Sakai Procedures

Instructors who use Sakai at Durham Tech must follow the procedures described on this page. Please read carefully!

Course Site Creation

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

For credit courses: No. If you're teaching a credit course, you do not need to submit a request to get a course site set up on Sakai. Course sites are created automatically for all credit sections on Sakai. Starting a few months before a new semester begins, a process runs daily 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.

For non-credit courses: Yes. (including Con Ed, ESL, Basic Skills, AHS) Sakai sites for non-credit courses are created by request. The appropriate person within your program or department must submit this form for each section that will use Sakai: Sakai Course Site Request for Non-Credit Courses.

Note: Once created, your new course sites on Sakai will be EMPTY and ready for you to begin adding content and/or copying in content from other sources.

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

Log into Sakai, click on "More Sites", and you should see your courses listed in a section labeled with the year/semester. (Example: 2013SP) Click on any course in the list to go into the course site.

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

For credit courses: 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 correct course sites should appear in Sakai by 11 AM the next morning.
For non-credit courses: Check with appropriate staff in your area to make sure the form has been submitted to your request your course sites. If this has been done but your site isn't appearing in Sakai, contact sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu for further assistance.

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

Yes. You must submit Sakai Combined Sections form to tell us which sections you want combined.

IMPORTANT:

You must submit the Sakai Combined Sections form BEFORE the official start date of the class.
The sections to combine must have similar start and end dates. (You cannot combine a Mini-Session 1 section with a Mini 2 or full-session section.)
It takes a minimum of 48 hours for Durham Tech's support staff to combine 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 sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu.

I have decided to use Blackboard for some of my 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" screen in Sakai.

How do I hide a site so it no longer appears under "More Sites"?

Log in to Sakai.
In the My Workspace area, click on Preferences in the menu on the left.
In the "My Active Sites" list on the left, click the site you want to hide. (Ctrl-click to choose multiple sites.)
Click the right arrow in the middle to move the site to the "My Hidden Sites" column.
Click Update Preferences.
Click "More Sites" 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 risk confusing your students, your trusty Sakai 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, the next day the "new" section(s) you are teaching will appear in Sakai. The "old" sections that you are no longer teaching will still be listed, with you as instructor. To be removed from Sakai sites that you are no longer teaching, contact sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu.

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 access to my Sakai site?

Send requests to add supervisors to courses to sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu. Be sure to include the exact course prefix/number/section along with the name of the person to add.

Please note: Only folks who have completed the Intro to Sakai workshop can be added to a site.

Importing (Copying) Content

Student Access

When will students be added to Sakai sites?

Students are added to Sakai sites daily from the start of registration. Each morning (from 8:30 until about 10:30 AM), a process runs that automatically adds students to your Sakai courses. This process also automatically sets to inactive students who drop.

Where can I see a list of currently active students in my course?

The Roster tool (on the main menu in your course site) allows you to view a list of students that matches the roster in Colleague. The Roster tool lists the student Name, User ID, Email Address, and Role.

How do I make my Sakai site visible to students?

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

Where do my students get instructions for logging in to Sakai?

From YOU! While we are in transition, it's especially important for you to tell your students that you are using Sakai and to give them instructions for accessing Sakai. Please give your students a copy of the appropriate Sakai Student Login Handout, so they will know how to log in and who to contact for help:

For credit courses: Sakai Student Login Handout for Credit Students (PDF)
For non-credit courses: Sakai Student Login Handout for Non-Credit Students (PDF)

The Sakai Help for Students site is a great place to refer your students if they are having trouble or need more info on using Sakai. (There is a link to "Help for Students" on the main Sakai login page.)

What do I do if a student drops?

NOTHING. When a student drop is processed in Collague, the next morning at by 10:30 AM the student will become inactive in the appropriate Sakai site. If the student needs to be reactivated, that change must happen in Colleague first, then the student will automatically become active in Sakai the next morning by 10:30 AM. No data will be lost if a student is dropped and then re-added.