Post on 13-Jan-2016
The Sakai Project and Educational Partners Program
Jim Farmer
Sakai Community Liaison Online Information and Education Conference 2004
Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand,
16 September 2004
The Sakai Project
Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the four
universities
The SAKAI Project
“The University of Michigan, Indiana University, MIT, Stanford, and the uPortal consortium are joining forces to integrate and synchronize their considerable educational software into a pre-integrated collection of open source tools.”
The Sakai Project, A proposal to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 2 December 2003
The broader goal
“Integrating these disparate efforts will also merge their associated communities of use and practice towards a critical mass to have a real economic and innovation effect for educational institutions.”
Sakai is
• A concept• An architecture• A four-university development effort• An emerging community
The Sakai VisionWe will create an open-source Collaboration and Learning management system which is competitive with best offerings,BUT at the same time create a framework, market, clearinghouse, cadre of skilled programmers, documentation and set of community practices necessary to enable many organizations to focus their energy in developing capabilities/tools which advance the pedagogy and effectiveness of technology-enhanced teaching, learning, research and collaboration…rather than each just building another threaded discussion tool as an LMS.
Sakai Board, June 23, 2004
Sakai: So Whats New?• New approach to Portal Technology:
Application Development Platform• New Approach to web application
development: Code to work on desktop (someday)
• New approach to Learning Management Systems: Not just for classes any more –research, collaboration
And, most importantly today:• New form of development: “Community Source”
The Sakai architecture
• Services-based architecture• Open Knowledge Initiative Service
Interface Definitions (OSID)• JSR 168 portlet (and, implicitly, WSRP
remote portlet)• Open Standards: XML, XSLT, SOAP,
SAMLand others as the project progresses
Tool Portability ProfileA set of specifications to be followed when
developing software
• Sakai services based on the Open Knowledge Initiative’s OSIDs (OKI Service Interface Definitions).
• User interface abstraction for localization
• The JSR-168 portlet specification
Sakai 1.0 Contents (12/04)• Complete Framework including JSF to Portlet
Rendering All of the CHEF tools and services in legacy mode
• Three new TPP compliant tools: SAMigo (Assessment), and Gradebook
• Ready to deploy as a Learning Management System (looks a lot like Michigan’s CHEF 1.2 plus)
• Ready to use as a development platform with rich sample applications
• Implementation of Sakai APIs, and MIT OSID plug-insGoal: Deployable in production at UM, pilot at the other three universities.
Sakai 1.0 Tools and Features• Worksite Info• Schedule• Announcements• Resources• Assignments• Discussion• Dropbox• Chat• Web Content• News• Email Archive
• My Workspace• Users Present• Tear off windows• Multiple roles,
permissions• Notification, preferences• Browsable sites list• Membership (self join
sites)• Webdav to Resources• Public view• Message of the Day
Sakai 2.0 (May 2005)• Significant replacement of legacy tools
– TPP Compliant, using OKI and Sakai APIs– Tools will be richer and deeper– Each core institution will focus on a set of tools to
develop
• SEPP partners will be involved in new tool development based on ability and commitment.
• Sakai organizational structures evolve to expand participation while maintaining core development focus
Sakai to use JA-SIG’s uPortal
The Sakai tools will be built to the JSR 168 to run in any JSR 168 compliant portal with installed services.
Joseph Hardin, Sakai Board Chair, July 2004
uPortal also developed “aggregated layout” specifically designed to “push” course Web pages to students
What is uPortal?
• Enterprise portal• Framework for presenting aggregated
content (channels)• Personalization• Role-based access control and layouts• Open source, collaborative effort• Java web application
Illinois State University
Denison University
SAKAI product availabilityBasis Production Version
• CHEF WorkTools Summer 2005OKI OSID
• Navigo Assessment Spring 2005IMS QTI, OKI OSID
• CHEF CMS Summer 2005OKI OSID
• Eden Workflow Spring 2005OKI OSID
The Sakai Education Partners Program
Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the
partners
Sakai Education Partners
• Participate in the community discussion on future direction
• Deploy Sakai-based software• Develop Sakai-based software,
refactor current software using the Tool Portability Profile, or publish Sakai-based content
• Implement the Sakai architectureBased on expressed interests of the community
Sakai founding partnersUniversity of Colorado at
BoulderCambridge UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityColumbia UniversityCornell UniversityFoothill-De Anza Community
College DistrictHarvard UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityNorthwestern UniversityPrinceton UniversityTufts University
University of California BerkeleyUniversity of California, DavisUniversity of California,
Los AngelesUniversity of California, MercedUniversity of California,
Santa CruzUniversity of HawaiiUniversity of OklahomaUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonYale University
Additional Sakai partnersArizona State University
Boston University, School of Management
Dartmouth College
Florida Community College, Jacksonville
Georgetown University
Maricopa Community College District
New York UniversitySimon Fraser UniversityUniversity of ArizonaUniversity of HullUniversity of LancasterUniversity of MelbourneUniversity of NagoyaUniversity of TorontoUniversity of Washington
Partnership benefits• Sakai Education Partners Program is for
administrators [for planning], adopters who will need support, and developers who will want to contribute tools and services to the higher education community.
• Partners will receive early information on the Sakai Project, including strategic directions, technical design and the initial tool sets for the 2004 and 2005 releases, and an invitation to the semi-annual SEPP meetings.
SEPP support
• Developers to provide technical support for partners and liaison with the Sakai Core development team,
• Support tools of immediate and specific interest to partners, such as a shared knowledgebase,
• Technical documentation and specifications,• Administrative Support person to aid SEPP
staff members and partners.
Sakai organizationSakai Project Sakai Partners
Sakai BoardJoseph Hardin, Chair, University of MichiganBradley C. Wheeler, Indiana UniversityLois Brooks, Stanford UniversityMara Hancock, University of California, BerkeleyCarl Jacobson, University of DelawareAmitava ‘Babi’ Mitra, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyJeff Merriman, Open Knowledge InitiativeVivian Sinou, Foothill DeAnza Community College District
Sakai Partners
• Educational institutions
• Contribute US$10,000 per year for three years
• Participate in Sakai activities
Sakai Partners 2005
• Sakai Project• Sakai Partners
– Foothill DeAnza authoring tool– University of California Berkeley gradebook
• Sakai related– Open Source Portfolio Initiative– CREE Project: JISC Library access portlets– University of Nagoya multimedia
“immersion”
The Berkeley Grade Book
An example of collaboration
University of California, Berkeley funded development of an on-line grade book
• Develop the grade book in collaboration with MIT
• Deploy and test the grade book integrated with local student systems
• Re-factor the grade book to Sakai “Tool Portability Profile” to support interoperability
The Etudes Project
An example of collaboration
Hewlett Foundation funded deployment of Sakai Collaborative Learning Environment at Foothill-De Anza Community College District
• Develop an authoring tool, primarily for faculty• Deploy and test Sakai as an information service
(ASP: Application Service Provider) for 48+ community college districts
• Develop open standards sharable learning materials
The Twin Peaks Project
An example of collaboration
Sun Microsystems, Inc. funded deployment of a citation/link authoring tool by Indiana University.
• Transfer a citation and link from a Web search or browser display into a document.
• Integrate into a JSR 168 portlet with an open source on-line WYSIWYG editor.
The CREE Project
An example of collaboration
UK JISC-funded project led by the University of Hull, a Sakai partner
• Redevelop search applications as Sakai JSR 168 portlets
• Improve the user interface; explore alternative presentations (by role, experience, disabilities)
• Includes Z39.50 (Jafer), Web Services-based SRW/SRU, Open URL (BALSA), portal environment (HEIRPORT), and Google
• Tested, documented, and made available as open source
The end
jim farmer
jxf@immagic.com; jxf@UMich.edu
+1-202-296-2807
Publisher’s Note
• uPortal is a project of the JA-SIG Collaborative led by Carl Jacobson at the University of Delaware and funded, in part, from the Sakai Project.
• im+m has contributed to uPortal, and the Meteor and California Electronic Transcript Project prototypes referenced in these presentations.
• The author is Chairman of the Board of im+m and Sigma Systems Inc., contracted by the University of Michigan for the Sakai Educational Partners Program, and volunteers as uPortal Project Administrator.
Permissions
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