no matter which grading scale was used

-Review and change the status of any assessment in a class

-Add or edit comments on any assessment in a class

What about student and family accounts?

-Students can view teacher comments added to all graded assessments directly in their gradebook.

-Family users can see the student's list of assignments, including total scores, statuses, timestamps, and comments. These comments do not show on the report card, they are tied to the assessment. Teacher view of whole class:

Teacher view of individual student:

Teachers would need to mark missing for assignments for them and the student/family to see that an assignment is missing. A reminder that if you have multiple students that have a missing assignment, you can click on the boxes next to their name and then change the submission status and it will reflect that status for all students that you checked.

Missing Assessment Report

You can download a missing report for your entire class, or an individual student in your class. To download the missing report for your class (by period) go to the Assessment tab, then download Missing Assessments:

Or by student:

Upcoming Updates

By the end of the year Otus will be upcoming the family and student landing page.  This page will include where families and students can see a student's overall summative grade in all classes, as well as Learning Behavior grades.  Sample image:

Once this release happens, we would notify all staff and families.

Contact: Brandon Blom