CourseWorks and Sakai Update
July 2005
(Version 1.1)
Robert Cartolano
Manager, Academic Technologies, Academic Information Systems
Columbia University, rtc@columbia.edu
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What is CourseWorks?
CourseWorks@Columbia is our campus-wide course management
system, accessible anytime, anywhere, via a secure web connection.
All users log in with their standard UNI account and password, and all
courses and class rosters are pre–loaded to simplify use.
• Instructors:
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Deliver and access online course materials and library reserves
Participate in online discussions with students
Send Email to students with ease and manage course mailing lists
Manage course projects, assignments, online tests, quizzes and grades
Copy and modify course content across semesters
• Students:
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Retrieve course materials anytime, anywhere
Access online grade book for assignments, quizzes, exams
Communicate with faculty and fellow students via email, discussions
Fill out online faculty surveys and course evaluations
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CourseWorks Today
• Usage
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Over 1,700 courses in Spring 2005
21,000 users (2,000 instructors, 19,000 students)
Continued growth, including systematic adoption at school level
Morningside campus, Medical Center, Barnard
• Features customized for Columbia
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Authentication, authorization, security
Administrator roles (ET, Help Desk, Libraries, schools, depts.)
Course, university, guest access
Program/Course Evaluation System (80,000 evaluations to date)
Shopping Period (open access specified at school level)
Learning Objectives (accreditation support for prof. Schools)
Extensive usage statistics (WebHound)
• http://courseworks.columbia.edu/essentials/
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CourseWorks Fall 2005
• SHARES - share content between courses, instructors, and
semesters. Reduce “silo” effect of course data.
CourseWorks
Course
Copy from one
course to next
CourseWorks
SHARES
Create, modify, remove,
re-use, share
Institutional
Repository
Permanent collection;
curation,metadata.
• Face book - visual roster for instructors
• Redesigned My Courses Page
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Courseworks Future
• CourseWorks is built on Prometheus – open,
extensible, Oracle database, stable, reliable, has
scaled to meet campus needs, but…
• Prometheus is longer being actively developed, and
course management systems are rapidly evolving.
• We will need a successor to Prometheus, but not
right away.
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What is Sakai?
• Community source development project:
– U. Mich, Indiana U., MIT, Stanford
– uPortal Consortium, OKI
– Mellon, Hewlett funded
– Sakai Project Board - Joseph Hardin, Chair
• Columbia is a member of Sakai Educational
Partners Program (SEPP) along with 70+ schools
– AcIS, AIS, CCNMTL jointly funding partnership
• Web site: http://www.sakaiproject.org/
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Why are we looking at Sakai?
• Sakai is open, extensible platform that supports
customization, development, rapid advancement
• Matches most existing CourseWorks features
• Has desired features not found in CourseWorks
• Community Development Model (with our peers)
• Leverages existing standards
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Sakai Timeline
• Now - Version 2.0 available
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Grade Book (MIT, Berkeley)
Melete Simple Authoring Tool (DeAnza Foothil, Hewlett-funded)
Test & Quiz (Samigo Assessment Engine; Stanford, Indiana)
Syllabus (Indiana)
Sakai Framework and API
User Profiles
ePortfolios (OSPI Portfolio System, www.theospi.org) as add-on
• September 2005
– Four core schools using campus-wide
– Over 20 pilots planned at other schools
• Spring 2006 - Version 3.0 available
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Transition Planning
• Multi-year transition
• Migration Scenario
– Existing System
– Functionality
– Content
– Users
Migration Tools
User Migration
Outreach
Awareness
Training
New System
Functionality
Content
Users
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AcIS Sakai Evaluation:
Positive Results So Far
• Infrastructure – matches and in some cases
exceeds Prometheus
• Features – Sakai has most Prometheus
features, and several new ones
• Content – some course materials migrate
easily
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Sakai 1.5 Live Demonstration
• Current Columbia Sakai Implementation
– UNI Login support
– Secure (SSL) server running on standard AcIS
Solaris server, Apache, Tomcat, Oracle DB,
NetApp storage system
– CourseWorks appearance and features
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Sakai 1.5 Live Demo (cont’d)
• New features not found in Prometheus
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Improved file access, including WebDAV
Calendar, linked to assignments, announcements
Inline Assignments
Chat, Presence
Customizable interface
Cross-platform Web Editing Tool
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Course Migration
• AcIS Content Migration Tool - copies
content from CourseWorks to Sakai courses
(Intro, Syllabus, Class Files)
• Batch Load - pre-load all Registrar course
information using same course numbering
• Manual export/import available and
preferred by some schools (eg: University of
Wisconsin)
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Sakai Pilot, Fall 2005
• Small pilot, under 20 courses, with
evaluation and campus feedback
• Sakai 2.0 features and new capabilities
• Test infrastructure under some load
• Insight for potential larger Spring 2006 pilot
and/or Fall 2006 production rollout.
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Columbia Sakai Pilot
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CourseWorks
Access via My Courses Page
My Courses
Use CourseWorks layout
Pre-load course data
SAKAI
Prometheus
Pre-load user data
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Sakai as Platform
• More than CourseWorks…
CourseWorks
Teach, Learn
Research
Admin
Office Use
Students,
Dev Platform
Alumni
Content, Tools
Sakai Foundation System (Sakai Core + Columbia Core)
AcIS Systems and Network Infrastructure
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Sakai Uses
End User
Sakai Site
Easier,
Standard
End User
End User
Custom Site/Service
(SIS Portal, Epiville)
Locally Written
Tool
Sakai Tool
Increasing Development,
Complexity
Sakai Dev
Platform
Harder,
Customized
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Sakai Evaluation Next Steps
• Monitor Sakai Progress - software,
governance, future funding model
• Evaluate results of Fall 2005 Pilot
• Determine top priorities
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For use as CourseWorks platform
For non-course sites (research, admin, student)
As a development platform
uPortal integration
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Closing
• Try out Columbia Sakai Test System
• Prepare for Fall 2005 Pilot
• Q &A
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