2:35 p.m., Sept. 24, 2010----Ian Dolphin, new executive director of the Sakai Foundation, held a question-and-answer session with University faculty and staff on Monday, Sept. 13.

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After only six weeks on the job, Dolphin is visiting several universities to learn how Sakai is being used and to hear the comments of faculty and staff. The University of Delaware was the first stop on his tour.

In addition to introducing himself, Dolphin explained the background and context of Sakai, spoke about the state of the Sakai 3 initiative and listened to comments about experiences with Sakai@UD.

According to Dolphin, the 1990s saw the development of several homegrown learning management systems (LMS). When these systems became commercialized, academic institutions lost control over how the products were developed and the collegiality that came with the process.

In 2003, six institutions of higher learning, with funding from the Mellon Foundation, pooled their resources to develop Sakai, an open system for collaboration and learning. Now the not-for-profit Sakai Foundation has 116 global institutional and commercial partners focusing on teaching, learning and research.

UD uses Sakai version 2. The Sakai 3 project -- which is just getting underway -- represents a major evolution in the underlying technology of the software. There will be much more flexibility in how components work together, and Sakai will be more closely integrated with social networking and Web 2.0 technologies.

Dolphin said that there is a clear need in the community for a transitional hybrid version that combines features of Sakai 2 and 3. Faculty in the audience commented that they have tailored Sakai@UD for their classes and do not want to move to a new version. Dolphin assured them that Sakai 2 will exist for many years to come.

Following Dolphin's introduction, participants were invited to ask questions about Sakai and to comment on improvements they would like to see in the product. Although not physically present at the event, Lou Rossi, associate professor of mathematical sciences, submitted a question: "Is there a way or a plan for Sakai to partner with Google or Facebook -- to integrate their tools into our LMS? Is there a nice way to make these tools work together?”

Dolphin answered that one of the things Sakai is based on is academic and social networking and that there is flexibility in incorporating best-of-breed external tools. In addition, some schools are integrating programs like Google Docs into Sakai.

Participants offered ideas for how Sakai could be improved. Fred Hofstetter, professor in the School of Education, asked about plans to allow students to go through a tutorial sequentially. And Stephen Bernhardt, Andrew Kirkpatrick Jr. Chair of Writing, commented that the way Sakai uploads and downloads files slows the evaluation process for students' papers.

Dolphin commented that Sakai 3 will be much more versatile, including quick handling of files and versioning. He added that there is work being done on sequencing in Sakai but that it is just beginning.

To see the entire question-and-answer session, you can view a UD Capture of the event.

Dolphin also met with IT staff for a more technical discussion about Sakai. He is interested in developing a process whereby institutions and individuals with similar environments, issues and problems can communicate and collaborate (he referred to this process as a “dating agency” for Sakai institutions). IT staff discussed the need for usability testing done by actual users of Sakai, not only by developers.

IT-CS&S has always used the feedback on Sakai@UD received from faculty to help set priorities when installing updates. Following this mutually beneficial event, we plan to involve the faculty more by publishing a comprehensive prioritized list of bug fixes and improvements that matter most to our community. For comments, suggestions, or to volunteer some of your time for this effort, contact Mathieu Plourde, project leader, LMS, at [mathieu@udel.edu].