We first mentioned Sakai project sites when they became available to the Duke community in November. As part of the transition from Blackboard to Sakai, the Duke Sakai Team has migrated over 600 Blackboard Organization (or ‘ORG’) sites to Sakai project sites. ORG site leaders can now log into http://sakai.duke.edu and find their new project sites by clicking the My Active Sites tab and looking for the section titled PROJECTS.
Sakai project sites are not unlike Sakai ‘Course’ sites: most of the same tools can be used in either type of site, though the Sakai support site does offer some specific tips for getting the most out of project sites. Even with the inclusion of many basic tools for collaboration, Sakai project sites will undoubtedly not meet every group’s needs. Duke offers several other tools that might also meet the needs of former ORG site users, including the following:
Duke faculty, staff and/or students can create new Sakai project sites today.
Summer course feeds coming soon; new course creation process
Summer course feeds should go into Sakai towards the middle of February – meaning faculty will be able to get an early start on building their summer courses in Sakai. Faculty familiar with course creation in Sakai will notice a slightly streamlined process. Read more about the new process on the Sakai support site.
Remember: Blackboard will be shut down 06/30/12. It’s not too late to start using (or learning) Sakai this semester!
Sakai offers instructors the opportunity to create Sakai sites for any course they’re teaching in a given semester. Instructors can also create course sites that combine enrollments (or sections, if available). For example, you can create a lecture course site and add all of the lab enrollments to the same site. Even if you’re not planning on switching to Sakai until Summer or Fall 2012, you can still create a Sakai course now to start planning for future courses. Find out more about what all instructors should know prior to the Blackboard shutdown in June.
The Sakai Support Site at http://support.sakai.duke.edu is the best place to start for guides, FAQs, and help. Those who want to receive periodic updates, news and announcements about Sakai can also subscribe to sakai-news@duke.edu.
