Sakai
Communication Methods:
Sakai offers a variety of communication tools for users. Sakai offers a threaded discussion form in which participants can choose to subscribe to and receive e-mail notifications with whole text posts or a digested version with subject only. Sakai allows users to privately chat with one another. Users can send attachments and media files to one another making collaboration and peer review easier. Sakai has a resource tool option where students can post course resources they have discovered. Additional forms of communication Sakai offers are announcements, RSS feeds, whole group or individual emailing, podcasts, calendar access, and file sharing.
Organization of Content:
The organization of content is flexible, content is organized based on an instructors preferences. The instructor can choose how to organize the course. For example assignments are uploaded through an assessments page, instructors have the options of grading capabilities or no grading depending on their needs. Instructors can open discussion forums and close or lock forums as they choose. Instructors have flexibility in the components they use; they can choose to give students permissions for submitting resources, creating discussions, etc.
Interface design:
Sakai appears to be intuitive and easy to use; the site boasts that even those who aren’t technologically savvy can use this learning management system. Sakai provides course templates that can be customized for instructors who wish to use them. Instructors can download course content into different formats for printing, editing and storing.
Platform Capabilities:
Sakai is community built and supported. It offers a complete online portfolio, which students “own”, that stores their portfolio content. This is makes collaboration easier for students. System access is limited to assigned roles set up by the institution. Instructors can grant guest access to all of their courses.
Likes and Dislikes:
Sakai provides administrators with several helpful tools. Instructors can moderate, screen, or restrict access to discussion postings, something I could see myself using with my elementary students to prevent any unwanted posts. It also allows discussion postings and assignments to become visible or locked on certain dates specified by the instructor.
Participants can sort, watch, and bookmark forums in Sakai which will expedite access to particular information, topics, and subjects. Sakai’s portfolio allows users to create portfolios that are independent of the courses they are enrolled in. Participants can create a private notes page for personal use in the course, something I would utilize as a distance learner to jot down due dates and important information. Calendars from all courses are synced and personal calendar information can be added.
Problems that arise may not have a simple fix. Sakai is community built some problems with the system may not be fixed immediately. Users may have to solve issues on their own and then post the solution. Sakai currently doesn’t have a statistical analysis tool for student tracking.
Use of Platform:
Sakai supports twelve different languages and can be use virtually anywhere; it does not limit itself to a specific language or country. It is something that could very easily be used in elementary school, high school, and higher educational intuitions’. It could easily be used by large corporations and governments to share information and data.
Joomla
Communication Methods:
Joomla, like Sakai, offers a discussion form in which participants can choose to subscribe to and receive e-mail notifications with whole text posts or a digested version with subject only. The discussions can be shared with other departments and faculty members. Jamoola offers students personal folders to store assignments and information, students can choose to share these files with peers. E-mail options include the sending of whole group or indvidual e-mails, and give users the option to have e-mail forwarded to another address. Joomla provides an announcement page in which instructors can send information to class participants. Chat options include real time chat, group conferences, two way voice chat, and whole group discussions. Joomla allows instructors to record and archive sessions for later review and provides RSS feeds that students can subscribe to. Joomla has a whiteboard feature that supports images and PowerPoint.
Organization of Content:
Joomla allows learners to resume a task where they left it. It is designed as a hierarchical, step by step, learning management system. Joomla offers a customizable template for course design; institutions can also create their own templates for their instructors to use.
Interface design:
Joomla is intuitive; there are specific icons for specific functions which are clearly labeled. Joomla appears to be user friendly and simple to use. There are several features designed to make the learning management system efferent for instructors. For example when an assignment is added to a course it is automatically added to the grade book-eliminating additional work for course designers.
Platform Capabilities:
Instructors can organize their course and have the power to grant access to forms, information, and various other materials to all students, or specific groups or individuals. Joomla also has a time release option for assignments, announcements, and assessments. Also access to course materials can be personalized based on student performance. Frequency and duration of student access can be tracked by the instructor.
Likes and Dislikes (administrator and learner):
There are several things I liked about from an administrators standpoint. Student and course information can be shared between departments easily. Joomla provides instructors with statistical information of summary discussions that can be used for grading purposes.
Students have a home page where all their classes are listed and a calendar is posted. All events/due dates posted in courses appear on the student’s calendar. Students are able to attach notes to any course page; they can later print these notes with the content to make study guides and other review tools.
Joomla doesn’t appear to be as flexible in its design as Sakai, offering a single template and less customizable course options. It also requires a yearly license base on the number of users-which may not be cost effective for some consumers.
Use of Platform:
Joomla gives instructors the option of publishing a course to CD-ROM and students can download course content in PDF form, both allowing for viewing offline. Making Joomla something that can turely be used anywhere; it is not dependant on an internet connection. It is something that could very easily be used in elementary school, high school, and higher educational instutions. It could easily be used by large corporations and governments to share information and data.
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