Department of Marketing Sakai Pilot – Experiences & Issues Semester 1, 2007 Peter Wagstaff Unit Leader, MKF1120

2 Overview What is Sakai? Tools and features Trial 2007 Benefits of Sakai Students’ perceptions

3 What is Sakai? Free/open source (“Community Source”) Course management system Collaborative research tool Founding institutions (~2004): –Indiana University –Massachusetts Institute of Technology –Stanford University –University of Michigan

4 Sakai tools/features Announcements Tool Assignments Tool Blogger Chat Room Tool Discussion Tool Drop Box Tool Archive Tool Gradebook Help Tool Melete Modules Membership Tool Message Center My Workspace News Tool Permissions and Roles Podcasting Post'Em Preferences Resources Tool Schedule Tool Site Info Tool Syllabus Tool Synoptic Tool Tests and Quizzes WebDAV Wiki Tool Website Information Tool Web Content Tool

5 Trial – Semester 1, 2007 MKF1120 – Marketing Theory and Practice –620 students –8 teaching staff –1 System admin and 1 helpdesk staff (<30 mins per week) Login via MUSO, or directly MUSO as fallback

6 Benefits of Sakai Interaction and engagement –Chat, discussion, podcasts Clean layout and structure –Very few icons, intuitive design Dual-mode chat (synchronous & asynchronous) –>8,400 postings! Podcasting and RSS support –Students want these features Reduced technical support –No tune-ups or plug-ins!

7 Student Survey Weeks 10 and 11 of semester Online (within Sakai) Response rate: 17% (n=103) Students asked to compare Sakai with MUSO

8 10 Survey Items 1. Ease of access 2. Navigation 3. Ease of downloading materials 4. Reliable and trouble-free system 5. Interactivity 6. System aids learning 7. Access to materials throughout week 8. Maintain interest in unit of study 9. Communicate with other students 10. Overall, if only one system, which one?

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12 Students’ comments “The best thing about Sakai is the community: people asking questions and having 5 other students come up with answers. It makes you want to get onto the site.”

13 Students’ comments “Sakai provided a much more interactive interface which made me feel more connected to the lecturer, subject and material. The discussion and chat room gave the opportunity for us students to express our opinions… in an environment that was supportive and not judgemental.”

14 The Future… Ongoing trials, including other student-centred features: –Wiki –Blogger Further explore research applications –Monash-UniMelb collaboration