Sakai 19 Known Issues

Known Issues/Solutions

Assignments: Inactive students receive reminder emails that an Assignment is due in 24 hours

• Issue: In Assignments, when creating or editing an assignment, instructors can check beside "Send a reminder email 24 hours before the due date". Reminders are sent 24 hours before the due date to students who have not submitted, as expected; HOWEVER, students who are no longer registered for the course are also sent reminder emails.
• Workaround: In Assignments, de-select "Send a reminder email 24 hours before the due date".

Sakai documentation: SAK-41865

Assignments: When grading an Assignment, clicking "Add Attachment" appends 2 zeroes to student's grade

• Issue: In Assignments, click GRADE below the assignment. Click on a student's name, and enter a Grade, such as 85. Scroll down and click "Add Attachments". Whether you attach a file and click Continue or click X in the upper right to close the window, the grade will now have two zeroes appended on it: such as 8500. You can correct the grade and save.
• Workaround: After clicking the "Add Attachments" button, enter or re-enter the student grade. Save changes.

Sakai documentation: SAK-41805

Forums: In the Topic Grading View, the Gradebook item associated with the Topic is not recognized

• Issue: In Forums, beside a topic, click on More, then Grade. In the top right corner, beside "Select a Gradebook Item", the gradebook item associated with the topic is not displayed. The "Show Comments" column and "Points" column are not displayed. Also, the "Apply Grade to all Ungraded" button does not display.
• Topic Setup: Before topic grading could take place, first the instructor must create a Gradebook item. Then the instructor must create or edit a Topic and associate the topic with the gradebook item.
• Workaround: In Forums, beside a topic, click on More, then Grade. In the top right corner, beside "Select a Gradebook Item", select the gradebook item that is associated with the topic. Now the "Show Comments" column and the "Points" column are displayed as well as the "Apply Grade to all Ungraded" button. Click on a student name to view the student's posts and replies; click on the Close Window button. Enter points and if desired, click on the "Show Comments" heading. Optionally, enter comments for students. Click on the Submit Grades button at the bottom of the page frequently to save changes. Points and Comments will display in the associated Gradebook item.

Sakai documentation: SAK-33703

Tests & Quizzes: Instructors cannot preview Tests/Quizzes in draft mode

• Issue: In Tests & Quizzes, beside any "draft" test or quiz, from the Action drop-down, select "Preview". Click the Begin Assessment button. Instead of seeing a test question, the instructor is returned to the main Tests & Quizzes page.
• Workaround: There is no workaround for previewing draft tests or quizzes. However, published tests and quizzes can be previewed. For example, if a test is published and is set to be released to students tomorrow, the instructor has an opportunity to preview it.

Sakai documentation: SAK-41786

Lessons: Automatic Checklist links don't import (copy) to another site

• Issue: In one site, in Lessons, create a Checklist with automatic Checklist links. In another site, use Site Info > Import from Site, and import all tools, including Lessons and Resources. All Lessons items import and required items are still "required". But in the Checklist, the links are not copied for each Checklist item to its corresponding required item. Therefore, when students perform required tasks (such as posting to a topic), the corresponding Checklist item is not automatically checked off the Checklist.
• Background: In Lessons, previously, you could create a Checklist of items that students could check off themselves. You can still create that type of Checklist item. In addition, you can now require activities that you want students to perform; these required activities will automatically be checked off the Checklist for the student. There are three steps you must perform:

1. Add, then edit and require items such as a link to a topic, assignment or test; or add and require a link to a file or web site.
2. Add a Checklist and add checklist items with the required tasks, such as "Post to this week's topic".
3. For each required Checklist item, such as "Post to this week's topic", link it to its corresponding required item, such as the link to the specific topic.
4. In this example, after a student posts to the required topic, the corresponding Checklist item will automatically be checked.

• Workaround: After importing tools, including Lessons with Automatic Checklists and Resources, in Lessons, edit the Checklist. Re-add the links from each required Checklist item to its corresponding task.

Sakai documentation: SAK-41593

Rubrics: Ratings/Comments not saved if a comment contains > 240 characters

• Issue: When grading, if an instructor fills out a rubric with ratings and comments, and if one of the comments entered contains more than 240 characters (including spaces) when the instructor clicks save, nothing in the Rubric is saved except the total score. All ratings and comments that were entered are wiped out. The instructor isn't aware of this unless they reopen the rubric to look at it after saving. This occurs in Gradebook and in Assignments (and likely in Forums or Tests & Quizzes). Also, if the instructor formats the text, even fewer characters can be entered.
• Workaround: Until this can be fixed, use brief comments on Rubrics! (and use plain text without formatting)

Sakai documentation: SAK-41841

Rubrics: Ratings/Comments not saved if you click on Add Attachments (in Assignments and in T&Q)

• Issue: When grading, if an instructor fills out a rubric with ratings and comments, then adds an attachment, when the instructor saves or updates changes, all rubric ratings and comments that were entered are wiped out. Only the total score is retained. The instructor isn't aware of the rubric ratings/comments being deleted unless they reopen the rubric to look at it after saving. This occurs in Assignments and in Tests & Quizzes. These are the only tools that you can grade with a rubric and attach a file for the student.
• Workaround: When grading with a rubric, save changes before attaching a file for the student.
  • In Assignments, after adding rubric ratings and comments, and optionally adding instructor summary comments, save your changes by clicking on either "Save and Don't Release to Student" or "Save and Release to Student". Your rubric ratings and comments will be saved. Now you can click on "Add Attachments" and add file(s) for the student. Again, save your changes.
  • In Tests & Quizzes, after adding rubric ratings and comments, click Update to save your changes. Select the student again, attach your file, and click Update.

Sakai documentation: SAK-41849

Audio files created with Text Editor record button will not import to another course site

• Issue: After Importing a course with audio files created using the Text Editor's "Record Audio Clip" tool; audio files won't play for students (but will play for instructors).
  • For example, in Lessons, if an instructor used the Text Editor-Record Audio Clip tool to create an audio file, both instructors and students can play the audio file.
  • BUT after using Site Info > Import from Site in a new course site, in Lessons, the students won't be able to play the audio files in the new course site.
• To see the issue: Create audio files in Lessons or other Sakai tools using the Text Editor > Record Audio Clip tool. Use Site Info-Import from Site in a new course site. Copy Lessons or appropriate Sakai tools containing audio files, and other Sakai tools as needed. Instructors can play the audio files in Lessons and in other tools in the new course site, but students in the course can not. Instructors can download the audio files, but can only upload to Resources, small audio files (<25MB), to their new course site.
• Solution: Please contact sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu.
  • We'll download the audio files, convert them to a smaller size (file type MP3) using Audacity, and upload your optimized audio files to your new course site's Resources area.
  • You can then link to the audio files located in Resources.
  • The audio files can be imported with your Resources files in future; both instructors and students will be able to see the audio player and play the audio files in new courses.
• To Avoid Future Issues: Create audio recordings using Vocaroo or another tool, such as Audacity.
  • In the Sakai Text Editor, click on the Source button. Paste the embed code provided by Vocaroo. Save the changes.
  • Note: Vocaroo does not keep recordings forever, sometimes not even for a whole semester! After creating a recording in Vocaroo, below the link/embed code, it states "Download as"; click on the MP3 link, to download the MP3 audio file on your computer.
    • Upload the MP3 file into your course's Resources area, with an easily identifiable name, as a backup to use in the future. If needed: Here's a refresher on how to upload a file to Resources
    • If the MP3 file is too large to upload to Resources, make sure the file is in a location you can easily find on your computer in the future.
  • Accessibility Recommendation:
    • Please upload a text transcript to accompany your audio clips.
      • It may be helpful to type a script before you record. This can be a useful strategy to help your audio clip remain focused, and the script can be uploaded to Sakai to serve as the audio clip’s transcript.
      • Not sure how to create a text transcript file? See How to create a text file using Windows Notepad

Sakai documentation: SAK-33674

Tips

Clear web browser cache

When using dynamic web sites like Sakai, web browsers might show you an outdated version of a page (what is called a "cached" version of the page).

• By default, browsers keep previous versions of a page to improve response time. But this behavior might prevent you from displaying the latest information.
• Here are the instructions for clearing your web browser cache for Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer

Lessons: Displays "Download file" when linking to a document

In Lessons, after adding a link to a document (such as a Word, PowerPoint or text file), a "download file" link and "message" appear, as shown below:
Why is this happening? If you click Add Content or on a "plus" sign (+), then click on:

• Add Content Links, a link will be created to your document or presentation, as desired.
• But if you click on Embed content on page, you are trying to display or show your document, like you would a video or image.
  • Important: Microsoft Word and PowerPoint files can't be displayed in a web browser; therefore, a download file link and "instructions" are provided.

What are the steps to add a link to a document? Watch this one minute video and/or do the following:

• In Lessons, at the top, click on Add Content or click on a "plus" sign (+) to the right or below your content
• Click on Add Content Links NOT Embed content on page
• Click on the Choose or Browse button to select a document or click on "Or select existing files from Resources"
• After selecting your file, either click Save or Continue, then Save. Your link to your document will now display correctly.

Turnitin

• If desired, you can allow students to submit multiple attachments on a single assignment, and all attachments will be checked by Turnitin.
• On the Assignment grading screen in Sakai, instructors will see a Turnitin column. Each document submitted will show an icon. Point to the icon to see additional information.
  • For example, a yellow triangle icon can mean a couple of different things:
    1. the attachment has been submitted and is pending review (wait 15-30 minutes for results to be returned) OR
    2. an error occurred and Turnitin could not process the document (contact sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu for assistance).
• When setting up a Turnitin-enabled Assignment, if you choose an option (e.g. "Inline and Attachments") that allows students to enter comments along with their attachment(s), those comments will be checked by Turnitin -- but only if the comment text exceeds 20 words.
  • This is a general rule for Turnitin: any documents or text containing fewer than 20 words are not checked, and will return an "error" stating that the content could not be processed.
  • This error is represented by a yellow triangle.
    
     
    

Favorite and Hide Course Sites

• You can favorite and unfavorite sites that display at the top of your Sakai page. Follow the instructions below:
  • In Sakai in the upper right corner, click on Sites, then click on the "gray" star to the left of a site you want to be displayed at the top of your Sakai page; the star will turn "yellow"
  • After you click on the "X" in the upper right corner of the Sites drop-down box, in the top middle of your page, you can click on a link to "reload" your page, to see your favorites listed across the top of your page
  • Also, in Sites, at the top right of your Sakai page, you can also "un-favorite" sites, by clicking on the yellow star to the left of the course site(s)

Resolved Issues

Note: This should solve the problem so that it does not recur. However, if you use another browser or computer, you may have to clear the web browser cache there as well. If the problem occurs more than a few times on the same computer or browser, please contact sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu.

FIXED: Tests & Quizzes: If students open Sakai in multiple web browser tabs or windows, they can receive a grade of zero for SOME or ALL test questions

• Issue: If a student opens Sakai in more than one web browser tab or window while taking a test, one of two issues can occur:

1. The student's test is submitted, but the student receives a total test score of zero. The student's answers are saved. But none of the correct test questions are given a score.
2. The student's test is submitted, and some of the test questions are graded. But some of the correct test questions are given a score of zero.

• Workaround: For tests and quizzes submitted between Thursday, 5/23/19 and Friday, 5/31/19, instructors were advised to scrutinize students' scores on tests & quizzes, including points awarded on individual questions. For some students, points and grades likely needed adjustment.
• FIX: A fix was applied on Friday, 5/31/2019. For tests and quizzes students submitted between Thursday, 5/23/2019 and Friday, 5/31/2019, instructors have two choices:

1. If an instructor did NOT manually add instructor comments to the overall test or to individual test questions, instructors can EDIT the test (retract the test), then REGRADE and REPUBLISH the test. The test scores will be updated; correct test questions will be assigned the appropriate points and the total test score will be adjusted as well.
2. Otherwise, if an instructor manually added instructor comments to the test or quiz, or prefers to review the tests or quizzes themselves, instructors are advised to scrutinize students' scores on tests & quizzes submitted between 5/23/19 and 5/31/19, including points awarded on individual questions. For some students, points and grades will likely need adjustment.

Sakai documentation: SAK-34373

FIXED: Tests & Quizzes: Chrome only: If students click on a Lessons link to a test/quiz, students can't see questions or submit answers

• Issue: On Chrome: When students click on a Lessons link to a quiz or test, the test is displayed in a small box. Students can't see questions or submit answers.
• Workaround: As an interim measure, students were advised to use Firefox when taking tests & quizzes.
• FIX: A fix was applied on 5/23/2019, and students may now use Chrome or Firefox to take tests & quizzes.

Sakai documentation: SAK-41799

FIXED: Gradebook: By default, Gradebook allows students to see class-wide grade distributions

• Issue: The Settings area in the Gradebook contains a new "Statistics" section which allows instructors to Display assignment statistics to students and/or Display course grade statistics to students. By default, these options are checked, allowing students to see these statistics.
• Fix: In all Summer courses, the options to display statistics to students in the Gradebook have been deselected. Soon, the same fix will be applied to all Fall 2019 courses and to all new courses created in the future. Students no longer see grade statistics by default, but instructors can choose to enable these options if desired (by going to Gradebook > Settings > Statistics).

FIXED: Forums: Short description not displayed on Topic page

• Issue: When students click on a Topic in the Forums tool, or when they follow a link from Lessons to a Forum Topic, they do not see the "short description" that the instructor entered when setting up the Topic.
  • Students (and instructors) see the "short description" only on the main Forums page (the page you see when you click Forums in the course menu).
• Workaround: For each Topic in Forums, if you have important info in "Short description" that you want to make sure your students see, put that info also in the larger "Description" box (aka full description). You should let your students know that they will need to click "View Full Description" to see the information.
• FIX: A fix was applied on 5/23/2019; instructors and students can see the topic short description when clicking on a link from Lessons to the Forum topic and when they click on a Topic in the Forums tool. As they could previously, instructors and students can see the topic short description on the main Forums page (the page you see when you click Forums in the course menu).

Sakai documentation: SAK-41769