This is the second of two presentations at that I am making at The North Carolina Distance Learning Association’s 2011 Virtual Conference: Engaging Online Learners. This presentation will look at using Sakai to manage and collaborate with multi-sections or groups. It is a co-presentation with Dr. Anastacia Kohl from the Department of Romance Languages at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Abstract

This presentation will fit in the case study topic and will be a 60 minute presentation co-facilitated by Dr. Anastacia Kohl, from the Department of Romance Languages at UNC-Chapel Hill and Rob Moore, instructional technology developer for the UNC School of Government.  In the fall of 2009, Rob started the ROML Sakai Pilot to move the large multi-section courses out of Blackboard and into Sakai to leverage the Sakai section aware tools.  Dr. Kohl is the coordinator for the largest of these courses and was responsible for managing more than 40 sections of an intermediate Spanish course each academic semester. 

In this presentation, we will specifically discuss how the utilization of Sakai’s section aware tools significantly improved communication and coordination between coordinators and instructors. These section aware tools set Sakai apart from other popular learning management systems and will make this presentation applicable to any type of course that has sections and any group that has a need for collaboration such as teaching teams or committees. During this presentation, we will explain the motivations for making the transition, what steps we took to make the change, and the support and training that was provided. We will also discuss lessons learned and provide screenshots of the finished results that highlight the key features. We will look at this transition from the faculty and student perspectives as well as from the training and support perspective. There will be an opportunity for attendees to pose questions at the conclusion of the presentation. 

Presentation Slides