- WHAT'S NEW IN SAKAI 2.8
- Introduction to Sakai 2.8
- The Sakai CLE 2.8.0 builds on previous releases by refining and stabilizing the 2.x feature set. It offers dozens of new features and improvements to key areas like accessibility, internationalization, performance, and security.
- Navigation and User Interface
- Improved web browser compatibility. Sakai 2.8 supports the latest versions of web browsers, and has made its WYSIWYG text editor compatible with the Safari web browser on the MacOS X platform.
- A collapsible navigation menu. Individual users can collapse the left-hand navigation menu of the current site, leaving more room for the main content. Approximately 130 pixels of horizontal space will be saved.
- New CK rich text editor with improved interface
- Button to hide/show the lefthand toolbar
- Maintainers and instructors will see hidden pages on the toolbar as italicized and gray
- Site Info
- Access settings redesigned for clarity
- Participants can now be given an inactive status when adding them to a site
- There is now a checkbox for selecting all participants for removal
- Improved "Worksite Setup" user interface
- More comprehensive information available to site owners
Site URL available to participants
- Resources
- Ability to check quota from inside tool via a button in the toolbar
- Ability to add links to Google Docs to Resource list
- Tool is now Group aware.
- Profile
- Ability to send private messages
- Added Staff Information panel to each profile
- User can add company/work information to Profile
- Profile users can send Private Messages.
- Users can create an image gallery instead of having just a single image to share.
- Announcements
- Users can subscribe to a site's public announcements via an RSS feed
- Instructors can change order of announcements
- Notification history added
- Entity linking to selected tools added (deep linking)
- Tool is now Group aware.
- Assignments
- Option to only show user submissions according to Group Filter and Search Result available in options menu
- Option to add assignment due date to the Schedule tool when creating a new assignment
- Support for student upload of ZIP archive files.
- Tool is now Group aware.
- Chat Room
- Displays total number of messages in current chat history and total number of messages at top of chat window
- Forums (Old Forums Tool)
- Users can opt to "watch" forums, allowing them to be notified when a new message is posted or when a thread receives a new message. Forums can now have an open and close date.
- Gradebook
- Maintainers can now specify the order in which each row in the Gradebook appears by default.
- List of Categories can be sorted.
- Gradebook 2
- Ability to enter a zero score in the gradebook for unsubmitted assessments.
- Polls
- Option to make polls publicly visible during poll creation
- Polls can be made availble for the public, allowing anonymous voting.
- Polls can now be duplicated, imported and exported across sites
- Poll voters can select multiple options.
- Schedule
- Site maintainers can set the default "view" for their site (Options: By Day, By Week, By Month, By Year, List of Events)
- Schedule tool is now Group aware.
- Tests & Quizzes
- Upgrade to Samigo 2.8.4 from Samigo 2.8.2. Since URI was already running the 2.8 version of Samigo, some of the features listed below were already in place.
- New question type: Matrix of Choices
- Option to release student score without additional feedback
- Character maximums on text boxes has been elevated to 60000 characters
- The rich text CK editor is now available for short/long answer questions
New assessment introduction information.
- The Respondus assessment management tool can be used for all question types.
- Instructors can add zero score for unsubmitted quizzes.
- Better display of question pools and sub-pools.
- QTI test import.
- Wiki (Sakai Wiki Tool)
- Comments can now be hidden. Date format now reflects user's chosen locale.
- Authenticated users can now edit any Wiki which is set as "publicly editable."
Statistics
Statistic activity definitions (monitored pages) defaults to all pages
- New Lessons Tool
- New "Lesson Builder" tool introduced as a pilot project.
- Using "Lessons" may radically change how you teach online!
- Instructors should use the Fall 2012 semester to get acquainted with the new tool
- Plan to start teaching with "Lessons" in Spring 2013
- ITS will sponsor faculty training workshops in Fall 2012.
- Please note that all of us are learning to use this tool together, so some of the early workshops will involve all of us "learning by doing" together.
- This new Tool builds lessons structured by unit or by week.
- Create as many pages of instructional content as you want
- Permits insertion of direct links to quizzes and assignments.
- Content delivery can be conditional, i.e., students must complete a quiz or assignment before moving to the next unit (optional)
- Permits insertion of video, audio.
- Audio and video play right on the page -- no download required.
- Meetings Tool "Big Blue Button"
- New version of Big Blue Button installed May 2012
- Improved audio quality
- Now supports recording of sessions, play back in HTML 5
- New Wikispaces Tool
- URI will pilot an improved Wiki, hosted by Wikispaces
- Improved Wiki editor
- Better handling of graphics
- Embedded video links
- Wiki export and import
