Sakai Procedures

Course Site Creation

For courses I will teach with Sakai, do I need to submit course requests?

No, with Sakai it is no longer necessary to submit requests to have courses created and/or copied for you.

HOWEVER, during the current transition period, we ask that you let us know which sections you will teach with Sakai by completing this form by December 5:
Spring 2013 Sakai Notification Form

The info you provide on the notification form will help us support you and your students as you use Sakai. Also, the Sakai Notification Form provides a way for you to tell us if you want to combine multiple sections into a single Sakai site. (See info on combining sections below.)

How will my Sakai course sites be created?

Automatically. Starting 11/1/2012, a process runs daily at 8:30 AM that creates course sites in Sakai based on information from Colleague. If you are assigned as "instructor" on a section in Colleague (AND if you have completed the Intro to Sakai workshop), your course sites will be created automatically in Sakai. These course sites are empty and ready for you to begin adding content (and/or copying in content from other sources).

How will I know that my Spring 2013 Sakai sites have been created?

Log into Sakai, click on "More Sites", and you should see your courses listed in a section labeled 2013SP. Click on any course in the list to go into the course site.

My Spring 2013 courses are not listed in Sakai (or some sections are incorrect). What do I do?

Work with your program director, discipline chair, or department secretary to make sure you are assigned to the correct sections in Colleague. Once Colleague is updated, the change should appear in Sakai by 8:30 AM the next morning.

I want to combine multiple sections into a single site on Sakai. How do I do that?

This requires intervention by Durham Tech’s Sakai support staff.

First, we need to know what sections you want combined. Please tell us that by submitting the Spring 2013 Sakai Notification Form, following the instructions on the form for combined sections.

After submitting the form, please wait to hear back from us before proceeding with adding content to your sites on Sakai. If you have questions, contact Dave Sorenson.

I will use Blackboard for some Spring 2013 classes. Why are those sections appearing in Sakai? What do I do with them?

A course site will appear in Sakai for every section on which you are assigned as instructor in Colleague. If you have decided to teach some of these sections on Blackboard, simply ignore the sites in Sakai and do not publish them. If you want, you can hide these sections so they do not show on your "More Sites" menu in Sakai.

To hide sections in Sakai:

• On the "More Sites" menu, choose "Preferences" in the upper right corner.
• In the "My Active Sites" list on the left, click the section you want to hide. (Ctrl-click to choose multiple sections.)
• Click the right arrow in the middle to move the section to the "My Hidden Sites" column.
• Click Update Preferences.
• Click "More Sites" again to see your changes.

For a particular section, I want to teach part of the course on Blackboard and part of it on Sakai. Can I do that?

No. For each section, choose one platform to use for the entire semester and stick with your decision. Otherwise, you will confuse your students, your trusty support staff, and possibly yourself.

What if the sections that I am assigned to teach change?

When a change is made to instructor assignments in Colleague, by 8:30 AM the next day the new section(s) will appear in Sakai and the old section(s) will disappear from your view. If the old section(s) contain content that you need transferred to the new section(s), contact Dave Sorenson for assistance.

What if there are multiple instructors teaching a course?

As with Blackboard, there can be multiple instructors in a site in Sakai. All instructors who are assigned to a section in Colleague AND who have completed the Intro to Sakai workshop will be added to the corresponding site in Sakai. Please note that if an instructor has not completed the Intro to Sakai workshop, he/she will not have access to the site on Sakai.

How can I give my supervisor "TA" access to my Sakai site?

For now, contact Dave Sorenson or Karen McPhaul directly with this request. Please note that your supervisor must have completed the Intro to Sakai workshop in order to be added as a TA.

Copying Content

How do I copy content from my Sakai practice course into my new course sites?

Link to handout

I taught with Sakai in Fall 2012. How do I copy content from my fall course sites into my spring course sites?

Link to same handout

How do I copy content from my Blackboard course to Sakai?

See tips sheet

Student Access

When will students be added to Sakai sites?

Students will be added to your Sakai sites as soon as registration begins. Each morning at 8:30 AM, a process runs that automatically adds students to your Sakai courses. This process also automatically sets to inactive any students who have dropped.

Please do not add or inactivate students yourself -- just allow the daily process (which is fed from official rosters in Colleague) to handle it for you.

How do I make my Sakai site visible to students?

When you are ready for students to access your course, within the course, click the Publish now button in the upper left area (just under the Durham Tech logo). By default, all courses are marked unpublished until the instructor makes them available to students.