EdTech Empowerment: Innovating Education Together
Hosted by Juan Rodriguez, founder and Executive Director of NextGen Classrooms, EdTech Empowerment: Innovating Education Together dives into the power of technology to bridge the digital divide and revolutionize education. Each episode brings insights from guest speakers across the education spectrum, including educators, tech experts, policymakers, and community leaders, who share strategies to empower every student, regardless of background, with access to cutting-edge educational tools. Rooted in NextGen Classrooms’ mission to create globally connected, innovative learning spaces, this podcast covers topics like digital literacy, AI ethics, equitable access, and transformative practices in the classroom. Join us as we explore the latest trends and tools shaping the future of education and empower educators to create impactful, inclusive learning environments for all students.
EdTech Empowerment: Innovating Education Together
From Classroom to Innovation: Bridging Data and Technology in Education with Chris Hull
In this episode of EdTech Empowerment, host Juan Rodriguez speaks with Chris Hull, a former social studies teacher and co-founder of Otus, an all-in-one platform for education technology. They discuss the journey from teaching to edtech innovation, the challenges of integrating technology in classrooms, and the importance of data-driven decision-making. Chris shares insights on how to effectively use data to improve student outcomes, engage parents, and ensure data security. The conversation also explores the future of edtech, emphasizing personalization and the role of AI in education.
EdTech Empowerment: Innovating Education Together is hosted by Juan Rodriguez, founder of NextGen Classrooms. Our mission? To empower every student with access to technology-rich education. Tune in each episode to hear from thought leaders, educators, and tech experts on transformative strategies in education, from digital literacy and AI ethics to building inclusive classrooms.
Let’s bridge the digital divide, together!
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Welcome to another episode of EdTech Empowerment Innovating Education Together the podcast where we explore the latest trends and best practices in technology integration for the classroom. I'm your host, juan Rodriguez, from NextGen Classrooms, and today we have an exciting conversation ahead. Our guest today is Chris Hall, a veteran educator turned ed tech innovator. Chris spent years as a social studies teacher before founding Otis, an all-in-one platform designed to help schools harness technology and data to improve student learning. Today, we're going to dive into the best practices for integrating technology in education, how educators can make data-driven decisions and what the future of ed tech looks like. If you're a teacher, administrator or anyone passionate about education and technology, this episode is packed with valuable insights just for you, so let's jump in. Hey, chris, what's going on?
Speaker 2:Not much, man. How are you doing? I can't believe how cold it is here in Chicago, so hopefully it's warmer where you're at.
Speaker 1:We're in Rhode Island, so it's not too bad. It's just as cold, I believe. So, chris, tell us what you've been up to?
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely so, for your audience really appreciate the opportunity to be here. So I was a seventh grade social studies. I was a seventh grade social studies teacher for 11 years and through my time there I had many lessons where I wanted to become more efficient and wanted to be able to connect to my kids in a better way, and so I actually helped co-found a company called Otis, and Otis is a unified place so that you can really see a complete picture of who a kid is, so you can get all this information about them, from their assessments to their progress, progress to being able to communicate with their families and you're able to really understand who they are and then help them grow to become whomever they want to be. And it's really about being able to connect with those kids and really about being able to help educators, from teachers to administrators, really gain insight to that individual kid, to a group of kids.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, so let's talk about that. Right, let's talk about your journey. Can you share a little bit about your journey from being a social studies teacher to founding Otis and what inspired you to transition into ed tech?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I always found technology needed to be a tool. I like to say that sometimes with my wife and family, I'll sometimes say I'm lazy, but oftentimes it just means I'm trying to be efficient with my time, and I don't think there's anything more valuable to educators than time. And so when I was a seventh grade social studies teacher, I kept looking for technology to help me be more efficient, help me connect to my 150 kids in a better way, help them stay engaged right, if a student's engaged, your life and job is easier. But when we went one-to-one, giving each kid a device, instead of making things better, that device actually made things harder. Each tool and app we added actually separated the data further.
Speaker 2:Each tool and app we did made we had to teach our kids how to use something different, and all of a sudden it became about the technology and not about the learning.
Speaker 2:And so, because of those problems because the data about a kid was spread between all these websites, because I was having to use 15 to 20 different tools I'm like there has to be something better. And really that's really what we came up with. The idea of Otis is unified platform, so a set of tools that are all together so you can do many things in one place, and also by bringing the data in one place, I didn't have to be searching and looking, I could get a complete picture, and so today you know, otis is used in over 250 districts, and really our big value for educators is we save time and allow them to answer very specific questions how are my third graders with an IEP doing? Or how are my varsity soccer players doing? And all of a sudden I'm able to tailor my instruction in a much more personalized and differentiated way and it really allows for this engagement and meeting kids where they're at to really become a possibility. You know, a reality.
Speaker 1:You know that's awesome. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing like your experience, but like what inspired you to jump into ed tech and I heard you talk about like you loved using technology. Share with like what are some of the technologies you were using in your classroom and what led you to developing Otis.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think that really what inspired me was the ability to see my kids. So when we did this project, it was called Project Citizen. It was where students would define a local problem and through their definition of a local problem, they would then brainstorm possible solutions to this problem impacting them and then they would propose actual policies and changes that they could actually implement.
Speaker 2:And in the first year of doing it, we use poster boards and it was like my art nightmare is, like a nightmare from art class where all of a sudden, it's like Juan's not cutting straight, you know, chris is hogging the glue, megan sitting in the corner talking to her friends, and I'm like I don't want this to be about art. I want this to be about the engagement and the civics around it. And so in year two, we actually had each group instead of each class. We broke into small groups. Each group created a website and it was really a marketing site. This is our problem, this is our solution. And all of a sudden, people thought I was this tech guru when instead, I just used, instead of having to print things and cut things with a paper cutter and scissors. No, it's like build a website, but what goes on a website.
Speaker 1:Oh you can make a video.
Speaker 2:Oh man, my kids are now engaged. Now, all of a sudden, way less late work, way more engagement. Way less late work, way more engagement. Now they're actually producing better quality solutions. They're thinking things through. So, all of a sudden, I was inspired by my, my kids having this aha moment and their engagement. Their success was like man, how do I do this more? You know, having a kid, you know, having six classes, 150 kids and zero late assignments. Them coming and being so excited to be there. Them coming working during lunch, all of a sudden, producing these websites. And this is in 2010, 2011. It was amazing, and so I just wanted to have that energy in my classroom more consistently, and so we developed Otis for that to happen.
Speaker 2:And I was doing other things in my classroom like we would have. I would have one on one meeting, so, like, while we were doing these projects, I would pull kids aside for like three to four minutes and we would talk about hey, what skills are you excelling at, what skills do you need improvement at? And we'd have these like mini conversations. But I found that I was tracking all of this in spreadsheets or in Google Docs and I needed something to be more efficient. And so this is where really Otis came into play, where we have a profile for a kid, so I can see all their past work, I can see their past performance on our standards and skills. I can highlight what are they doing well, what are they not. And then in our school we used a test called NWEA, and that was a test that they kind of really were benchmarking off of. That's how they got placed into certain classes or they got placed for certain things, and so I wanted them to have ownership of their learning journey. I wanted them to feel heard and seen, and my classroom was always about letting there to be a lot of choice, like we were going to teach the same skills, but there needed to be a lot of choice.
Speaker 2:And so the inspiration of connecting to kids and unlocking their potential led me to continually turn to technology, and it started off with a series of websites.
Speaker 2:Like we use this site called PB WikiWorks, which was like a wiki page, and that was really cool. Always reminded me PB was like peanut butter and jelly, but that's what they could build out, like a set of resources they were going to go to. You know we use like wixcom, you know build websites that were free Google sites at the time, and I used to have a site where I reviewed like 2000 websites, so you name it. It was like cartoon creators and things like that, but I always saw technology as a means to get something done more effectively. And I think at Otis we still have that same goal where, hey, we've put together all these tools so you can give assessments, you can have students have a blog, you can have them do lessons, but because all those tools are in one place, you can really focus on that teaching and learning and it really I think that's what's inspiring to all educators being able to help kids.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. I love that, I mean, and what's great about it is that students are now becoming content creators and in this day and age, that's so huge, like the learning building skills to create these websites. Pretty sure, you probably use videos in there as well, or some graphic design, which is awesome, but we all understand that when it comes to integrating technology, it could be a challenge for some educators. Right Now, you're adding some more stuff to their plate. From your perspective, what are some of the biggest challenges for educators and administrators when integrating technologies in their classrooms?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we often lose track of what the real goal of is a technology right. Using technology for it being a gadget or it being cool, I don't necessarily think gains us the necessary traction to reach our end goal, and so I think it's really important that we understand what are we trying to do, what are we trying to solve for, and finding the best path for it. One of the things that would sometimes surprise people. I'd have folks visit my classroom and there were times we didn't have our iPads out. We transitioned to Chromebooks, we didn't have our technology out, and it's like well, they would ask like well, why aren't you using technology for this? And I was like there are times, you know, pair share is an amazing activity where all of a sudden, two kids are having a conversation and then they like turn and have a conversation with somebody else. There are times where it's not just hey, let's use technology for technology's sake, and so I think the biggest struggle folks have is if we are losing track of what the real aim is. We then insert unnecessary complexity into what's happening.
Speaker 2:A great example of how Otis can really help is like hey, it's really important to get a measurement of how a kid is doing, Like this formative measurement's key. Well, if you're doing a quick check-in, so a quick quiz or a pre-quiz, hey, have a five question multiple choice quiz that is auto graded. You don't have to grade it. That can be done in five to 10 minutes max. All of a sudden, that bit of data can unlock what you need to do next.
Speaker 2:You know again, it's not, you're not using technology just cause you're using it. No, you're like I need this pre-quiz because it's going to then inform my next three, four days of what I'm doing with these kids. It's going to allow me to group kids more efficiently. It's going to allow me to all of a sudden target certain skills or knowledge gaps that exist and it's like, well, I have to use this tool. All of a sudden, it's like you're putting a round peg in a square hole actually works. I think I flipped that analogy in my head as I was going through that. But this idea is like you're misaligning what you're trying to do and I think oftentimes, as educators, we need to realize that we have a toolkit that's pretty big.
Speaker 1:And we need to make sure we're using the right tool in the right circumstance to get the right result. I love that, and can you share what are?
Speaker 2:some strategies you recommend to schools when they're looking to use your platform, specifically like looking to use data effectively to drive like instruction and improve student outcome. Yeah, I think it's really important that you create a strong learning community, right? I think professional learning communities are absolutely amazing. You know, educators as we've talked about already in this conversation they have so much on their plate, you know, and so we do things to help you know, because they have so much on their plate, sometimes the training and implementation of a technology even if you have a session, all of a sudden somebody might have to miss it because they have to do lunch supervision, or all of a sudden they might get pulled away for a student emergency. So we actually have our customer support. Our client success support really is geared to being there at all times. So we actually have chat options so you can chat in using our platform anytime and you'll get a response within five to 10 moments. So if you're in the middle of it, you can all of a sudden do it, and that's one of the areas that we know is important. Also, we've modeled some really good professional development resources videos like short two to five minute videos. Again, I know you have some amazing work with NextGen Classrooms and you know Winner Circle. You know it's amazing.
Speaker 2:We were talking in our pre-show conversation. You know my son and daughter love Fortnite. So it's like well, how do they learn Fortnite? They don't want to watch a two hour tutorial, they want to find that like two minute, three minute bite of hey, teach me how to do this. Cool, now I want to go implement it. Educators are actually very similar to do this. Cool, now I want to go implement it. Educators are actually very similar. They don't want to sit through a 45 minute long webinar where you're hearing all sorts of stuff. No, they want to be like I need to create a drag and drop question. Well, okay, give me like a 90 second way of how to do that. I see the video boom. Or I look at the help article we have.
Speaker 2:Whenever we give support, we give it in like three different ways. Right, we have the written, we have kind of a picture diagram saying how to do it, and then we also have the video and all of a sudden, you can then get to something quickly and because of that, we really understand that teachers have a wide range of literacy around technology. Some feel so comfortable and ready that they just want to go trailblaze on their own and move forward. Others really want to have that assurance that, hey, is this right, is this checking? And we really provide that to our districts.
Speaker 2:The other piece when you talk about how can you really ensure districts are ready to have conversations around data, I think that's something where Otis really helps, because we put data into a really digestible, actionable way, because we present it often in ways that work for educators, which is really by grouping kids. Hey, these are the kids in this grouping and then this is another grouping and those groups can be modified and they're very flexible. But it allows you to really say in a classroom oh, these five kids need to work, they're not at this standard, they're not at this skill, whereas these six kids they're exceeding this skill, cool. Now you know. Hey, do you want to do a grouping where all of a sudden, we are putting all the kids exceeding, so they're going to do an extension activity, great. If you want to do a cross group where all of a sudden you're doing that, that works as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm pretty sure like that could also be used for scaffolding, and I see on your platform that what's neat about it is that parents can have access to this data as well. Can you talk about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think that one of the big important parts for a district to really be successful is you need all stakeholders talking the same, talking about the same information, being on the same page. Communication is hard, right? I think that's probably the reason you have this podcast. Communication is difficult. You need to hear a message multiple times and one of the key pieces that districts are trying to do with their communities is communicate.
Speaker 2:How are your students doing? Hey, this is how your kids are doing. This is how your kids are doing. You get report cards. You have your parent-teacher conference, you have your open houses.
Speaker 2:Otis tries to take that to a next level. We actually have an amazing family view, and it's not just for parents. It could be for grandparents or uncles people supporting that kid. Again, we allow you to really gain this insight and it allows you to see things that are going to be really helpful. So I have four kids and my kids use Otis, and it allows you to see things that are going to be really helpful. So I actually I have four kids and my kids use Otis, and I use Otis daily as a parent, because if I ask my kids, hey, how was school today?
Speaker 2:I might hear about the latest bus ride drama. I may hear about what happened at recess or what they had, you know, for hot lunch. All of a sudden they'm running out of food or I don't know what it is coming up. That was a bad example. I don't think they've ever run out of food.
Speaker 2:My district's amazing. But I'm not hearing the fact that my third grader is learning why character traits impact their motivations and decision making in a story which is like a third grade standard. I'm not hearing about how he's working on multiplying double digit numbers in math. And Otis gives you that insight because you can see how they're doing on certain skills. You can see how they're doing on certain assessments that they're being given. They could be the state assessment or maybe a common district assessment that they're giving. You gain that insight. And so now you're not having to wait for the parent-teacher conference or wait for the report card. You're seeing that in lifetime, daily You're able to say, oh, this is how my student's progressing. And having that common set of information allows for greater collaboration, and I think the more collaboration that can happen between their schools and the communities, the better it'll be for everybody.
Speaker 1:And that's for sure, and a lot of this information seems very sensitive and I know one of the hardest questions that some of these districts might ask even educators and parents how are we keeping this information safe?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think that's a tireless and never-ending pursuit. I mean, this information is beyond sensitive and that's 100% the case. And you know, it's one of those things that you can never relax your security, your stance. You've got to be constantly innovating and changing and improving what you're doing security-wise. We have an amazing set of developers and engineers who have put in tons of things in place, really making sure that district data is separated so you're not cross-contaminating it. You're really keeping it separate so that if something is for one district only, they can see it. We have really strong permission set up so that you can only see the data you're authorized to see.
Speaker 2:And we really have been able to hire some incredible people from various industries, from the financial industry to fintech, and we really lean on hey, what are best practices? Not just in education, but what's the best practices in the financial industry, in the medical industry? We want to be top notch and in part, you know we post a lot of things online and not to get too in the weeds, but we post a lot of things, like we participate in third party audits and third party evaluations of our setup and we're constantly looking for like, hey, is there a place we need to get better? Is there a place to improve? And I think the biggest way we answer that is we're. It's a key focus for us on a daily basis and because it's a key focus, it's adapting right Like we're more secure. Every you know every sprint our developers do, and it's one of those things that you have to be constantly pursuing that, otherwise, something can change that can put you at risk.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing that. Let's make a quick transition and talk about data-driven decision-making. One of Otis' strengths is helping schools make data-driven decisions. Can you explain how Otis does this and why data-driven decisions making it is so crucial? That was a tongue twister right there.
Speaker 2:When educators can use data to make instruction more meaningful, they get to what is inspiring, right? You were talking about what inspired me and it was like man, I just want to be able to connect to the kids. Well, data can actually help you connect to kids faster. The data and information can actually help drive engagement around what's happening and it also allows you to unlock some of these you know aha moments in your PLC groups where all of a sudden you can all of a sudden see this is working for this group of teachers or this is not working.
Speaker 2:You know how maddening is. Like man, I've given, I had, I've given lessons where it worked for five of my six classes, but it just didn't hit right with one class. Well, how do I address that? How do I fix that? Or if I taught a skill and all of a sudden my students and their formative assessment they're just not quite getting it, I then, instead of getting frustrated, know I need to hone in on it, because if we don't attack this one skill, it's going to loop and it's going to cause a ripple effect later. And so to really do that, otis presents this information up front and up in your face so that you can really apply the lessons you're seeing in the data to your instruction with your kids and your ability to connect. Because if you can answer, what Otis does best is it allows you to answer specific questions and if you can answer specific questions well and quickly and efficiently, you can then move on to something that really is meaningful for the person involved.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, and what are some common mistakes? I mean, you talk about the challenges, but what are some common mistakes schools make when collecting and interpreting student data and how can they avoid these pitfalls?
Speaker 2:The biggest mistake I think they make is they gather data and they don't do anything with it. If you're going to take time out of a student's class their school day and you don't use that information to actually do something, what are you really doing? If you've ever walked into, you know we instruct our kids to try their best and they're in there and they're all of a sudden in a quiz and they might not know something and it puts them, you know, on the spot. You know, and all of sudden they might get frustrated, maybe they get down. If all of a sudden, they answer three questions wrong. They might not have even known the subject yet. You might be saying, hey, do you know this yet? Because you're informing it. But if you collect this information, if you're taking it away from this instructional time, you have to use it. If you're not using it, I think we're doing a disservice to everybody involved. And so I think it's really important that we're not just measuring kids to measure them. We don't want to just be like, oh yeah, we're met. Well, what did you do with that information? I don't know, I just collected it and put it.
Speaker 2:You know, here it's like the biggest pitfalls they make is we sometimes live in this, this place, where we have so much data that we're actually like flooded in this data but we don't have the insights. We need to make a difference, and so sometimes it's like collect meaningful information. You need to collect that consistently, but not constantly, because at times, we need there to be that exploration and that experimentation, and it's one of those things where, if you're trying to teach someone how to read, if you're constantly measuring their test scores on reading, you're not getting into the actual technique. And I think that one of the things that people do is there is this misconception that collecting more data is better. Again, it can be more, can be better, but there is a diminishing return. You can collect too much data, and it's one of those things. You have to find that balance between where do we need to know where a kid's at, and it has to be seamless so that we can actually use that information to better their learning path.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome, and I'm not sure if you answered this already, but does Otis allow you to integrate other platforms on there? Now, can I integrate, like, let's say, khan Academy, and collect the data from Khan Academy and other platforms and have that all inside of Otis where I can analyze it and do everything that you just mentioned right, like find ways to improve the students' learning?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we connect to a ton of platforms. So we connect to like PowerSchool and Skyward and we connect to Discovery Education, a partner of ours. We do have an a good Khan Academy resource. So, yeah, we do a lot. Now not every single one. Some of them are just launched from our system, right, and some we can get the data back. So I think we really work to be able to get the data back from all of them, and so we want we have tools that we have integrations with, like Google. We have integrations with Microsoft. So some of those common tools that you're using, as well as, like you name, the assessment, nwa, dibls, sbac we connect to them. We also have connections to Bridges and Amplify. Discovery Education is a partner of ours. We have integration there as well, so we really are working towards it. If it's something we don't have, we're always looking to kind of get better. I have a great integration with Turnitin for plagiarism, so, again, we want this to be seamless for you as an educator.
Speaker 1:Now do you have AI integrated in there as well?
Speaker 2:We do. I think that's really our next frontier extension. So we have a really cool AI setup, and so I was always jealous of those college professors who had those TAs who were able to help them out. I'm like I want my own set of TAs, and so that's what we're building, with our AI assistance, so we have the ability to generate assessment questions that AI can generate for them. Tell them the topic, tell them the standard boom it can generate those questions for you. In addition, we have an insights assistant that can actually help you understand the information on a page.
Speaker 2:So you're in the standards gradebook and you're trying to say, hey, what standards are my kids excelling at? Or what standards are my kids struggling with, or what activities would be good to teach for this standard? Or my favorite question you can pose to our assistant is I need to prepare for this student's parent-teacher conference. Can you share how they're doing and can you anticipate questions their parent may ask? And it'll give you a complete summary of how that student's currently doing in your classroom. It'll anticipate several questions based upon their performance that you might ask, and it'll also give you tips of how to frame certain things, and it does a great job of framing, like what is standards-based grading or what is standards-informed instruction, and it's like, well, if I'm talking to a mechanic, this is a great way to say it, if I'm talking to a football coach, this is a great way to say it.
Speaker 2:And that assistance being embedded, it's right now in the standards gradebook, it's going to be in the assessment analytics, it's going to be throughout Otis, because we want to give that companion, that assistant, so educators feel more confident in their answers, but they also can just, instead of looking and reading via visualizations like a graph or a chart, how amazing is it going to be? We talked about data. Literacy can sometimes be an obstacle. Well, if I can just ask a question in plain English and get an answer, all of a sudden, I'm able to really move forward with that information in an actionable way.
Speaker 1:I love that. And then you perhaps could capture the student's information and ask the AI like how can I find ways to improve on the student's learning? How could I align whatever the student's interest is with the certain standards?
Speaker 2:And that's like we were doing this with, again, my son. We were working with him and it's like he's working on the skill and he likes basketball and and you know we were talking about it and so he's working on grammar. And so there are these, you know, mapping exercises where you're looking at a structure of a paragraph and it's like, well, can you create a paragraph with the NBA? And so his favorite player is Luka Doncic. She's pretty upset that he got traded to the Lakers, pretty upset that he got traded to the Lakers.
Speaker 2:But all of a sudden, it's like, knowing that, it created this entire paragraph that I didn't have to create but it was practicing the exact skill and standard that he was working on in class.
Speaker 2:And all of a sudden it was like, man, can you create me five examples? Boom, they're about a subject he likes, they're towards his grade level and his performance on that standard. Boom, I had our winter break activities pre-made. All of a sudden I felt like I was doing this, I could ask it based upon his interest and his NWA score, kind of like in his reading levels, you know, in the classroom grade level performance. It could give me some books that would be a good match for him as well, and that's really what we want to do. We want to help that teacher with an assistant. We're never replacing teachers because you need to be able to connect, and that connection, I think, really is important. But we can help them with a ton of these administrative tasks and a ton of this. When you have to unearth the data, instead of having to do that, you can really jump in right away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I love that you mentioned that how having all this data could be overwhelming. I know as a first time educator I remember jumping into education not understanding how to collect the data, not understanding how to analyze it, but I love that you said you have to find that sweet spot, have to have that balance. Talk about how can educators balance using student data effectively when ensuring that the privacy and the ethical considerations are met.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's a big ask, right? We're asking teachers to wear so many hats. We're asking them to be a good educator, we're asking them to be a good communicator, and then we're also asking them to understand the data policies of X, y and Z and to make sure the security is being had. That is where we see our AI assistance standing even further apart, right A? We've connected the data, so you don't have to bring the data over, you don't have to copy it down and put it into something, and it's like did you check all the policies? Did you hide the student information? Did you drop in their names? Otis does all that for you. So we work very closely with AWS, and so all our data remains in AWS. It doesn't leave. We're not sending it out. It's not getting trained by the AI models. We're using our data very safely, very securely, and so that is not a worry our educators at Otis have to face, because you're right If they do. If that's something you had to do on your own because we've talked, you know data security, data privacy, is a really important piece. I don't think it's fair to expect all these educators to be experts in that. So, hey, use a platform that can do that for you, that can check that box, and now, with our data, the way we structured our AI assistant and we've done it.
Speaker 2:You can ask any question of it and if it cannot answer it, it'll tell you. And it's one of those things where it's like I'm unable to answer this question. It's like those safeguards can be put in place so that teachers really can again focus on. Those safeguards can be put in place so that teachers really can again focus on. It's a hard enough job again for kids. It's hard enough to be able to connect to your kids and to really help unlock their learning potential. To also have to be a security expert, a data expert, a technology expert, to also be a curriculum expert, a content expert All these expertises we're expecting to be just done. We can take some of those off the plate, like, no, you don't have to be a security expert, just use systems that are verified and secure, like Otis, and now you can really focus on the things that matter to me more, which is really, you know, being able to help your students.
Speaker 1:I hope that educators are listening. I think the biggest thing I got out of that is you're taking stuff off their plate and you're making it easier to integrate this technology in their classrooms. So it's about taking like a good handful off your plate and just making it easier to improve the students learning, which is awesome. Now let's talk about the future of ed tech. I want to hear your thoughts on this stuff, like where do you see the future of technology and education heading in the next five to 10 years?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that we're going to see personalization of education with technology finally become possible. It's been something we've talked about, like how do you truly personalize learning? And there have been moments where you can have these adaptive assessments where all of a sudden, you're personalizing the questions they're receiving based upon their answers. But there's so many pathways that can go, and so that distinction between personalization and differentiation, I think, is going to become more and more blurred. Right now, we do a lot of differentiation, right? If you're a teacher I mentioned I had 150 students Can I really differentiate 150 lessons? No, I can create several pathways or several options, like a menu, but I can't do 150.
Speaker 2:I think that with the adoption of AI and some of these tools, we're going to really be able to personalize it. It's almost like a Netflix algorithm. Again, I think you know, using Otis and this is something that's coming for us and coming up in next school year, our partnership with Discovery Education we're going to be able to personalize content based upon a student's performance. Again, we're going to be able to say hey, you need a science resource on this standard. This is your current skill level. Boom, this is the standard you need. This is a content area you might like. That's really the future that we're going to get to.
Speaker 2:Now, again, starting off, I don't think it's going to be better than currently there, but the future is going to be. I think it's just going to get better and better than currently there, but the future is going to be. I think it's just going to get better and better. In addition, what I think is going to end up happening is AI is going to really further help in the agency of doing things. So, instead of having to build a drag and drop question, I think you're just going to be able to type. I need to build a drag and drop question and if you just explain it, I think there's going to be the technology that's going to actually be able to build it for you. I think we're getting pretty close If you look at some of the tools, like Canva and some of the things that we're developing, where you're just going to need to be able to know what you need to know, describe it, and it's going to be able to be built for you.
Speaker 1:That's right on, and what we talked about prior to this podcast is that you talked about once you collect all this. Let me backtrack. You said that. Well, I'm not going to word you, but one of the things that was said that it's very hard to make a connection with a student when you collect all this data Right. Sometimes for an educator, you might not make that connection right away. With some students you might make the connection in the first weeks or so, the connection in the first weeks or so.
Speaker 1:What's great about this is that you're collecting data, you're analyzing the data from each individual student. What allows you to do that? Right Now you could step up to any student and find ways to improve on each student, and then what's neat about it is that you can integrate this AI now to probably find different ways on how to improve on that learning or change a lesson or scaffold, whatever it may be, to help support that student. But technology is a challenge. Integrating technology is a challenge and perhaps you did mention this prior in this episode. But again, what advice would you give educators or school leaders who are hesitant to embrace any technology in schools?
Speaker 2:I think that educators embrace technologies that can save them time or make them more effective, and I think it's really about being able to provide them opportunities to do that. If, all of a sudden, they get the reward of when a kid has an aha moment, where they've overcome something or they've learned something, that energy just is everywhere and all of a sudden it's like almost to this point where you just want to seek it out all the time and it's something that you want to recreate, and so when you're all of a sudden using technology and getting more of those moments, I think you're going to then want to use technology more, and I think, again, it comes back to what we've been talking about it's got to be something that's actually helping.
Speaker 1:People will use technology that helps and they'll avoid technology that makes their job harder. And it's one of those things that we really got to make sure that we're listening to educators and we're really continuing to adapt to their needs and to the needs of students. Now for educators looking to innovate their classrooms what is one of the actionable?
Speaker 2:steps they can take to get started today. Yeah, I think it's through exploration. Again, I think if they're interested in Otis they can go to wwwotiscom and I think at otiscom you can learn more. But I think really it's about first framing it. What are we trying to learn to do? Right, I think I always love to start with what problem are we solving? And once you know the problem you're trying to solve, then you can do some research and say, hey, like what's going to help me be able to get this done? And I think as educators then we can really form like oh, I need to be able to do this with my students. And I think that's really where the professional learning communities are absolutely essential, where it's like, hey, again, next-gen classrooms. If you're really looking here to say what am I going to do, it's like, well, listen to a podcast or being able to look at a program. That's all of a sudden out there saying this is what I need help with. All of a sudden research, it Finding that thread. This is what I need help with, all of a sudden research, it Finding that thread.
Speaker 2:Are you getting involved in standards-based grading? Great, find a group that can help you kind of explore the key resources? Are you in project-based learning? Are you trying to get into STEM? I remember helping my former colleague who was a woodshop, was his class for 25 years and then he got into STEM and once the connection made that all his previous um projects were really stem projects. It was rebranded, it unlocked so much. But there was a learning journey to get through through exploration and being able to look at what problem he was trying to solve, which was how do I do a stem project? And really the question he should have been asking is what is different between a woodworking project that he did forever and a STEM project? And what he learned it was just the framing of it, the use of certain terms, and he was an amazing STEM teacher. He didn't even know it. But again, it's through that exploration, that communication and that and that really looking at what we're trying to figure out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you also have to be open-minded, right? I think what happens is that a lot of these old school teachers they get caught in their ways, right. They perhaps are hesitant to introduce these new technologies because they're so used to teaching a certain way. But, yeah, I love every answer that you had mentioned. But this is our episode, chris, can you tell us real quick how can listeners learn more about Otis? Do you have a social media? You mentioned the website, but what other platforms can we learn more about it?
Speaker 2:have a X handle. We also are on LinkedIn. Our X handle is Otis K-12 LinkedIn. You can look me up, but we also have an Otis page, o-t-u-s, and really it's one of those things where we'd love to be able to engage. And, as you said, I think you said something that's probably the most valuable thing said on this entire episode, which is we got to be curious, we got to be listening and learning at all times, and so if folks are interested in learning more, definitely I'd say our website's the best, because we have all our social connections. We're on Instagram, but, again, otuscom O-T-U-Scom is the best place for you to learn more.
Speaker 1:Love that, love that man Otuscom. Wow, that was a fantastic conversation with Chris Hall. We covered everything from overcoming challenges and technology integration to leveraging data for better student outcomes. One key takeaway technology should serve as a tool to empower both educators and students. When used effectively, it can truly transform learning experiences. Chris, thank you for sharing your insights and expertise with us today. For those who want to learn more about Otis and how it can support schools, be sure to check out Otiscom. And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe to EdTech Empowerment Innovating Education Together on your favorite podcast platform. Don't forget to share today's episode with your fellow educators. Leave us a review. It really helps us continue to bring valuable conversations your way. Until next time, keep innovating, keep empowering and let's continue shaping the future of education together. Thank you, chris. Thank you.
