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CourseWorks and Sakai UpdateJuly 2005

(Version 1.1)

Robert CartolanoManager, 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: – 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:– 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

– 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– 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.

• Face book - visual roster for instructors• Redesigned My Courses Page

CourseWorksCourse

CourseWorks SHARES

Institutional Repository

Increasing permanence

Copy from one course to next

Permanent collection;curation,metadata.

Create, modify, remove,re-use, share

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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

– 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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– Existing System

– Functionality

– Content

– Users

New SystemFunctionalityContent

Users

Migration Tools

User MigrationOutreach

AwarenessTraining

Transition Planning• Multi-year transition

• Migration Scenario

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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– 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

• Access via My Courses Page

• Use CourseWorks layout

• Pre-load course data

• Pre-load user dataPrometheus SAKAI

CourseWorks

My Courses

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Sakai as Platform

• More than CourseWorks…

AcIS Systems and Network Infrastructure

CourseWorks

Teach, Learn

Sakai Foundation System (Sakai Core + Columbia Core)

ResearchStudents,

Alumni

Dev Platform

Content, Tools

AdminOffice Use

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Sakai Uses

Sakai Site Sakai Tool Sakai Dev Platform

End User End User End User

Custom Site/Service(SIS Portal, Epiville)

Locally WrittenTool

Increasing Development,Complexity

Easier,Standard

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

– 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