Transcript Institutional Strategies for Cost

Sakai and the E-Learning Landscape
Office of the Vice-Provost (IT)
January 31, 2007
http://www.vpit.ualberta.ca/elearning/sakai/
Today’s undergraduate student preferences regarding
technology are described in an EDUCAUSE research study
of 28,724 undergraduates from 49 universities and
community colleges during spring 2006.
Increasing hardware ownership by students…
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2005
2006
Laptops
Desktops
E-media
devices
Smart
phones
Student preferences regarding use of IT
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Preferred use of IT
No use
Limited
Moderate
Extensive
Exclusive
What was the most valuable benefit of IT in your
courses? Students responded that…
• Use of IT improves learning – 65% agree or strongly
agree
• IT facilitates prompt feedback from instructor –
69% agree or strongly agree
• Helps me communicate and collaborate more
effectively with other students – 55% agree or
strongly agree
• IT increases convenience through easy access to
syllabi, resources, grades, sample tests, and so forth
– 57% agree or strongly agree
Technologies used by respondents….
Podcast
Spreadsheets
E-portfolios
Presentation software
Instant messaging
Course Web site
Webcast
Online quizzes or tests
Simulations
E-mail
Blogs
Online discussions
Student response systems
Online grade books
Discipline-specific IT
Social networking
software
Students report a generally positive (76%) experience of
course management systems (CMS)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
CMS Experience
Very
negative
Negative
Neutral
Positive
Very
positive
The Sakai Product…
A Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) —
Suitable for use in teaching and learning, research
collaboration, and ad hoc group communication.
Slides identified with the Sakai logo were taken from a presentation
given by Anthony Whyte, Community Liaison for the Sakai
Foundation, at the Atlanta Sakai Conference in December, 2006.
Sakai relative to other learning management
systems…
Teaching
and
Learning
Collaboration (including eResearch)
Overlapping requirements for teaching and research
collaboration
Quizzes
Grading Tools
Syllabus
SCORM
Physics
Research
Collaboration
Teaching
and
Learning
Chat
Discussion
Resources
Grid Computing
Visualization
Data Repository
Nanotechnology
Research
Collaboration
Large Data
Libraries
Sakai: Software for the enterprise
CLE — collaboration and learning
environment supporting
teaching, learning, research
and collaboration.
SOA — an extensible, serviceoriented architecture and set of
tools and services designed for
the enterprise. Sakai's CLE
offers interoperability,
reliability and scalability.
Teaching &
Learning
Project
Groups
Portfolios
Research &
eScience
Sakai: Software for the enterprise
FOSS — free open-source software
to acquire, use, modify and
distribute; no fees or royalties.
Apache-style license encourages a
wide range of use including
commercial applications.
Teaching &
Learning
Project
Groups
Portfolios
Research &
eScience
Sakai: Software for the enterprise
COMPOSITION — academic
institutions and commercial
organizations working in
partnership with standards
bodies and other open-source
initiatives.
GOALS — work collaboratively to
develop innovative software
applications designed to
enhance teaching, learning,
research and collaboration
within higher education.
Teaching &
Learning
Project
Groups
Portfolios
Research &
eScience
The Sakai Community – collaboration &
innovation
VALUES — knowledge sharing,
information transparency,
meritocracy, “do-ocracy.”
Academic
Institutions
IMPLEMENTATION — currently
100+ volunteers
Standards
representing 30+ academic
Bodies
institutions and commercial
organizations active in
developing and testing Sakai
releases.
Nonprofits
Commercial
Enterprises
Sakai: Oversight and Coordination
MISSION — manage and protect IP;
serve as a liability shield for the
community; provide basic
infrastructure and small staff; help
coordinate design, development,
testing and distribution of
software; advocate for open
source and open standards.
GOVERNANCE — ten board members
elected by partner reps to serve
three-year terms; Executive
Director manages day-to-day
operations.
Sakai Foundation
Board of Directors
Exec. Director
Sakai
Partners
Sakai Staff
A member-funded non-profit
501(c3) corporation
Sakai: Oversight and Coordination
PARTNERS — member institutions and
organizations contribute $10K per
year ($5K for smaller institutions).
Membership is optional.
BUDGET — underwritten by members;
annual budget of approximately $1M
funds.
RESOURCES – 4-6 staffers,
administrative services, computing
infrastructure, project oversight,
conferences, Sakai Fellows and
outreach activities.
Sakai Foundation
Board of Directors
Exec. Director
Sakai
Partners
Sakai Staff
A member-funded non-profit
501(c3) corporation
Sakai commercial partners
XXX
Serrensoft
Sakai History 2003-2004
FOUNDERS — Michigan, Indiana, MIT and Stanford in
partnership with uPortal and Open Knowledge Initiative
(OKI).
GOALS — Share ownership, adopt Apache-style licensing;
secure funding and staffing; implement Sakai by end of
2005, build a community; achieve project sustainability.
FUNDING — Launched with $4.4M in shared staff (27 FTEs);
$2.4M Mellon, $300K Hewlett grants; additional
investment via community partners.
Sakai 2004-2006
100,000+ USERS — Indiana, UNISA
11,000-50,000 USERS — Berkeley,
Cambridge, Cape Town, Michigan,
Virginia Tech, Yale
1,500-10,000K USERS — Cerritos, Charles
Sturt, Fernando Pessoa, Lleida, NorthWest, Roskilde, Rutgers, Saginaw Valley,
UC Merced, Whitman
CONSORTIA — Etudes Alliance (31);
Appalachian College Association (35);
UNC TLTC (16); Claremont Colleges (8);
Ohio Learning Network; Sakai Quebec
ALLIANCES — UK’s Tetra Collaboration
(Oxford, Cambridge, Hull, Leads, UHI)
TOTAL — 200+ pilot/production
installations
eFundi, North-West University, South Africa
Sakai: an international initiative
• GOOGLE
MASHUP
Sakai Distributed Development Team
HIGHER ED DEVELOPERS BY LOCATION (n=102)
AFFILIATION
•
•
•
US
UK
ZA
NL
ES
PT
Higher Ed = 102 (87.93%)US
79%
Commercial = 13 (11.21%)
Non-profit = 1 (0.86%)
LOCATION
• USA = 93
• UK = 10
• South Africa = 6
• Netherlands = 4
• Spain = 1
• Portugal = 1
• Canada = 1
• TOTAL = 116
UK
9%
PT ES
1% 1%
NL
4%
ZA
6%
Sakai Technology Stack
JAVA — Sakai consists of technologies
common to Java enterprise
environments.
WEB SERVER — Apache
Server/Apache Tomcat (mod_jk);
Apache Tomcat
UI FRAMEWORK — JavaServer Faces
(JSF), Apache Velocity, Reasonable
Server Faces (RSF).
COMPONENT INJECTION — Spring
OBJECT/RELATIONAL MAPPING —
Hibernate
DB SERVER — Oracle, MySQL and
HSQL (for demos).
Sakai 2.x
JSF/Velocity/RSF
Java
1.5
Spring
Hibernate
Tomcat 5.5
Oracle 9i/10g
MySQL 4.1
HSQL (demo)
Apache
SSL
mod_jk
WEBISO
Virtual
hosting
Sakai SOA Component-Based Expansion
SOA Components — A pattern for
decomposing a single application into
distinct components, each with a welldefined data model, contract (API),
independent implementation and
documented dependencies.
SELECT — download and install the Sakai
Application Framework (SAF); choose
and configure tools, supporting services
and database that meets your
requirements.
INTEGRATE — connect to local student
and course information systems (SIS),
single-sign-on systems (SSO), etc.
Sakai Framework
UI/Tool
Components
Service
Components
Custom
Configuration
Sakai SOA Component-Based Expansion
CUSTOMIZE — add local customizations,
adjust look and feel, choose default
language, etc.
DEPLOY — implement production-ready
CLE utilizing tools, services and other
capabilities contributed by the Sakai
Community.
Sakai Framework
UI/Tool
Components
Service
Components
Custom
Configuration
Sakai 2.3 Tools
Announcements
Blog (*)
Discussion
Drop Box
Calendar
Chat Room
Email Archive
Forums
LinkTool (*)
Message Of The Day
Message Center (*)
News/RSS
Podcasting (*)
Preferences
Presentation
Profile/Roster
Repository Search (*)
Resources
Sakaiscripts (*)
Schedule
Search (*)
Site Stats (*)
SU tool (*)
Web Content
WebDAV
Wiki
Worksite Setup
(*) indicates tool is provisional for release 2.3
Sakai 2.3 Tools - continued
Assignments
Gradebook
Melete Module Editor
QTI Authoring (*)
QTI Assessment (*)
Roster (*)
Section Mgmt
Syllabus
TwinPeaks (*)
Postem (*)
Portfolio
Forms (*)
Evaluations (*)
Glossary (*)
Layouts (*)
Matrices (*)
Reports (*)
Templates (*)
Wizards (*)
OSP Portfolio
(*) indicates tool is provisional for release 2.2
Sakai upgrades for 2007
Administration
• Installer Package
UofM OCW tagging tool
Lanc’s Shared Whiteboard
Collaboration
•
Shared Whiteboard
•
Shared Display
•
Multipoint Audio
•
Multipoint Video
Teaching & Learning
• OCW Tool
• SCORM Support
• IMS Common
Cartridge
Sakai Installer
Lanc’s Shared Display
Sakai at the University of Michigan
CASE STUDY: WEB APP SERVERS
• CLUSTER — 8 X Dell PowerEdge 2650 (dual 2.4-3.2
GHz CPU 32 bit, 4 GB RAM), bandwidth allocation 1
Gbps
• STACK — Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL-AS3),
Apache 1.3/cosign/mod_jk,Tomcat 5.5.x, Java 1.5,
Sakai 2.2
• LOAD BALANCERS: PRIMARY & FAILOVER
• 2 X NetScaler RS9800 Secure Application Switch,
high availability, 10/100/1000 Mbps copper, 1 GB
Memory
Sakai at the University of Michigan — cont.
CASE STUDY: DATA STORAGE
• DATABASE CLUSTER: PRIMARY & REPLICATED
• 2 X SunFire V480 (quad 900 MHz CPU 32 bit, 20 GB
RAM), 3 X StorEdge 3310 SCSI RAID Arrays w/12
73 GB disks Bandwith allocation 1 Gbps, standby
mode (replication server), tape backups, off-site
storage
• STACK — Solaris 8, Sun RAID Mgmt tools, Oracle
10g
• FILESYSTEM — AFS, 1 TB file storage
In sum, the Sakai Project…
•
Provides a comprehensive, fully integrated learning
management system.
•
Includes a research collaboration system.
•
Provides a workflow engine.
•
Is intended to integrate with institutional ERP systems
(e.g. PeopleSoft).
•
Enables us to avoid escalating licensing fees associated
with Blackboard’s market dominance.
•
Involves well-organized community source development.
•
Is based on open licensing with no restriction on
commercialization.
•
Has been adopted by a number of large research
universities (e.g. Michigan, MIT, Indiana, Stanford).
Questions we are asking about Sakai:
•
What technical resources are required?
•
How mature is Sakai?
•
Is Sakai interoperable with our existing systems including:
–
Student registration systems
–
Libraries
–
Finance
–
Research
–
Digital repositories
•
Does it have the functionality we require for teaching & learning?
•
What are the relative benefits/costs of purchasing vs
collaborative development?
•
What are the challenges and rewards with becoming a community
source partner?
•
Will the Sakai community continue to grow?
Credits & Demonstrations
R.N. Katz (2006). The ECAR Study of Undergraduate
Students and Information Technology, 2006 – Key
Findings. (www.educause.edu )
A. Mitra & J Hardin, Sakai presentation at Austin Sakai
Conference – 2005. (www.educause.edu)
A. Whyte, Sakai presentation at Atlanta Sakai Conference –
2006. (www.sakaiproject.org)
For Sakai demonstrations, please visit: www.longsight.com
and http://testdrivesakai.net