Information Services - Sakai Services

Participating colleges interested in open-source collaboration and learning management systems also have the option of enrolling in our Sakai managed services. Like Moodle, Sakai is a learner-centered, open-source course management system. Sakai offers faculty and students a rich, user-friendly interface, online help, and a wide variety of interactive tools to support teaching, learning, and collaboration. Sakai also includes the Open Source Portfolio, a set of tools that enables campuses and individuals to assemble and publish online e-portfolios of their work. Find out more below, review the details for available plans, or go directly to the online enrollment form.

• Why learning/course management systems?
• What does Sakai offer?
• What services are available?
• What must the enrolled campus provide?
• Is training available?
• How was the service developed?
• Whom should I contact with questions?

Why learning/course management systems?

Using the right learning and course management system, faculty members can quickly and easily create flexible online learning environments for their students to encourage and nurture on-going learning and interaction. Faculty members can use these shared online environments to

• make more effective use of limited face-to-face time with students by moving selected course elements online;
• foster and guide peer-to-peer discussion on defined topics;
• support and monitor collaborative group projects or peer-review activities;
• accommodate their students' different learning styles and preferences;
• challenge students to step out of their learning-based comfort zones;
• promote reflection on the learning process;
• safely and accessibly distribute course content to supplement face-to-face learning; and
• gather and review assignments, conduct surveys, and give quizzes.

Likewise, students can

• retrieve and review course materials such as syllabi, articles, images, and lecture notes from anywhere with online access;
• participate in discussions with fellow students;
• ask questions of the professor in a shared environment that allows everyone to learn from both question and response;
• review grades and feedback from the faculty member on assignments and tests.

Learning management systems enable faculty members to create a shared space that they and their students can access from anywhere, at any time, to collaborate, interact, and learn.

What does Sakai offer?

Sakai is an open-source course management system centered around learners' needs and designed to support collaborative approaches to teaching and learning. Built and maintained by the Sakai community, its development is overseen by The Sakai Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to coordinating activity around Sakai and its community to insure the software’s long-term viability. Sakai offers users a rich, user-friendly interface, online help, and a wide variety of tools that allow students to learn and collaborate in a truly interactive space. Features include but are not limited to discussion forums, wikis, chat, surveys, quizzes, glossaries, grade books, and multi-languages support.

Sakai also includes the Open Source Portfolio, a set of tools allowing campuses and individuals to assemble and publish online e-portfolios of their work. E-portfolios have been used in a variety of ways, including allowing users to explore and document their coursework, for self-presentation in academic or professional contexts, and by campuses as a means of institutional assessment.

What services are available?

• Sakai Basic Service: access for up to 100 users and 10 courses within a shared, hosted instance of Sakai. Basic service is included with participation in the NITLE Network. Includes server and application maintenance.
• Sakai Standard Service: access for up to 250, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 3000 users within a standardized, hosted instance of Sakai dedicated strictly to the enrolled campus. Standard updates and other service changes occur on a pre-determined schedule. Includes storage, server and application maintenance.
• Sakai Customized Service: access for up to 2000, 2500, and 3000 users within a customizable, hosted instance of Sakai dedicated strictly to the enrolled campus. Includes server and application maintenance. The enrolled campus can fully control configuration and other aspects of the application. A set-up fee for custom configuration applies. Customization and code changes are available via consultation with NITLE.
• Additional Storage: additional storage in 100 GB units is offered.
• Authentication Services: enrolled campus can choose either LDAP binding or Shibboleth binding
• Consulting Services: technical consultation on Sakai, available to any participating college regardless of enrollment in NITLE's Sakai Services.

What must the enrolled campus provide?

Campuses enrolled in NITLE Sakai Services must provide:

• A Sakai campus coordinator. The coordinator serves as the local resource for service-related questions, communicates with NITLE about the service, and acts as campus coach.
• A Sakai campus technical contact. When important information of a technical nature must be communicated to campuses enrolled in the service, NITLE will contact the technical contact.

Is training available?

Yes. NITLE offers three training/professional development options open to all participating colleges regardless of enrollment in NITLE Sakai Services.

• Regular Sakai User Community Meetings, which faculty and staff members from participating colleges use to share knowledge and experiences, learn from one another, and identify areas for on-going collaboration. This peer-support network enables campuses to share best practices in pedagogy; exchange information about technical and support issues; avoid duplication of effort; and collaborate to develop better solutions. See our program calendar for our complete schedule of face-to-face and virtual meetings.
• "Teaching with Learning Management Systems: Sakai," available upon request. (Find out more about our Workshops-to-Go program.)
• Our online workshop, “Explore Sakai,” which is delivered online via Multipoint Interactive Videoconferencing (MIV). See our program calendar for scheduled instances.

How was the service developed?

NITLE developed these different levels of Sakai services in collaboration with its participating colleges via the Sakai Pilot Project and on-going conversations with participants about learning management systems, Sakai, and the specific needs of smaller colleges and universities. NITLE thanks the Sakai User Community generally, and particularly thanks Allegheny College, the University of Richmond, Mount Holyoke College, and Southwestern University, whose early participation in the Sakai Pilot Project enabled NITLE to identify the best approach to delivering Sakai to participating colleges as a managed service. These institutions worked with NITLE to test and experiment with Sakai and explore the potential of collective access to open-source LMS implementations, providing important feedback to NITLE about developing a production-level managed Sakai service.

Whom should I contact with questions?

To enroll in or ask questions about our Sakai services or to share your ideas for other similar services that would be useful to your campus, please contact Karen Lee Davis.

• Sakai Service Details