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?

The answer depends on the type of course you are teaching: credit or non-credit.

• 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. Sakai course sites are created automatically for all credit sections. Starting several months before a new semester begins, a process runs daily each morning 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)  Instructors teaching non-credit courses will need to request Sakai course sites by submitting a form. (A link to the form will be provided here soon!) The instructor's supervisor or other appropriate staff can submit the form if that's easier. Please note that in order for the course site to be created on Sakai, the section must exist in Colleague and the instructor must be listed on the section in Colleague.

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 10:30 AM the next morning.
• For non-credit courses: Check with appropriate staff in your area to make sure the course section exists in Colleague and that you are assigned as the instructor in Colleague. Also, make sure you have submitted the Sakai site request form for non-credit courses with the correct Colleague section, as well as the correct Colleague section begin date, end date, and title. If you have questions, contact sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu.

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. You must tell us that by submitting the Sakai Combined Sections form.

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" 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 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, by 10:30 AM the next day the new section(s) will appear in Sakai and the section(s) you are no longer teaching will disappear from your view. If the old section(s) contain content that you need transferred to the new section(s), contact sakaihelp@durhamtech.edu 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, send any requests to add TAs 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 as TA.

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

Copying Content

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

• Importing (copying) course content from one Sakai site to another (PDF)

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

• Importing (copying) course content from one Sakai site to another (PDF)

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

• 5 Tips for Converting Your Blackboard Course to Sakai (PDF)

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.

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, 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 Sakai Student Login Handout, so they will know how to log in (and who to contact for help).

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.