We have just started! On forming a Sakai Special Interest Group NL September 7, 2006 1st European Sakai Day including results of feedback of participants Wytze Koopal http://elearning.surf.nl/sakai http://sakai-nl.blogspot.com

Agenda Some facts and figures from NL Some (personal) viewpoints Some context Sakai SIG NL (Some) Discussion What’s next?

Dutch facts and figures VLE in primary and secondary education: very fragmented market Higher Ed: large market share of Blackboard (~ 50 %), plus local players HE: Total of ~60 institutions, 500 k students Within HE: some 3-5 institutions that are evaluating Sakai Some commercial interests in Sakai…

Sakai at our institutions Amsterdam (University of Amsterdam and VU) University of Twente Utrecht Rotterdam Saxion Stoas & Hotelschool The Hague Leidse OnderwijsInstellingen (LOI) 3TU: TU Delft & TU Eindhoven Those in bold /underlined are the early adaptors. The others are followers. 3TU: Through more intensive cooperation, the three universities of technology in the Netherlands enlarge their impact on the field of the Dutch knowledge based economy. In view of this intention, Delft University of Technology, the University of Twente and Eindhoven University of Technology have started a process which should lead to more harmony and co-operation in 2003. The three universities of technology focus on forming one Federation of Universities of Technology in 2007.

Some viewpoints - 1 There is a lot of discussion in NL about VLE’s recently etc But: there is lack of information regarding open source / open standards, and how to move forward how to collaborate (really!) Although: 80% of our (administrative) processes are the same….[mainly based on thorough legislation] But: we are ‘direct’ competitors in certain ways

Some viewpoints - 2 ICT in Education: NL HE sector is very well organized; thanks to SURF (http://www.surf.nl/en) SURF is really active on the forefront of innovation, for example: NL standards community (http://elearning.surf.nl/six) E-framework Studielink (http://www.studielink.nl) Elearning research programme (http://www.surf.nl/elr) NL portfolio community (http://elearning.surf.nl/portfolio) Sakai community (http://elearning.surf.nl/sakai) Studielink is an instrument that links all administrative departments of colleges (hogescholen), universities and the Informatie Beheer Groep (IB-Group) with each other. SURF : The Mission of SURF is to exploit and improve a common advanced ICT infrastructure that will enable higher education institutes better realise their own ambitions and improve the quality of learning, teaching and research.

Some context More and more interaction (quite recent) between SIS and VLE ‘specialists’ SURF has formed Sakai SIG NL (more on this in a minute) SURF is more and more involved in e-framework (close collaboration with JISC) Almost no fuzz (or ‘spin’) regarding Blackboard patent in NL

What is Sakai SIG NL? Informal, virtual community, started in July 2006 Coordinator (1 day/week, this is me) Work plan: communication, communication, exchange of experiences Website / weblog: just to inform those that do not know (yet) Just getting started: focus of different member institutions of different subjects UvA: QA, Alan Berg UvA: OSP UT: Sakai, excluding Sakai Others: just evaluating their currect infrastructure

1st results Sakai SIG NL There is more to Sakai than programming! There is QA (UvA) General requirements for tools (Resources, Requirements for OSP European (Dutch) requirements: Bologna, Lisbon (see Portier, Koch & Oldsjö) Localization & Internationalization (I18N & L10N) …

Challenges Sakai SIG NL Lurking… ?! Them (US) and we: there is no they! Lack of knowledge of Open Source/Access/Standards Not invented here Is there a longterm leadership commitment on institutional level?: relationship with strategic plans of our institution Example for commitment: becoming member of Sakai Foundation was not so easy for us!

Discussion Take a look at http://www.sakai-pilot.utwente.nl/sakaiwiki/european_dutch_enhancements (also on handouts) Divide in 4 or 5 groups Ask yourself (and take 5 minutes): What’s missing on this list? I need at least one item from every group  What should have high priority? Only 3 please  Are you willing and able to work on it? Who will (wants to) be ‘owner’ of this list (or a subset) ?

Result: What is missing on the list? Regarding the Dutch community: we need a sort of roadmap (what are reasons that will result in management buyin) Migration support (how to migrate from current VLE to Sakai): technical stuff, but also user support materials Regarding issue of surnames: first collate use cases (might not be the same all over Europe) and then write down requirements.

Result: What should have priority? Item #6 (international date and time formats): 7 votes.

Result: What is not an issue (any more)? There is a patch for #6 (date and time format) # 9: (sort of) you can use webservices to overcome problem; this is a hack #12: seems to be solved in Version 2.2 # 5: is actually a localization issue

What’s next Check out: http://sakai-nl.blogspot.com http://elearning.surf.nl/sakai Wiki: http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/confluence/display/EUROSAKAI/Home Collab: DG: Euro Sakai Let’s talk: leave your business card / email address

Thanking you for your attention and collaboration!