Sakai
Our learning management system is Sakai. It is an integrated set of software tools designed to help instructors, researchers, and students collaborate. Hundreds of educational organizations around the world use Sakai. For information on how to use Sakai in your classes, explore the Sakai resources on VIRTL.
Organizing Course Materials for You and Your Students
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The Syllabus Tool lets you create an interactive syllabus
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The Lessons Tool lets you create interactive modules to help organize your class.
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Consistent file organization and naming structures
Sakai Announcements for Official Communications
Sakai Discussions (formerly Forums)
Sakai Assignments
The Sakai Assignments tool allows instructors to create, distribute, collect, and grade online assignments. Assignments are typically private; student submissions are not visible to other users of the site. However, the instructor has the option to enable peer evaluation of assignments if desired. Assignments may be submitted via file upload or by typing directly in to Sakai, depending on your preference.
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Creating and Collecting Assignments
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Peer Feedback
Editing the Tool list in Sakai
The tools listed below do not appear in the default tool list. To add them, follow the directions linked above.
Polls
Each anonymous poll has only a single question, and you provide a set of multiple-choice answers for the students to select from. You choose if participants are able to see the results or not.
Dropbox (for Collecting Student Work)
The Dropbox is a useful tool to collect student work. It automatically creates individual folders for each student in the Sakai site. Students can submit work by uploading files to these folders. Dropbox folders are private. Student submissions are not visible to other users of the site. If you use the Dropbox, you will create and distribute the assignment tasks through other channels, such as Forums, Announcements, or your syllabus
Tests & Quizzes
The Sakai Tests & Quizzes tool allows instructors to create, distribute, and grade online tests, quizzes, and surveys. Not all tests need to be graded, and we have a number of faculty using this tool for practice and self-assessment. Many preset question types are available, including file upload, and you can add time limits. Sakai also allows for easy exceptions to allow for accommodations and other accessibility needs.
Gradebook
The Sakai Gradebook can be used for all graded activities and points earned in your course site. There are several settings you can set up for your site, such as grade entry in points or percentages, grade release rules, categories and weighting. The Gradebook can receive grade information from other Sakai tools such as Assignments, Forums, and Tests and Quizzes. Items can also be manually added to the gradebook. Grades can be imported, exported and manipulated using Excel.