TRANSCRIPT: GETTING TO KNOW SAKAI

Thank you for registering for Intro to Sakai! 

Sakai is Durham Tech’s learning management system. In this introductory workshop 
you’ll learn the basics of using Sakai to create announcements, post your 
syllabus, communicate with students and add lesson content.

To get you started, this video will show you how to: log in to Sakai, upload a 
profile photo, access your course sites, and how to enter the Intro to Sakai 
workshop. 

To access Sakai, go to sakai.durhamtech.edu, or you can use the link to Sakai 
that’s located on the Employees page or on the Current Students page of Durham 
Tech’s website.

Use the fields in the upper-right corner to log in with your Durham Tech user ID 
and password. This is the same user ID and password you used when you registered 
for the Intro to Sakai workshop.

If you forget your password, you can use the Reset Password link on the left. 
This will allow you to reset your password for Sakai and other Durham Tech 
systems. If a student contacts you requesting password assistance, you can direct 
the student to use this Reset Password link, as well.

[Fade out/fade in on Home screen]

Each time you log into Sakai, you'll start here, on the Home screen. On the right 
side of the Home screen is an aggregated calendar. It shows dates and deadlines 
from all the courses you’re involved in, and below the calendar, you'll see 
recent announcements from all of your course sites.

Now, let's take a look at a couple of items on the left side of the screen. Your 
Home screen has its own Resources area where you can store private files. By 
default, no one but you can see the files that you put in the Resources area of 
your Home screen.

Further down the list is your Profile area. If you’d like, you can upload a photo 
of yourself. Your profile photo will appear on the course roster and on any posts 
that you submit in the discussion forum or chat room. Just hover the mouse over 
the blank profile picture, and then click Change picture and Choose File to 
select your photo. 

Students can upload their photos, as well. We encourage students and instructors 
to upload a profile photo, as it adds a human element to their online 
interactions and can help contribute to the sense of community in the online 
learning environment. 

OK, let’s talk for a moment about course sites in Sakai. 

A course site provides a work area for a course section. This means when you 
teach multiple sections, you’ll be provided with a course site for each section. 
The tools in your course sites provide you with options that allow you to add 
text, files, images, videos, and much more as you build your course content. Your 
course sites also provide the tools you’ll need to document student progress, 
provide feedback, and otherwise manage your courses. You’ll learn more about some 
of these tools in the Intro to Sakai workshop, and others are covered in the 
Intermediate Sakai workshop.

To access your course sites, click Sites in the upper right corner. Here you’ll 
find a list of all sites you have access to. For example, this instructor has 
been added to the Intro to Sakai workshop and a Practice Course site.

[Fade out/fade in to a Sites list with many course sites]

Sites with a yellow star next to them are “favorited” and are pinned to the 
navigation bar at the top of the screen for easy access. You can click the star 
beside any site to “favorite” or “un-favorite” it. When you close the Sites 
window, Sakai will prompt you to re-load the page if you’ve made changes to your 
favorites.

OK! These were the basics of navigating Sakai! You’ll learn more about how to use 
Sakai in the Intro to Sakai workshop. 

[Fade out/fade in on stills representing each of items in the following list]

When you’re ready to start, just log in to Sakai, and locate Intro to Sakai in 
your Sites window.

If you need any assistance during the workshop, please contact 
sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu.