Survey: Faculty, Students Say Sakai Works Well

Duke faculty and students who used Sakai this fall reported positive experiences with the new learning management system, which will replace Blackboard after June 30, 2012.

A majority of faculty indicated that Sakai was working "very well" for their top priorities: sharing course information and materials (77 percent), communicating with students (50 percent) and collecting assignments (57 percent), according to an October 2011 survey conducted by Duke's Center for Instructional Technology (CIT). About 55 percent of students reported an excellent or good experience with the system.

About 5,000 students and 180 faculty are using Sakai for Duke courses this fall. The survey included responses from 400 students, 76 faculty and 20 staff.

According to the survey, students liked Sakai's integrated calendar, dropbox and assignment tools, such as the ability to easily view feedback on assignments. They also reported successfully using forums, blogs and wikis to support group work and promote interactivity with fellow students.

Faculty and students reported some confusion about how to use Sakai's different communication tools (since there are several more options than in Blackboard). As with Blackboard, faculty also expressed some concerns about the Sakai gradebook. While 80 percent said the gradebook met their needs at least somewhat, 20 percent suggested some change or improvement to the gradebook. One such suggestion (adding the ability to drop highest and lowest grades) has already been implemented by the Duke Sakai team based on faculty requests.

Sakai team members will be following up to assess all the feedback and set priorities for implementing changes as the transition continues, said Samantha Earp, director of academic services for Duke's Office of Information Technology.

The system experienced a few technical issues early in the semester, which were quickly resolved, Earp said.

Faculty are encouraged to create course sites for spring 2012 now, said Lynne O'Brien, director of academic technology and instructional services for Perkins Library. A range of support options are available, including online help documentation, a full slate of workshops and training opportunities, and one-on-one consultation.

Some programs, such as the doctor of physical therapy, have already completely transitioned to Sakai."We wanted our students to be in only one system," said Kyle Covington, assistant professor and associate director of clinical education, who is using Sakai to manage students and clinical educators across 17 sites.

"I was apprehensive about transitioning because so much effort went into setting up courses in Blackboard, but for the most part, I've found Sakai very user-friendly and intuitive," Covington said. "I've been pleased with what it's been able to do."In addition to Duke's support resources, he appreciates being able to tap the Sakai open-source community for help when he's had questions.

"There are plenty of other universities using Sakai, and I've learned a lot from other professors who faced similar challenges. There are wonderful resources out there that you can access quickly," Covington said.

Transitioning from Blackboard to Sakai requires a "change of mental gears," said Julie Noor, who was in charge of a biology course's Sakai site this fall. Because Sakai is new to most Duke students, she created a welcome video for her 178 students who used Sakai to access lecture documents, take pre-lecture quizzes, and hand in lab assignments and problem sets.

"In Sakai, everything is stored in a file tree, and you point students to the content with links from the calendar and syllabus," Noor said. "Most of the other mechanics are fairly straightforward and similar to Blackboard."

She also appreciates the flexibility of Sakai as an open-source framework to incorporate new tools. "At this point, we can't even imagine what the next new technology will be, but Sakai is modular enough that adding in new modules will be doable," she said.

Visit http://sakai.duke.edu to access Sakai or learn more about the transition.  Visit the Sakai help site (http://sites.duke.edu/sakai) to learn more about using Sakai.