...
Public Sakai Web Site FAQ
Background
What is Sakai?
The Sakai Project is a national consortium of 80+ institutions of higher education, including UC Davis, that are working together to build a broad set of applications that merge online course management tools with research tools that results in a software development effort, bringing together over eighty educational institutions who have collaboratively constructed a sophisticated, easy-to-use, extendable set of course management tools that can be tailored to the needs of the university. The Sakai project has its origins at the University of Indiana and the University of When you switch to Sakai, you'll enjoy all the MyUCDavis features you are accustomed to, plus a whole host of new, intuitive, easy-to-use tools created by universities for universities. The Sakai project has its origins at the University of Indiana and the University of Michigan, where both universities independently began open source efforts to enhance their course management systems. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford soon joined in, along with the Open Knowledge Initiative and the uPortal consortium. UC Davis is proud to work alongside all the dedicated members of the Sakai consortium.
What is a "Course Management System (CMS)?"
A Course Management System (CMS) is a group of online applications that instructors may use to improve and diversify their classes by bringing in novel online-technologies, such GradeBook and , QuizBuilder, Online Grade Submission, Surveys, Announcements, etc.
...
A Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) refers to new and revolutionary technologies that allow participants to share information, collaborate on research, organize clubs or meetings, and much more. A CLE includes any number of tools, including a wiki (an open, community maintained Web site), chat rooms, discussion boards, and more.
What can students, faculty, staff, and researchers do with Sakai?
How does Sakai differ from MyUCDavis and how are the two similar?
boards, and more.
What can students, faculty, staff, and researchers do with Sakai?
Here are just a few suggestions to get you started:
- Instructors: Provide a collaborative learning environment for students that is accessible on and off campus, encourage collaborative learning by allowing students to build publicly editable wikis, encourage critical discourse on discussion boards, keep track of your courses, host virtual office hours from any location with highspeed Internet acces, and more!
- Researchers: Network with colleagues, organize data, collaborate on projects, chat in real time, brainstorm solutions ondiscussion boards, host video conferences, stream PowerPoint presentations, and more!
- Students: Host Web sites, plan events, share files, form social networks, organize student groups, host study sessions, collaborate on creative projects, create research groups, and more!
With Sakai, you have the freedom to experiment. There are a multitude of ways to use Sakai's tools to your advantage, but what you ultimately decide to work with is entirely up to you. To see what other folks are doing with Sakai, see INSERT LINK TO SPOTLIGHTS and PODCASTS. Also, consider reading expanded descriptions of Sakai's features at ADD LINK.
How does Sakai differ from MyUCDavis and how are the two similar?
MyUCDavis is a portal that most all university affiliates use at UC Davis. Inside the portal, there are a group of tools known as the "Coruse Management Tools," which include QuizBuilder, GradeBook, etc. The Sakai system aims to eventually replace these course management tools with more effective and updateable tools, as well as introduce a whole host of new tools and features for your convience. To see what tools are currently available in both Sakai and the MyUCDavis course management tools, please see our Implementation Timeline provided by CS/KA
Why did UC Davis choose to pursue Sakai considering we already have the MyUCDavis course management tools?
The course management tools in MyUCDavis have become increasingly difficult to extend and scale. To address this issue, Sakai is being developed as an open-source project that lends itself well to evolving to meet the needs of its users. In fact, UC Davis will be collaborating with universities around the country, including Stanford, MIT, Yale, to develop, test drive, and
...
improve Sakai. Combining the resources, dedication, and expertise of the top universities in the country
...
should ensure a smooth and successful transition to the next generation of course management tools,
...
a constantly improving sets of
...
utilities that
...
universities can update and share.
Is the system replacing MyUCDavis and am I required to use Sakai?
First, it is important to recognize that different people at UCD think of different things when they hear the term "MyUCDavis ". To some this is a synonym for the web mail system (Geckomail). To others it is the portal by which faculty, students and staff access a number of campus information systems. And to faculty and students the term is often equated with the course management functions such as MyClasses, Website Builder, Quiz Builder, MySpace, etc. At present
informational documents, course management tools, and other campus informational systems. At present, there are no plans to eliminate the campus Web-portal system. There are plans to improve Geckomail but these are unrelated to Sakai although Sakai itself offers additional course related mail functionality.Sakai is eventually expected to be a full replacement for (just) the course management tools, such as GradeBook and Quizbuilder. The .
Rest assured that the current MyUCDavis course management tools that you 're are accustomed to will still be available for at least a year while Sakai is perfected. In the meantime, you can use either system you prefer. HoweverNonetheless, we do strongly encourage users to begin to play with Sakai. Getting , because getting your toes wet will make the transition easier when MyUCDavis course management tools are eventually retired.
...