1. Sakai in China
Michael Korcuska HuaZhong Normal University
Executive Director
Sakai Foundation March 1, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008 1

2. About Sakai
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3. Sakai History
Courseware Management System
Started in 2004
Michigan, Indiana, Stanford,
MIT and Berkeley
Mellon Foundation Grant
Release 2.5 this month
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4. Why Start Sakai?
5 Schools with Homegrown LMS
Inefficient to build 5 systems
Wanted to maintain control
Experts in teaching and learning
Desire to work together and share
knowledge
MIT
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5. Vision
Shared Custom
20%
80%
By working together we can get more for less
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6. Defining Sakai: Product
COURSE MANAGEMENT — all the tools of
a modern course management system. Course
Management
RESEARCH & COLLABORATION —
project sites for research and work group
Research &
collaboration. Collaboration Sakaibrary
SAKAIBRARY — Library-led component to
add citations directly into Sakai.
Portfolios
PORTFOLIOS — Open Source Portfolio (OSP)
is a core part of Sakai.
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7. Defining Sakai: Community
COMPOSITION — educational institutions &
commercial enterprises working in Educational
partnership with standards bodies & other Institutions
open-source initiatives.
GOALS — work collaboratively to develop Standards
Bodies
Open
Source
innovative software applications
designed to enhance teaching, learning,
research & collaboration in education.
Portfolios
VALUES — knowledge sharing, information
transparency, meritocracy.
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8. Sakai on the ground
200+ PRODUCTION/PILOT DEPLOYMENTS: From 200 to 200,000
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9. Defining Sakai: Code
Sakai 2.x
FOSS — open-source software free to Apache
JSF/JSP/RSF
acquire, use, modify & distribute; no fees or HTTP
Server
royalties; Apache-style license encourages Java Spring SSL
wide range of use including commercial 1.5 mod_jk
Hibernate
applications. WEBISO
Virtual
Tomcat 5.5.x hosting
SOA — an extensible, service-oriented
architecture & set of tools & services with
clear abstraction boundaries. Sakai's CLE Oracle 9i/10g
of fers interoperability, reliability, MySQL 4.1/5.x
DB2
extensibility & scalability.
Sakai consists of technologies common to
Java enterprise environments
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10. Why Free of Charge?
No manufacturing or distribution costs
Universities don’t want to be vendors
Their business is teaching & research, not customer service
Keep pressure on commercial providers
It’s the right thing to do in education
More on this later
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11. Sakai Community Source
June 2007
US
UK
ZA
NL 33.62% increase
CA
ES
PT
Nov 2006
http://www.ohloh.net/projects/3551
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12. Defining Sakai: Foundation
MISSION — manage & protect intellectual property; provide basic infrastructure &
small staff; help coordinate design, development, testing & distribution of software;
champion open source & open standards.
GOVERNANCE — ten board members elected by member reps to serve three-year
terms; Executive Director manages day-to-day operations.
PARTNERS — over 100 member organizations contribute $10K per year ($5K for
smaller institutions).
BUDGET — funds 4-6 staffers, admin services, computing infrastructure, project
coordination, conferences, Sakai Fellows Program, advocacy & outreach activities.
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13. Sakai Foundation
Membership is optional. You can use and contribute to the software
without being a member
Members benefits:
Vote for board members
Attend conferences for free
Priority on Sakai staff visits
Promotion of organization by Sakai Foundation
Foundation can continue its work
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14. Sakai & Moodle
Sakai Moodle
Java PHP
More than teaching Teaching focused
Community development Centralized development
Apache license GPL license
Enterprise application Ease of installation
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15. Why is Education
Special?
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16. Cape Town Declaration
We are on the cusp of a global revolution in teaching and learning. Educators
worldwide are developing a vast pool of educational resources on the
Internet, open and free for all to use. These educators are creating a world where
each and every person on earth can access and contribute to the sum of all
human knowledge. They are also planting the seeds of a new pedagogy where
educators and learners create, shape and evolve knowledge together, deepening
their skills and understanding as they go.
This emerging open education movement combines the established tradition of
sharing good ideas with fellow educators and the collaborative, interactive culture
of the Internet. It is built on the belief that everyone should have the freedom to
use, customize, improve and redistribute educational resources without
constraint. Educators, learners and others who share this belief are gathering
together as part of a worldwide effort to make education both more accessible and
more effective.
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17. Values in Education
Open and free access
Knowledge sharing
Quality, regardless of wealth
Meritocracy. The best students advance.
These are the values of open source
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18. Proprietary Vendors
Who doesn’t get the “Unlimited Edition” Learning Technology?
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19. Teaching & Learning are Special
Financial software is not the same
Teaching & Learning are the core mission
Open source should be the default for Teaching & Learning
It has to do the job well, of course (and it does!)
What path do you want to take?
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20. Sakai in China: Goals
Semi-independent Chinese Sakai Community
Language, geography make this essential
Single code base
No Forks
Connected to other Sakai Communities
We need several universities to make this a reality
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21. Thank You!
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