Sakai Marketing Report
DHC
Year Seminar New Course Management Tools Team
Tim Fullman, Deepak Koilvaram, Venessa Laurel, Bukky Oseni-Olalemi
3rd
Background
MyUCDAVIS was first developed more than six years ago. Many associate the system
just with email but in reality it is much more. In addition to hosting geckomail, MyUCDAVIS
(MyUCD) also provides a variety of features including course management tools. These are what
we focus on in our project. The MyUCD course management tools provide a source of
communication between professors and students. Professors can post assignments, send out
class-wide announcements, and use other features such as a chat room or online quiz builder.
Students can go online to check grades, download documents off the web, or get further class
information. Because of the technology-friendly nature of the developing generation, MyUCD’s
resources are widely used by the student body. Many professors, on the other hand, are hesitant
to take advantage of the system.
Much time has passed since MyUCD was first deployed and the programmers who
created the course management tools are now gone or working in other areas. The system itself
has become outdated and is cumbersome and difficult to work with. The lack of original
designers and low number of personnel familiar with the old course management system
highlight the need for new course management tools. This need is about to be met through the
introduction of a new system, Sakai.
Sakai is a community open-source course management system currently under
development. It was originally created by the University of Michigan, Indiana University, MIT
and Stanford and now has over 70 partner institutions including five UC campuses. UC Davis is
currently preparing for deployment of Sakai through a series of programs including faculty
training, focus groups, and a pilot program. The goal is to launch the new system Fall Quarter
2006.
Goals
Facilitate adoption of Sakai by informing the campus community of the new system and
provide avenues for student-faculty communication
Key Messages
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Sakai is an expansion of MYUcdavis CMT. It improves the already existing features
while providing new tools
Sakai is an open-source system so it will continue to adapt to the needs of our developing
community
Each user can personalize Sakai to fit their individual needs and interests
By getting excited and communicating with faculty, students can inspire their instructors
to utilize Sakai. This will enhance the learning experience for faculty and students alike.
Marketing Strategies
California Aggie Student Newspaper
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Published daily, reaches thousands of students, faculty, and staff
Three-part series about Sakai
o Day 1: About the new system and why a transition is occurring
o Day 2: Emphasize new features and advantages of Sakai
 Get faculty and students excited about the new system
o Day 3: Specifically geared towards students, they have a voice with their
professors to help implement Sakai
 Equipping students to become effective marketers in their classes
 This will occur through things like talking with professors in office hours
and utilizing the mid-quarter evaluations mentioned above
Articles intended to create initial interest in Sakai
Interest maintained through future articles in Bits & Bytes, a weekly technology column
in the Aggie
o Highlight specific features of Sakai as well as key messages to keep excitement
about the new system high and foster anticipation
Other Media
Hypertext- Newsletter put out once each quarter by IET
 Found in places such as the library
 Focused towards students and especially novice users
 Good place to present information about Sakai in a user-friendly manner
TechNews- Weekly email newsletter sent to students, faculty, and staff who have signed up
 Has potential to reach a large range of users and go more in depth for those who have a
greater knowledge and interest in technology
Dateline- Faculty newsletter
 Help promote the idea that using Sakai is beneficial for the faculty as well as the students
 Great place to publish comments from faculty members who participated in the pilot
programs
 Peer comments likely to have greater impact on faculty than what students or other
marketing avenues might say
Teaching Evaluation Forms
 Serves as ongoing assessment tool of new course management system.
 Implement online forms that emphasize course management system.
 Standardization achieved through online form.
 Mid-quarter evaluations provide more of an incentive for professors and students.
Students can change how a course is taught for the remainder of the quarter and
professors might get a more positive evaluation at the end of the quarter.
Campus Events
Use official annual campus events to introduce and market the new CMS to current and
future students
Summer Advising
 Reaches almost all incoming freshmen and transfer students
 All freshmen get their Kerberos login and password for the first time at summer advising
and use it to register for classes
 A Sakai presentation at a computer lab where students can login to Sakai and be
introduced to its features
 If students know how certain features work, they are more likely to influence faculty to
adopt those features
Picnic Day
 Reaches almost all students and parents and lots of prospective students
 Announce that new CMS is coming in Fall
 Only “My Classes” part of MYUcdavis is changing
 Give a sneak preview of new system
 Emphasize personalized and customizable aspects of Sakai
Fall Welcome
 Reaches most students enrolled for fall quarter especially freshmen
 Table tents in Dining Commons and the Quad with student-targeting information on
using features in Sakai
 Highlight most student-attractive features like the integrated calendar
 A slogan like “Our Campus’ latest, greatest thing = Sakai” would work
Unitrans advertisements
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To further publicize and promote excitement about the integration of Sakai into the
MyUCDavis course management tools section.
Promotions may begin during the summer of 2006 to gain acceptance from students
participating in summer programs in Davis.
Objective is to excite current students and incoming new students about Sakai.
Refer to http://unitrans.ucdavis.edu/ads/ for more information
Unitrans bus ads contact James Blumer at (530) 754-5838 (Unitrans Business office
voicemail) or e-mail him at jrblumer@ucdavis.edu
Coffee House Advertisements
 Promote interest and intrigue to students and faculty members by designing posters and
flyers to be distributed to all Coffee House announcement boards and table holders
 Sakai poster and flyer goal: to make sure the advertisement stands out from the rest
 Sakai aim is to push a new campaign for adoption of Sakai program
 Place posters/flyers in high traffic areas
 Possible tabling in front of CoffeeHouse during lunch hour
 Provide handouts, Sakai paraphernalia, and general information regarding integration of
new system
Coffee House Table Holders
 Contact Information: Tom Jobst
Marketing & Training Manager
Associated Students Coffee House
twjobst@ucdavis.edu
Tel: (530) 754-6869
Fax: (530) 752-8548
Timeline
Spring 2006
Picnic Day
California Aggie Articles
Dateline Article
Summer 2006
Summer Advising
Unitrans Ads
Fall 2006
Fall Welcome
Coffee House Table Holders Ads
Bits & Bytes
Hypertext & Technews Articles