For each category, this column will contain a numbered list of WebCT features not supported in Sakai. This column will contain only features for which there is NO identified work-around.

Pitfalls are highlighted in this style. For the purposes of this page, a pitfall is designed as a course of action that is invited by the Sakai toolset and user interface, but which can lead to significant difficulties later in the semester.

Thus column will contain a non-numbered list of WebCT features that can be duplicated, or partially duplicated with one or more work-arounds. The following format is used:

WebCT Tool or Feature

Brief description of work-around. These descriptions are NOT intended as instructions for faculty. They are written for an audience well-versed in the Sakai toolset and terminology. Limitations, pitfalls, and other caveats pertaining to each work-around are highlighted with this style.

Student Presentations

In resources, create a folder and set the permissions to allow students to write to that folder.Edit folder details to restrict access to a pre-existing group. Give the folder a recognizable name so that students will be know which folder belongs to which group. Instruct students to upload shared files into that folder. When the time comes to give the presentations, reset the permissions so that all groups can see? Move certain files out of protected folders?

1. Course News
2. Discussion topics created by student with identification
3. Forum archiving
4. Flag indicating new forum postings does not seem to be working, though the help claims this feature is available from My Workspace
5. Searchable Forum Postings
6. Calendar that can import/export entries
7. Tip

Student Home Page

teach students to create their own page within the wiki. Note that there is no way to prevent other students from editing this content.

create a student-writable folder for each student. Create a separate group for each student. Set permissions so only the appropriate group can write to the folder. This would clearly not be practical for large classes. No built-in search.

Encourage students to create a home page in their My Workspace area and make it public. Be sure they are aware that anyone in the world will be able to access these.

1. Quiz database that stores questions that can be used in multiple quizzes and updated in a single location.
2. Searchable quiz questions
3. Quiz navigation that remains onscreen when quiz questions are displayed one at a time with review allowed. This is a usability issue on the student side. Getting from one question to another by way of the TOC takes a minimum of 3 clicks, more if the quiz is divided into sections.
4. Calculated questions types with allowable error, units
5. Option to display feedback automatically when quiz is submitted. Again, this is just a minor student usability issue. Student must READ exit message and choose to view their feedback.

Quiz or Test that can be given outside Sakai if necessary

I'm not sure this one doesn't belong in the no work-arounds column. To give a student a quiz grade for a quiz he took outside Sakai, you would have to create a dummy gradebook column, and copy all the quiz grades there. Then using gradebook categories, set the weighting on the original quiz to zero. Now you have an editable column with quiz grades. Any quiz scores that are generated after this is done will have to be hand entered into the dummy column.

Resist the temptation to let Sakai put grades from the quiz into the gradebook. Instead, create a gradebook column for the quiz, and transcribe the grades from the quiz tool into the gradebook yourself after the quiz has been given.

Note that it is NOT possible to export your gradebook, add the grade to the original quiz column in excel and then re-import. Sakai will reject the added data.

1. Gradebook containing a mix of column types. If you make one column a letter grade, they must ALL be letter grades.
2. Fully functioning import/export to Excel- import/export of csv DOES exist in Sakai, but with very severe limitations, which render it useless as a solution in scenarios I expect to be most common. Will not suffice as a workaround for fixing uneditable columns, nor will it enable faculty to create non-supported column types such as alphanumeric.
3. Missing Gradebook column types
   1. alphanumeric
   2. text
   3. selection box
   4. calculated column other than final grade (see workaround for final grade calculations)
4. MyProgress
5. Updatable linked quiz column. This means that if a student takes a Sakai generated quiz outside of Sakai for any reason, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to give that student a grade within Sakai, even using the export/import feature. There is a workaround for Assignments/Gradebook, but none for quizzing.
6. Track Students

Calculated gradebook column

Under Gradebook Setup > Categories and Weighting, select the Categories and Weighting radio button. Create grade categories and weight them appropriately. If you want a grading scheme that is more complex than that, resort to import/export. This workaround is not available for any column other than the automatically generated Course Grade.

Export your gradebook to csv as above. Use Excel formulas to calculate your grade, re-import the resulting file. This workaround can not be used to update any column that is auto-generated by an assignment or quiz. This workaround can not be used to add unsupported column types such as alphanumeric.

Use final grade over-ride to fill in a grade you have calculated outside of Sakai. This workaround is not available for any column other than the automatically generated Course Grade.

Alphanumeric gradebook column

Although it is not possible via any means to create a non-numeric column other than letter grade, it is possible to add a comment to any graded event. Hopefully this meets the important pedagogical goals.

Group creation based on roster and desired group size or number of groups.

Do the appropriate math to decide how many people should be in each group and/or how many groups to create. Create groups by hand, create associated discussions by hand (but there is no way to limit who can see these). If random group generation is desired, invent a way to generate random groups (pull names from a hat?).

1. Assignment that is seamlessly integrated with the gradebook.

Assignment is integrated with the gradebook

BEFORE creating your assignment, go to the gradebook and create a grade column for the assignment you plan to create. Now switch to the Assignments tool, and associate your assignment with the column you have created by hand.

Enter assignments grade within the assignments tool, not the gradebook. This is now possible even when the assignment has not been submitted through Sakai :)

1. Content module that supports any of the following features
   1. note-taking
   2. glossary links [confirmed use 1]
   3. quizzing [confirmed use 2]
   4. self-test
   5. discussion
   6. chat
   7. search
   8. mail
   9. bookmarks
   10. resume
   11. selective release [confirmed use 1]
   12. table of contents visible from every module page [confirmed use 1]
       1. work-around possible in Resources, but not easy or maintainable.
2. Glossary that supports any of the following features
   1. search
   2. can be linked to from content pages, both inside and outside of a content module
   3. index (jump to first letter)
   4. view-all (you can only see 10 at a time, and you can't skip pages if you are looking for a term that starts with z!)

Organizer Pages

Link to an external website, on which you can place whatever navigation tools you know how to build. Links you put BACK to a page or tool within Sakai will have to be rebuilt each semester.

Link to a resources page, on which you can place whatever navigation tools you know how to build, but with no javascript, and with the understanding that you will need to re-link every semester.

Teach students how to navigate to files you have uploaded into Resources. Use a plain-text message on the Home page, or teach them outside of Sakai.

Single page

Create page in Resources or upload to external web server. Create link to page using Web Content Tool. To link to page from other locations, use an html anchor tag. Be aware that any anchors linking to a resource page will have to be re-created every semester

Content Modules with no advanced features (sequence of pages with navigation)

Create module using html and mount external to Sakai.

Create module using html and import into Resources. Do not employ javascript. Link to module from anywhere within Sakai.

Use Melete if available. Build html Melete pages using FCK editor, or point Melete at content on your hard drive or in Resources. Be aware that Melete will copy your page, and that updates you make to Resources will NOT be reflected in Melete module until you re-create the appropriate changes within Melete, or replace the Melete page with the updated one. Pages copied into Melete will lose all relative links to dependent files such as images or stylesheets.

Create module using Word/Acrobat. Link to module or import into Sakai.

Image database

Create a folder in Resources. Upload images to the folder, and add a description. It is not possible to include html tags in these comments. It is not possible to auto-generate any sort of database preview with thumbnails or any view other than the default view available in resources. Does this even count as a work-around, or should I move this to the other category? The search and sort capabilities within your image database are limited to what can be done with the site-wide search tool.

 

1. Customize look and feel of built-in Sakai tools with banners, fonts and colors.

Customize look and feel of authored pages with Banners, fonts and colors

Learn to use cascading stylesheets. Apply style to all pages you deploy within Sakai, either through Resources or external links. This workaround applies ONLY to pages you create, and will not impact the look and feel of built-in Sakai tools. Test to make sure pages are finding the css each time you deploy them. For example, if you choose to use the page in a content module, test to be certain styles have not been lost. Test if you attach the page to an assignment or forum posting. If links are lost, consider using an absolute path to a css file stored external to Sakai.

Create look-and-feel and use it consistently across all pages you create for your site without the benefit of css. Be aware that if and when you decide to update the look-and-feel, you will have to make the change in every individual page, and every copy of every page that Sakai tools might be generating behind the scenes. There is no warning issued when pages are copied.

Customize link icons

Upload link icons to My Resources. Use html to place icons near links.

1. No javascript support means EOLAS workaround will not function. Any plugin content will be accompanied by annoying instruction to "click to activate this control". No big deal.
2. Relative links to multimedia content will be broken when Sakai copies content rather than pointing to it. This would impact Melete content, copied syllabus content, attachments to forum postings, perhaps others. Sakai does not notified authors when it copies files.

Multimedia content embedded in pages is lost within some tools (see item 2 at left)

If content can be made public, upload to an external web folder, and change from relative to absolute linking.

Avoid using Sakai options that copy content into a specific tool such as Melete, Syllabus, or any tool that imports your page as an attachment.

1. Selective Release of links based on tasks an individual student has completed
2. Context sensitive help
3. Role sensitive help
4. Locally stored backup
5. Tool set-up Wizard
6. Track Pages
7. CD-ROM tool

Zip/Unzip multiple files for efficient transfer

Use WebDav (if available)

User-Friendly Search

Learn sakai-specific search syntax, if we make the search available at all. If not, move search to the no work-arounds column. Not all content is searchable in either system. There is little overlap between what was searchable in WebCT (Discussions, Content Modules, Quiz Database, MyFiles metatags) and what is searchable in Sakai (Resource pages, Assignments, Wiki, Message Center)