A Beginner s Guide to SAKAI Open source Collaboration and Learning Environment Used in online courses offered by Digital Media Zone School of Information Science & Learning Technologies University of Missouri-Columbia E-mail: zone@missouri.edu Web: http://zone.missouri.edu Phone: 573-882-1653, 877-848-9663 (Toll Free) 2008 Digital Media Zone Last revised by Digital Media Zone: January 10, - 2011 1 -
Table of Content 1 Logging Into Sakai 3 2 A First Look at SAKAI 4 3 Using My Workspace 5 3.1 Using Preferences: How can I get e-mail notifications about important events in my course(s)? 5 3.2 Using Resources: How can I store files in My Workspace? 6 4 Exploring a Sakai Course Site 8 4.1 Viewing Course (Instructional) Materials 9 4.1.1 Course announcements 9 4.1.2 Course syllabus 9 4.1.3 Course schedule 10 4.1.4 Course instructional material 11 4.2 Communicating with Your Instructor and Fellow Students 12 4.2.1 Participating in course discussions: 12 4.3 Looking for Assignments 14 4.3.1 Reading and submitting assignments: 14 4.3.2 Checking your grades 17 4.3.3 Reading your instructor s feedback 17 2008 Digital Media Zone - 2 -
Sakai is an online open source Collaboration and Learning Environment, which we are testing here at the University of Missouri as an alternative to Blackboard. Although still undergoing development and refinement, Sakai is now being used at more than 100 Universities and Colleges throughout the world. We find that Sakai offers Digital Media Zone students robust features for collaboration with instructors and fellow-students and enhanced options to store and display rich media and Web content for our online courses. 1 Logging Into Sakai NOTE: The preferred Web browser for use with Sakai is Mozilla Firefox. We recommend you download a FREE copy of the latest version of the Firefox browser (http://www.mozilla.com/en- US/firefox/) and install it on the computer(s) you will use for courses offered via Sakai. 1. To access the University of Missouri Sakai, use the following URL: https://sakai.missouri.edu/portal 2. To access the SAKAI course(s) in which you are enrolled, use your regular MU Pawprint ID and Password in the designated fields and clicking on the Login button. Put your MU Pawprint for user id and MU Password for password IMPORTANT: To access the SAKAI courses in which you are enrolled use your regular MU Pawprint ID and Password. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 3 -
2 A First Look at SAKAI IMPORTANT: In SAKAI, horizontal tabs represent each worksite or course in which you are a member or student. There are three types of Sakai areas: My Workspace (a personal workspace), Course worksites, and Project worksites. To gain access to a worksite or course in which you are a member, click on the appropriate menu bar tab. The course or worksite will quickly load in the frame below the menu bar. In each worksite, you will have a left navigation bar. When you first log into Sakai, you are in your private My Workspace area. Horizontal Tab Menu 1 2 Left Navigation Bar 1 My Workspace: When you first log into Sakai, you are automatically in the My Workspace area. Your My Workspace is a private work area which only YOU can access. 2 Course Worksites: Next to My Workspace tab, each online course you are enrolled in during the current semester will be listed separately as a TAB across the top of the page. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 4 -
3 Using My Workspace My Workspace is a personal SAKAI worksite and file storage area, to which only YOU have access. Your My Workspace provides you with the following options. Resources is a private file storage area. You can set up preferences to get e-mail notification about announcements, e-mails, resources, and syllabus from other worksites. 3.1 Using Preferences How can I get e-mail notifications about important events in my course(s)? Notifications is a useful function offered by Sakai. Sakai can send you e-mail notifications automatically based on your personal preferences. Email notification can be sent out based on: the priority level assigned to the notification by your instructor your preference for receiving notifications When an instructor creates announcements and uploads new resources to a SAKAI course, he/she can choose whether or not to send an email notification to all site participants. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 5 -
If an instructor chooses High priority when adding a new resource or announcement, students will be automatically notified via e-mail -- this email notification preference cannot be altered by you. If an instructor chooses Low priority when adding a new resource or announcement, you can control whether and how often to receive e-mail notifications. If an instructor chooses No Notification when adding a new resource or announcement, students will not receive notification e-mail messages for that activity or event. 3.2 Using Resources How can I store files in My Workspace? 1 Mouse-over the Add button to open the Add Item(s) dialog box. 2 Select an item to add first. Based on your choice of item type, the properties options will change. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 6 -
Click Browse button to select the file from your local directory. 3 This option is for the copyright status and other settings. Leave it as default. This option is for upload more than one file at a time. 4 When you are done, click on the Upload Files Now button. IMPORTANT: Your instructor(s) may create a folder, Student Portfolios, under the Resources in the course site(s) and require you to store files in that folder. The procedure of storing files in the Student Portfolios folder in the course site will be same as above. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 7 -
4 Exploring a Sakai Course Site NOTE: To access the Course(s) you are enrolled, you must first log into Sakai using information on page 4 of this guide. The course Home screen displays summaries of Recent Announcements and Chat Room messages. Tools for Course Materials Tools for Assignments & Grades Communication Tools Users currently online will be listed in this box. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 8 -
4.1 Viewing Course Materials Course materials in Sakai usually include a course syllabus, announcements, assignments and unit of instruction documents (instructional materials, web references and readings created by your Instructor). IMPORTANT: There may be minor differences among Sakai courses (if you are taking more than one Sakai course per semester) when your instructors utilize different Sakai options for delivering course content. 4.1.1 Course announcements: Your course instructor will often post announcements in a course site (and send them to you via e-mail notification). It is your responsibility to read all course announcements. As a default, you only see the newest 10 items. You can select other options from the dropdown menu. Click on the title to read the details. The default is the newest announcement on the top line. IMPORTANT: You will also receive most course announcement via e-mail. For details, read the topic on Using Preferences: How can I get an e-mail notifications about important events in my courses? on page 5 of this guide. 4.1.2 Course syllabus: TIP: The syllabus in the Syllabus section is not usually a print-friendly version. Your course instructor will usually provide PDF and HTML versions of the syllabus in the Resources section. Save the PDF syllabus, print it and keep it handy. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 9 -
4.1.3 Course schedule: Each site has its own Schedule. However, it is up to your instructor whether they use the built-in schedule features in Sakai. Consult the Schedule for assignment due dates. Also check in Resources to determine if your instructor provides a print-friendly schedule with additional important information. Default View: Calendar by Week Default view is Calendar by Week. You can change the view option. These are navigation buttons. You can get printfriendly version. IMPORTANT! Most Zone instructors prefer to provide a one or two-page PDF version of the course schedule to allow students to print it. Your instructor will make an announcement informing you where to find the schedule or other important course documents. Default View: List of Events You can view activities for today or filter a list of activities by setting up a custom date range. You can sort by date either ascending or descending Click on the title to read details. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 10 -
4.1.4 Course instructional material: Zone instructors will upload most course-related documents to the Resources area. They will create a series of folders to organize content by Units of Instruction or some other organizational method that should help you find the course information easily. Overview of Resources Click on each folder to get files stored under each folder. Icons indicate different file types. Click on the file title to open it. Navigating through Folders This indicates the location. In order to go back to an upper folder, click on the folder title or the up arrow. IMPORTANT: Your instructor(s) may create a folder, Student Portfolios, under the Resources in the course site(s) and require you to store files in that folder. The procedure of storing files in the Student Portfolios folder in the course site will be same as storing files in your WorkSpace. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 11 -
4.2 Communicating with Your Instructor and Fellow Students Although the details of discussion participation requirements may differ among courses, all Zone courses require you to participate in course discussions as part of your overall course grade. Beyond the required discussion participation, we encourage you to post any course-related questions to the appropriate discussion board so that your instructor can quickly answer your questions. You are also highly encouraged to use the discussion features of Sakai to ask for help from and answer questions posed by your fellow students. 4.2.1 Participating in course discussions: Overview of Discussion Board (Forum Level) Click on each forum title to open it. 1 Set up your profile for this Discussion board The number of topics in the forum The number of messages in the forum Overview of Topic Level Indicates who posted the last message and when it was posted. 2 Click on the topic title to read it. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 12 -
Overview of Message Level Location: Navigate by clicking the name of the forum Information about and picture of the author of the message There are three ways to reply to this message. Using the postreply button Using quote (when you want to quote part of an original message) Using the Quick Reply button Constructing a Discussion Board Message Insert a Smiley Options for formatting message text Click on the Submit button when you are finished. 4 3 Option for embedding an image in a message 2008 Digital Media Zone - 13 -
4.3 Finding Your Assignments Assignment instructions will be provided throughout the semester by your instructor. Each assignment may have unique requirements and submission directions. For example, your instructor may ask you to submit your work to the Drop Box, your Student Portfolio folder (in Resources), or using some other method. Therefore, you should read EACH assignment instruction carefully focusing on 1) what to submit, 2) how to submit, and 3) when to submit. This section outlines the most common ways the Sakai Assignment Tool features are used by Zone Instructors. 4.3.1 Reading and submitting assignments: Assignment due date Click on the assignment title to read the full text. 1 Status Due indicates that the assignment is already due. The points assigned to the assignment 2008 Digital Media Zone - 14 -
General information about an assignment Detailed assignment instructions. Pay attention to What to submit How to submit When to submit Assignment Submission Area Some assignments require you to type your assignment into this box or enter a message to your Instructor contained in the assignment instructions. [example: I have finished this assignment ] 2 Other assignments require you to attach a PDF or *.DOC file with your work. Unless you click on the Submit button, your assignment will not be submitted to the Instructor. Many students forget to click on this button after they attach a file. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 15 -
4.3.2 Checking your grades Zone courses offered in Sakai use the Gradebook to post grades. You can check both your individual assignment grades and the cumulative course grade, or score, of all assignments graded to date. Course Grades are typically released at the end of the semester when all work is complete and graded by the instructor. Assignment grades in the Gradebook should match any grades that are listed in the Assignments Tool. Some Zone instructors release grades using BOTH the Assignments Tool and the Gradebook, and some only release grades to the Gradebook. 4.3.3 Reading your instructor s feedback or When your grades are released, your instructor will usually make an announcement regarding where you can read the instructor s feedback for each assignment. Most Zone course instructors provide feedback on your work using either the Sakai Assignment Tool or your private Drop Box tool. 2008 Digital Media Zone - 16 -