Page Comparison

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The goal of this page is to include all copy text and other resources that have been submitted for the Sakai public Web site. Once all materials are collected, team members will be asked to review, revise, and submit additional content before everything is moved to the Sakai Public Web site. If the content you're looking for does not appear here, please review its status at: Public Site Needs and Responsibilities Matrix.

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Home
About Sakai
Tools
FAQ
Implementation Timeline
Get Involved
Tutorials Support and WorkshopsTraining (Likely to be re-made or ported AS NOs Training/Support page.
Announcements
Wiki (Likely to be re-made or ported to NOs Training/Support page.)
Sakai in the Media
Testimonials / Spotlights / Profiles / Podcasts

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Welcome to the Sakai public Web site. Here you can prepare for the UC Davis roll-out of the Sakai course management system, a group of collaborative learning tools that will eventually replace the MyUCDavis course management tools (e.g. Gradebook and QuizBuilder). Sakai works equally well on both Macs and PCs, So feel free to dig right in and familiarize yourself with the project's history, interact with the new tools, and get involved by participating in events, or even joining the pilot project.

What is the Sakai Project?
The Sakai Project is a software development effort, bringing together over eighty one hundred educational institutions who have collaboratively constructed created a sophisticated, easy-to-use, extendable set of course management tools known collectively as a Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE).

What's in it for me?
In Sakai , there are has tools for everyone. What can you do with them?

Instructors: Provide You can 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, organize your lessons, and host virtual office hours from any location with highspeed Internet access.
Researchers: Network You can network with colleagues, organize data, collaborate on projects, chat in real time, brainstorm solutions on discussion boards, host video conferences, and stream PowerPoint presentations, just to name of a few of the possibilities.
Students: Host You can 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.

Best of all, this stable and easy to use system is open-source, which means that allows universities are free to both improve the existing code and add additional features as they become needed. With over 85 educational institutions across the country such a dedicated group of institutions now contributing to the creation of the Sakai course management system, faculty, staff, students, and researchers will undoubtedly appreciate the unyielding focus afforded to their unique needs , as the system evolves alongside our rapidly changing technological environment.

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Sakai Project Background
Sakai 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.

The Reasons for Change
Many faculty and students have voiced concern about the slowness and instability of MyUCDavis. We understand these concerns and recognize that it is imperative that UC Davis' learning information systems keep pace with the ever- increasing demands and expectations of students, instructors, and researchers. Adopting the Sakai course management tools will allow UCDavis to enhance the tools already provided within MyUCDavis, while leveraging the work, dedication, and support of the international community that aids in Sakai's development.

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Announcements: Inform site participants of current items of interest
Assignments: Create, distribute, collect , and grade online assignments
Chat room: Carry on real-time, online conversations with worksite participants
Discussion: Hold structured conversations organized into categories
Drop Box: Share documents within private folders between instructors and students
Email Archive: Keep track of course or project site email correspondence
Gradebook: Manage grades and submit as final grades
Message Center: Communicate through discussion forum topics and private messaging
Modules: Create ordered content, such as study guides, for student review
News: Include up-to-date news feeds to your worksite
Preferences: Control how often you are notified of course or project site activity
Project Sites: Use Sakai for other purposes besides teaching (e.g., research collaboration)
Quiz and survey: Create online assessments
Resources: Make any kind of material available online
Schedule: Organize and post items in a calendar format
Section/Group: Info Manage sections of a class (lectures, labs, discussions, studio work, recitations, or any combination thereof)
Site Info: Maintain course or project site settings
Syllabus: Post and maintain your official course outline
Web Content: Maintain course or project site settings
Wiki: Create/contribute to a collaborative, editable Web site

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The following is a list of Frequently Asked Questions that we have collected from the faculty, staff, and students who tested the Sakai system in the 2006 Winter and Spring quarters. If you are unable to find an answer for to your question, please contact IT Express, the campus computing help desk, at:

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The Sakai Project is a software development effort, bringing together over one hundred educational institutions who which have collaboratively constructed a sophisticated, easy-to-use, extendable set of course management tools that can be tailored to the needs of whatever university is using it. 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.

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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 as GradeBook, QuizBuilder, Online Grade Submission, Surveys, Announcements, etc.

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A Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) refers to new 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?

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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 are free to experiment. There are a multitude of many 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.

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MyUCDavis is a portal that most all university affiliates use at UC Davis. Inside the portal, there are a group of some tools known as the "Coruse Course Management Tools," which include QuizBuilder, GradeBook, etc. The Sakai system will replace these course management tools with more effective and updateable tools, as well as that work better and can be updated. Sakai will also introduce a whole host of new tools and features that have been designed 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 association with the Sakai Consortium, UC Davis is sharing resources and collaborating with universities around the world, such as UC BerkelyBerkeley, Stanford, MIT , and 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

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do I

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have to use Sakai?

MyUCDavis is the portal by which faculty, students and staff access a number of informational documents, course management tools, and other campus informational systems. At present, there are no plans to eliminate the campus Web-portal system. Sakai is eventually expected to be a full replacement for (just) the course management tools.

The current MyUCDavis course management tools you are accustomed to will still be remain available for at least a year, to give you plenty of time to begin learning and transfering your class materials to the new system. During this year transition period, you can use either system you prefer (or both!). That being said, we strongly encourage users to begin to play with Sakai, because getting your toes wet will make the transition easier when MyUCDavis course management tools are eventually retired.

What

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resources are available for transferring documents from MyUCDavis to Sakai and how do I access these resources?

You can export quizzes from the MyUCDavis Quiz Builder to a file that can then be imported into Sakai. The tool currently exports only full quizzes, but support for question pools will be available soon. To begin exporting your quizzes from MyUCDavis, click the "Export" button that now appears in the Quiz Builder tool on MyUCDavis.

In Sakai, what processes will be automated so that I need not worry about them?

To make it easier for instructors, Sakai has been programmed to create course sites and fill your class rosters automatically. Direct connection to the Final Grades Submission is not yet automated, but should be available for use along with GradeBook's upgrade in Winter 2007.

What, specifically, should I do to get started with Sakai, to create an account, and to setup a worksite or personal site.

This depends on when you want to begin. Prior to fall 2006, please forward your requests to sakai-info@ucdavis.edu, ask to be a participant in the pilot project and we will review those requests together. Everyone gets a "MyWorkspace" site automatically.

What is the current status of Sakai and what are the university's future plans?

In the winter and spring of 2006, the Faculty Mentoring Faculty program hosted a Sakai pilot, where in which instructors from various departments tested Sakai and provided their feedback as well as feature requestsSakai, provided comments and requested changes or additions. Intrigued by Sakai's features, various instructors have begun using Sakai both in and out of the classroom. As of now, programmers are working to enhance the QuizBuilder and GradeBook so they more accurately reflect the instructors needs'. In addition, the Sakai Community continues to enhance the core Sakai toolset. The timeline for these changes will allow UCD to make Sakai available for an extended pilot in the Fall 2006. Additional functionality in to support of large courses with multiple sections and instructors should be available for testing by Winter Quarter 2007. More detailed information on these developments should be available mid summer midsummer 2006.

What's in it for me?

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What is Sakai?
Sakai is a sophisticated, easy-to-use, extendable set of course management tools that make it easy for you to organize and collaborate with anyone (students, colleagues, or research partners to name a few), from anywhere in the world where with an internet connection is available.
Who created it?
Sakai 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 and collaboration systems. The effective and successful collaboration between these two schools Their work caught the attention of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford, who soon joined the project, along with the Open Knowledge Initiative and the uPortal consortium. Today over 80 some one hundred institutions of higher education have partnered together for one goal: Sakaiare working together on the project.
Why did they create it?
The answer is simple: cooperation. Previously, institutions of higher education all worked separately, hiring programmers to develop software to suit their specific course management and collaboration needs at any given time. These systems proved useful, though difficult to extend and scale. As a result, institutions found performing much of the same work themselves duplicating others' efforts and rebuilding from scratch, when old approaches proved too limited. With Sakai, universities can join there their efforts to create a single system that is easy to customize, and thus able to keep up with the fast pace of technology.
Why UC Davis is adopting it
The course management tools in MyUCDavis have become increasingly difficult to extend and scale. By combining tapping into the combined resources, dedication, and expertise of the top universities, our campus will have gains the opportunity to transition move up to the next generation of course genration focourse management and collaboration tools.
What's in it for me?
1. 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 high-speed Internet access.
2. Researchers: Network with colleagues, organize data, collaborate on projects, chat in real time, brainstorm solutions on discussion boards, host video conferences, and stream PowerPoint presentations, just to name of few of the possibilities.
3. 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.

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Instructors teaching small classes with a single section , – or who often include group work, research, collaboration, and technology in their curriculum , – are encouraged to begin experimenting with Sakai this fall.

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At this time, Sakai does not adequately handle large classes with multiple sections. Programmers at UC Davis and UC Berkely are working hard to add this functionality. Until then, we recommend you stick with the old MyUCDavis course management tools. To be notified when the tools you need are added, please request to be added to askt to join the sakai-info@ucdavis.edu mailing list.

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Sakai has both a GradeBook and a QuizBuilder; however, at this time both tools are missing lack some functions that instructors may require. For that reason, it is we suggested that instructors use the traditional GradeBook and QuizBuilder within MyUCDavis until all issues are resolved. However if you are new to online quizzing and/ or grading you may wish to start becoming familiar with the new tools as existing features will likely remain while new ones are while GradeBook and QuizBuilder are refined. Plus, other new and interesting tools may be added in the coming months. To be notified when the tools you need are addedavailable, please request to be added to the sakai-info@ucdavis.edu mailing list.

What is the Sakai pilot project and why should I join?

The Pilot Projects pilot projects provide a route for those people interested in Sakai to play a primary role in its construction and release. By practicing with help shape its evolution. By trying the system and offering suggestions, pilot users provide programmers with an invaluable perspective on users needs.

Pilot participants participate in the following these activities:

Test and closely evaluate new collaboration and learning tools
Identify suggestions and
Address any issues encountered
Prioritize enhancements to suit the system to your needs
Receive one-on-one technical support from team members , as well as the dedicated and ET Partners.
Provide recommendations to guide the direction of Sakai development.

If you are interesteed in joining a pilot project or would simply like more information about how you can get involved with Sakai, please send an e-mail to sakai-info@ucdavis.edu.

How do I arrange for a presentation to my department, encouraging them to explore and perhaps adopt Sakai for their own needs?

The Sakai Program Manager, Kirk Alexander (kdalex@ucdavis.edu) and the Training and Support Coordinator, Nancy Olsen (nsolsen@ucdavis.edu) are both is available to speak with you and members of your department. Please e-mail them him your questions and requests for more information.

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The Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program provides UC givesUC Davis faculty an opportunity a chance to mentor and to learn from other faculty interested in instructional technology. Participants will learn about Sakai, as well as tools other toosl such as Macromedia Breeze.

Have others already tested and used Sakai?

More than 100 Universities universities across the globe have embraced SAKAISakai, including its originators: MIT, Stanford, University of Michigan, and Indiana University. Moreover, many of our campuses, including UC Berkely Berkeley and UC Merced are cooperatively testing the Sakai system. On our campus, specificically, faculty recently Here at UC Davis, faculty tested Sakai in both the Winter and Spring 2006 pilot project under the Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program. In addition, several Several students have already also experimented with the system and were trained to provide one-on-one support to faculty interested in using Sakai.

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For questions, concerns, and technical support, contact IT Express at 530-754-HELP (4357), e-mail them at ithelp@ucdavis.edu, or visit 182 Shields Library for walk-in assistance.

Are you offering training for

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people interested in using Sakai?

Yes. For information on training and classes, please see our Training and Support Page

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At this time, Sakai has many of the same features and several additional ones. The Sakai system is still evolving dramatically, however, and the more sophisticated tools are the ones which will continue to change the most. GradeBook and QuizBuilder are in this category and still lack some of the features you may find useful in MyUCDavis. In particular, those instructors teaching large classes with multiple sections should continue using MyUCDavis Course Management Tools at this time.

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Discussion forums for critical discussion and group work.
A Wiki or dynamic Web site created, edited, and maintained by your students, club-members, or research - associates. *
Web - Content for incorporating external Web content sites and HTML documents directly into your project's Web site.
A Drop Box for file sharing
Sequential Modules for automating the process of releasing content on your project's site slowly over the course of the quarter, year, etc.
For a complete listing of tools, please see LINK TO TOOLS PAGE

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These tools do not yet provide adequate support for larger classes with multiple sections. Thus, their use is not recomended at this time. These tools are expected to be fully compatible with instructors needs by winter of 2007. To receive updates about Sakai and related announcements, please send a subscription request to sakai-info@ucdavis.edu

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The next release of Sakai will use a different web Web editor that supports multiple fonts including Greek symbols. This is not quite the same as having a fully functional equation editor but it will permit direct editing of mathematical symbols.

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If you're teaching a class in Sakai, visit http://www.sakai2.ucdavis.edu and login using your kerberos name and password as always. You're Your class and roster should be available automatically. If, on the other hand, you'd like to create a personal worksite for your own personal project, please fill out the worksite request form at XXXXXX ASK KIRK ABOUT THIS ANSWER.

How do I give a guest access to my Sakai worksite?

All access to Sakai requires a registered University Login university login ID. Faculty and Staff may request temporary access to University university systems including Sakai by filling out a Temporary Affiliates Form (http://email.ucdavis.edu/forms/files/taf.pdf) or
using the online service to register such an account (coming soon).

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At present this is accomplished by enrolling one of the test student accounts in your course, and then logging in to this account in a separate browser. Please contact Faculty Support for assistance.help

Can I resort the buttons on the left?

This is currently possible Yes, with the assistance of a system administrator. A future release of Sakai is expected to delegate this privilege to instructors. Note, however, that for consistency from course to course it is recommended that the ordering of these buttons should not be altered significantly.

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The top button tool is the one that will apppear appear on the front/default page. Pointing the top button to a personalized Web site or HTML file will allow you full control over your main page's look and feel.

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Can I change the order of the tabs at the top of the page?

Individuals Yes! You can change the order of the tabs accross the top using the "Customize Tabs" function under "Preferences" which itself is under the "My Workspace" tab. See above regarding ordering the buttons These should not be confused with the bottoms on the left (see above).

Implementation Timeline

http://sakai2.ucdavis.edu/access/content/group/57c3877b-1b08-4eab-005e-f1fc1d9f3ff4/timeline.html

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Want to be one of the first to test-drive Sakai? Want your course-management needs heard? Joining the pilot project gives you the opportunity to work side-by-side with specially-trained ET Partners, who will assist you in any project you seek to developare available help you develop your sites.

The Pilot Projects provide a route for those interested in Sakai to play a primary role in its construction and release. By practicing with the system and offering suggestions, pilot users provide programmers with an invaluable perspective on users needs.

Pilot participants participate in the following activities:

Test and closely evaluate evaluatethe new collaboration and learning tools
Identify suggestions and issues encounteredproblems
Prioritize enhancements to suit the system to your needs
Receive one-on-one technical support from team members, as well as the dedicated ET Partners.
Provide recommendations to guide the direction of Sakai'a development.