Fall 2006 Roll-out: Communication Strategy and Goals

Develop and implement a local instance of Sakai that is easy to use, flexible, extendable, and supports multilevel collaborations Gradually introduce the new online collaboration and learning system to UC Davis faculty, students, staff, and other affiliates. (The campus is moving forward with the 'enterprise version' of Sakai.)
Focus initially on two areas: a) existing users of the MyUCDavis CMS small classes, and b) the system's ability to support multi-level research/collaboration among students, instructors, and other academic partnersGradually introduce the new online collaboration and learning system to UC Davis faculty, students, staff, and other affiliates
Draw on pilots and other campuses' implementations to illustrate the system's easy-to-use features.
Position the system in support of pedagogic, research, and collaboration needs.
Build a campuswide community of users.

Key Communication Messages

Fall communications will buil on, and support, the strategic goals for the implementation of Sakai. Key messages:

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Ease of use and stability are absolute musts.
Adoption of the new system is not simply a matter of faculty allocating time to it, although that is clearly a big part of it. Faculty must also change how they conceive their teaching - it must be viewed much more as a process of inquiry and less purely as a means of information dissemination.
Some units have homegrown software (e.g., Geography?) and appear capable of sustaining this software. But there are mission critical people in place who may be hard if not impossible to replace, should they leave or retire. For this reason, most units will want to use the centrally-provided software, where 7x24 service is delivered and where continuity of service should be easier to sustain.
All the functionality of the course management tools will be part of the new system, and new features will be introduced
Both MyUCDavis and the new system will run concurrently for at least a full academic year to allow faculty ample time to familiarize themselves with the new system and to make the transition.

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