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Sakai Communications List-Serv and Bi-weekly Newsletter

#Wednesday 4/5/2006
#Friday 4/7/2006
#Wednesday 4/12/2006
#Friday 4/14/2006
#Wednesday 4/19/2006
#Friday 4/21/2006
#Wednesday 4/26/2006
#Friday 4/28/2006
#Wednesday 5/3/2006

Wednesday 4/5/2006

IN THIS ISSUE:

1 SIGUCCS Awards Information

2 Sakai public Web site Deadlines

3 Sakai Consortium Newsletter

4 External Sakai List-Serv Requests

5 Confluence Updates

1) SIGUCCS Awards Information
Please note that the deadline for submissions to the SIGUCCS 2006 Fall Conference is April 24, 2006. This conference presents an opportunity for professionals involved in the support of Information Technology (IT) at institutions of higher education to network with peers, learn and share ideas about supporting clients and delivering services, and discuss the future of IT support on campus. Each year SIGUCCS sponsors Communication Awards to recognize outstanding Web sites, publications and promotional materials produced by university and college computing centers. So please keep a look out and make suggestions for possible materials to submit.

http://www.siguccs.org/Conference/Fall2006/awards.html
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2) Sakai public Web site Deadlines

Before the public Web site can go live, there are a number of projects that need to be completed by members of the Sakai Communications List-serv. To get an overview of what projects need to be completed, our lead contact, and its relative priority, please visit the following site on confluence:

http://mediaworks.ucdavis.edu:8080/confluence/display/UCDSAKAI/Public+Site+Needs+and+Responsibilities+Matrix

Please note at the bottom of the page, that Chris Sarason has provided an update on her projects, with estimated completion dates. If possible, please send similar information regarding your project status so that we can track progress and meet our target roll-out date of April 15th. If you need anything from I&E to help this process along, please contact Michael Giardina at mvgiardina@ucdavis.edu.
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3) Sakai Consortium Newsletter
Three articles were sent for publication in the upcoming Sakai Consortium Newsletter. These articles included the Sakai February Programmers Workgroup (a.k.a Boot camp), Sakai-related job opportunities at UC Davis, and last but not least an announcement about our Sakai babies; that is, the little bundle of joy recently born to Brian Donnelly, as well as the soon-to-be father, Thomas Amsler. A link to the articles will most likely be available by Friday's sakai-com update.
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4) External Sakai List-Serv Requests
Communication teams like to be in the know! So, if you are subscribed to any particularly useful, sakai-related list-servs that are external to the UC Davis community, please forward them to Michael Giardina at mvgiardina@ucdavis.edu, so that we all can get the right people subscribed, and the right ears pried open.
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5) Every Wednesday and Friday, all major updates to Confluence are tracked and included with this newsletter. Although you are welcome to edit confluence yourself, all desired changes can be forwarded to Michael Giardina who can implement them and inform the rest of the members of the updates.

Here is your update for this Wednesday:

  • Added "Public Sakai FAQ Questions" section to Public Sakai Web Site." - This page should be ready to begin fleshing out for eventual release alongside the public site. Please send your comments/requests/additions/subtractions/etc.

Friday 4/7/2006

IN THIS ISSUE:

1 Confluence Updates

4/7/06

1) Every Wednesday and Friday, all major updates to Confluence are tracked and included in this newsletter. Although you are welcome to edit confluence yourself, all desired changes can be forwarded to Michael Giardina who is available to implement edits and inform the list of these most recent updates.

Here is your update for this Friday:

Wednesday 4/12/2006

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Help Test the Breeze TSC Survey by Friday

2. Public Web Site Needs Update

3. Flesh Out Sakai Usage Statistics by Quarter

4. Confluence Updates

5. UC Davis Sakai Project in the News

Here is your update for this Friday: 4/12/06

Attention: Items in need of your response are clearly marked with the tag Contribute

=======================================

1) Contribute HELP TEST THE BREEZE TSC SURVEY BY FRIDAY

=======================================
As a reminder, we are planning to poll TSCs to better gauge their role in supporting course management tools, especially those external to MyUCDavis.

Please take approximately five minutes to access and arbitrarily answer the virtual survey we have stored at: http://breeze.ucdavis.edu/cmsurvey

By providing your mock answers, we will be able to test the effectiveness of Breeze Presenter's database and reporting functionality.

On the last screen, the program asks you to supply your name, contact e-mail, etc. Please use this final screen to enter any comments, suggestions, requests, or concerns.

As the quiz will take less than five minutes, please take the time to complete it and submit comments by the end of the day on Friday, April 14.

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2) Contribute PUBLIC WEBSITE NEEDS UPDATE
=======================================
Thanks to everyone who has downloaded a copy of the public site needs and responsibilities matrix. Even greater thanks to those who have already submitted the requested documents.

If you have not yet reviewed the Public Web site Needs Matrix, please visit the following site on confluence:

http://mediaworks.ucdavis.edu:8080/confluence/display/UCDSAKAI/Public+Site+Needs+and+Responsibilities+Matrix

If you believe the identified party is incorrectly identified, please e-mail corrections to mvgiardina@ucdavis.edu

At your earliest convenience please forward an update on these projects and an estimated time they will be available for uploading to the public Web site. Please keep in mind that we hope/envision all items listed as High Priority to be available for site roll-out day. (Fast Approaching)

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3) Contribute SAKAI PILOT USAGE STATISTICS BY QUARTER
=======================================

The Sakai pilot usage statistics page has been created on confluence and can be accessed at the address below. We encourage the point persons in IET, VetMed, The School of Medicine, etc. to proactively update this information in order to develop a single up-to-date record of Sakai pilot usage statistics. As this information will be used to develop copy for the public Web site, adding your contributions should be a relatively high priority.

http://mediaworks.ucdavis.edu:8080/confluence/display/UCDSAKAI/Sakai+Usage+Statistics+by+Quarter

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4) View or Contribute CONFLUENCE UPDATES
=======================================
Every Wednesday and Friday, all major updates to Confluence are tracked and included in this newsletter. Although you are welcome to edit confluence yourself, all desired changes can be forwarded to Michael Giardina who is available to implement edits and inform the list of the most recent updates.

– *Updated "Teaching and Learning: User Concerns" with FMFP feedback. http://mediaworks.ucdavis.edu:8080/confluence/display/UCDSAKAI/Concerns

– *Updated "Concrete Applications to Teaching with FMFP feedback. http://mediaworks.ucdavis.edu:8080/confluence/display/UCDSAKAI/Concrete+Applications+to+Teaching

– *Updated "Support and Training" with FMFP feedback. http://mediaworks.ucdavis.edu:8080/confluence/display/UCDSAKAI/Concrete+Applications+to+Teaching

=======================================
5 View Sakai in the News
=======================================
Thanks to Michael Giardina, three articles were published in the Sakai Consortium's weekly winners. The full text of the articles appears below:

-University of California Davis Hosts Sakai Programmers Boot-camp
Last February, thirty-seven Sakai programmers from as far away as Tokyo Japan met at the University of California in the cozy, rural city of Davis. In a three-day boot-camp led by Davis' Sakai System Architect, Thomas Amsler, participants dove head first into the intricacies of effectively developing Sakai tools to meet institutional needs.

The goal of the event was not to develop a specific tool, but rather to learn as much as possible about the tool writing process, the Sakai framework, and the logistics of using collaboration in process of coding.

The interactive, hands-on sessions grew organically; these meetings generally take on a life of their own, as programmers feed off each other's excitement and dedication to building new and innovative solutions for their development needs.

To that end, the boot-camp agendas were kept loose, open, and ready to accommodate the needs and desires of participants. After morning introductions and planning, programmers broke up into groups, each working in parallel on different parts of the same project to later regroup and merge their parts into a single Sakai tool. In this case, the group worked to develop a simple quiz and polling tool.

The event went off without a hitch and several new constructive technical dialogs were initiated. Following the event, UC Davis was asked to host a similar conference in Vancouver, where the action-packed three-day program will be refined into a single-day session that the campus believes people will find both enjoyable and rewarding.

For those who were unable to attend February's boot-camp, UC Davis has set up a podcast of the entire three-day workshop, available by pointing any podcast-capable media player (such as iTunes) to http://podcast.ucdavis.edu/sakai_bc/sakai_bc.rss.

In the future, the team hopes to stream both audio and video versions of their Sakai presentations over the internet using Macromedia Breeze.

Join The UC Davis Sakai Programming Team
UC Davis is hiring Sakai programmers. For more information and to access the position description, see http://jobs.hr.ucdavis.edu/jm/ViewVacancy?id=4860 or contact Kirk Alexander at kdalex@ucdavis.edu.

Position Responsibilities: This position serves as an advanced programmer/developer on the LMS/Sakai programming team. Serves as a lead developer of functional tools within the LMS, and performs advanced-level programming in multiple languages, provides expertise in architecture, design, programming in support of campus-wide web-based learning management systems, including the campus' UC Davis Learning Management Software (powered by Sakai).

Listing: VL# 4860 External (Extended) (1-2 positions)
Senior Programmer - Sakai Tools Specialist (PROGRAMMER V UCD)
$4,209.00 - $7,155.00/Mo.
Open Until Filled

On 10/29/2005 one of our Middleware gurus, Brian Donnelly became the first campus Sakai-father! Born 7 pounds 3 ounces and 19 1/2" long, his daughter Sara Catherine will undoubtedly appreciate the joys of collaborative learning some day!
Thomas Amsler, Sakai Programmer and System Architect, is expecting a baby girl in May! The team will be celebrating the impending delivery with a pot luck celebration luncheon on April 12th. What does this mean for Thomas? Java - config - xml - baby girl - reboot - servers - diapers - coding - bottles - late nights - Sakai - rattles - no more sleep!

Friday 4/14/2006

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. IET Report, Entries Reminder

2. Verify the Final Comparative Overview of Tools

3. Tracking Training Sessions and Demonstrations

4. UC TLtC: The Topsy-Turvy World of Wikis

5. TSC Survey Reminder

6. Sakai Pilot Usage Stats

7. Confluence Updates

Here is your update for this Friday: 4/14/06. Items in need of your response are clearly marked with the tag Contribute

===================================================
1 Contribute IET Report, Entries Reminder
===================================================
The deadline for final IET Report entry submissions to Lisa Howard is Wednesday, April 19th. Please use the following deadlines to guide this process.

1) By Monday, January 17th, please submit the two to three most important points that you believe should be covered in the IET report. Include any relevant facts or figures you believe I would not otherwise have access to.
2) I will draft the entry between the end of the day Monday and the beginning of the day Tuesday
3) The working draft will be forwarded for your final approval.
4) The entry will be submitted Wednesday, April 19th.

===================================================
2 Contribute Verify the Final Comparative Overview of Tools
===================================================
It appears that different team members have been simultaneously developing a comparative overview of tools. Lets not duplicate work and agree on a final implementation and feature description and comparison page.

===================================================
3 Contribute Tracking Training Sessions and Demonstrations
===================================================
Please be aware that on confluence we are tracking all training sessions and demonstrations (times, dates, locations, topics), as well as hosting digital materials that may be of help in the future. confluence.

Recently added is a presentation entitled "Teaching and Technology Demonstration (PPT)," provided to by Andy Jones and Nancy Olsen.

===================================================
4 UC TLtC Submissions
===================================================
In the upcoming months, we would like to begin submitting appropriate articles, such as those in the IT Times to the UC TLtC News by E-mail service. The UC TLtC Webzine and Online Forum (http://www.uctltc.org) is a publication of the University of California Office of the President, Department of Academic Initiatives.

They recently published an article on wikis, entitled "The Topsy-Turvy World of Wiki."

This column may be of use to faculty pilot participants, so please consider reviewing the excerpt below and passing on the full text to any potentially interested parties.
_________

For people (of a certain age?) who are accustomed to the old publishing paradigm in which information is written, published, and maintained in a controlled process, the usefulness of wikis may be difficult to understand. As consumers, we wonder why anyone would trust information that is editable by the masses and has no single person in charge of vetting it for accuracy, style, and other editorial standards on which we've come to rely (the Wikipedia controversy proves our point). As writers, we are uncomfortable with joint authorship, hesitating to give up control of what we've written.

(FULL STORY) http://www.uctltc.org/news/2006/04/wiki.html

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5 Contribute TSC Survey Reminder
===================================================
As a final reminder, we are planning to poll TSCs to better gauge their role in supporting course management tools, especially those external to MyUCDavis. Please take approximately five minutes to access and arbitrarily mock-answer by Friday the virtual survey we have stored at: http://breeze.ucdavis.edu/cmsurvey. By providing your mock answers, we will be able to test the effectiveness of Breeze Presenter's database and reporting functionality.

===================================================
6 Contribute Sakai Pilot Usage Statistics
===================================================
Please help us keep track of pilot participants by updating this confluence matrix with the data you have available.

http://confluence.ucdavis.edu:8080/confluence/display/UCDSAKAI/Sakai+Usage+Statistics+by+Quarter

The goal of this document is to: a) feature on the public site specific information faculty will find useful and b) provide a mechanism for the point persons in IET, VetMed, The School of Medicine, etc. to continually update this information to create one, single, up-to-date record. We will continue to update it ourselves, but need your input to create a complete, useable document that contains quarter, campus unit, department, courses, faculty participants, number of students, tools used, the URL to their Sakai site.

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7 Confluence Updates
===================================================
Sakai-COM Updates for FRI, April 14

Wednesday 4/19/2006

Friday 4/21/2006

Wednesday 4/26/2006

Friday 4/28/2006

Wednesday 5/3/2006

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