Edsby vs. Sakai

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Edsby
Score 8.0 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Edsby is a cloud-based learning management system (LMS) for K-12 school districts that uses web and mobile technologies to connect teachers, students, parents and administrators in new ways. This LMS allows students and parents to check grades, attendance, homework and more from a browser, tablet or mobile phone. The vendor says what sets this LMS apart from others is that Edsby is designed specifically for the special requirements and needs of K-12. To make district-wide…
$5
per user/per year
Sakai
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Sakai is an open source learning management system provided by the Apero Foundation. The LMS provides what it calls Core and Expanded Features. The Core Features encompass an integrated tool set that is tested by the Sakai community members and is then included with each new release. The tool set can be configured by: instructors, students, research investigators and project leaders. The other set of tools, known as “Contrib Tools” are specific to Sakai tools and innovations that are developed…N/A
Pricing
EdsbySakai
Editions & Modules
Edsby
5+
per user/per year
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
EdsbySakai
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional DetailsEdsby charges an up-front fee for initial integration. There are also annual costs, variable with the number of students. Parent, teacher and administrator accounts are free. Certain other features are charged for annually. Special pricing applies for private schools. Contact Edsby for details.Must contact vendor for pricing information.
More Pricing Information
Features
EdsbySakai
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Edsby
9.0
1 Ratings
10% above category average
Sakai
7.9
5 Ratings
3% below category average
Player/Portal10.01 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Mobile friendly9.01 Ratings7.05 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications7.01 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Assignments9.01 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Learning administration10.01 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Social learning9.01 Ratings9.04 Ratings
Course authoring00 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Course catalog or library00 Ratings7.04 Ratings
Learning content00 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Compliance management00 Ratings7.04 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics00 Ratings6.05 Ratings
Best Alternatives
EdsbySakai
Small Businesses
Tovuti LMS
Tovuti LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
Tovuti LMS
Tovuti LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Sakai
Sakai
Score 8.7 out of 10
Jenzabar ONE
Jenzabar ONE
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Intellum
Intellum
Score 9.2 out of 10
Intellum
Intellum
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
EdsbySakai
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(4 ratings)
9.0
(14 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
7.4
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
EdsbySakai
Likelihood to Recommend
Edsby
Edsby is well-suited for day-to-day communication with students, either in the classroom, or at home. It makes planning course progression easier because of the built in day-by-day calendar for the semester. It is transferable, so the work one does in one semester can be copied over to the next, and modified as needed. Students can see the Lesson Plan which is projected onto the SmartBoard, but the font is quite small so they cannot read it from where they are sitting, so I use SmartNotes which has a larger font and then, if needed, attach that note to the Edsby day lesson planner.
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Apereo
I've used Sakai to supplement my Public Speaking class. Public Speaking is very much a F2F type course, so I didn't use Sakai much for course content delivery. However, I did use it to post my syllabus, post my lecture slides, communicate any class announcements, and to conduct a final exam for the class. Building the final exam was very simple and I was easily able to swap out questions to vary it from term to term. Before I was a staff member and lecturer, I used Sakai as a student. My instructor used Sakai to varying degrees. I really appreciated it being the one-stop-receptacle for all-things class related. If I somehow lost an assignment instruction sheet, I could rely on it being posted there. For multimedia work it was lacking, at that time, but I know Sakai has been updated over time and I hope that part of it has improved. If I was ever frustrated by Sakai, it was because faculty used it in a piecemeal way. It's fine not to want to use the gradebook, but don't enter some grades and not others. It's wonderful to upload class documents to it; but don't do some and not others. Whatever way you're going to use Sakai, commit to it and use it well. Your students will thank you.
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Pros
Edsby
  • Edsby is extremely easy to learn and use.
  • Students love the "social media" feel to Edsby.
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Apereo
  • Sakai is flexible, providing a way for our customers (instructors) to customize their courses while staying in line with consistency and continuity of course design. This has allowed our courses to be far less cookie-cutter and stale. This is mostly accomplished through Sakai's LTI functionality and it's Lessons tool. This is particularly notable because not every course is the same, nor should it be. Our faculty and course developers can draw from OER resources, course text publisher assessment quiz banks and pull in content from sources from our library databases and services like YouTube.
  • Sakai is customizable, allowing us to pair it with our student information system to automatically create and track with student registration data - including adding new students and removing students who have elected to drop a course. The customization features also include being able to create course templates for individual schools or courses using specific tools or sequences of tools as well as a way to personalize content for students when they engage with each lesson.
  • Sakai is stable in the market. We have been using Sakai for almost 10 years and continue to see it improve; responding to changing trends in browser technologies, mobile platforms and accessibility requirements. Multiple programs offered over the years have been recognized by outside organizations like BestColleges.com for our programs and given high marks by students taking the courses offered in Sakai.
  • Sakai allows our faculty to inform it's continued evolution. We work closely with the developers, having a front seat to how things can work and function for our faculty. There have been multiple occasions where faculty ask, "Can Sakai do this?" and the answer is never "No."
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Cons
Edsby
  • Edsby shows the last time a user logged on. Unfortunately, if someone doesn't log out you have no way of knowing if someone has seen a recent post or is really using Edsby to its potential.
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Apereo
  • The coming upgrade will address many issues, the visual presentation of sites and courses
  • The Forums (discussion) tool is not natively integrated into the Gradebook, but needs another step to connect the two.
  • The Wiki tool is awkward and not WYSIWYG. But I understand that is common with wikis in most platforms
  • The Help documentation could use some focus on student needs rather that course developer needs
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Likelihood to Renew
Edsby
No answers on this topic
Apereo
Sakai is a good general learning management system - it is not leading edge but rather a stable system with standard learning management system features. It can be fairly easily customized and is fairly easy to learn from both student learning and faculty administrative vantage points. New paradigms for online learning though are emergent so the current field should also be investigated with competitors.
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Usability
Edsby
Everything is easy to use and well as being overly user-friendly to your average student.
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Apereo
When faculty are preparing courses from term to term, a portion of the content is static within a specific discipline. The time it takes to import past lessons into new versions of Sakai can be an inefficient use of my time. When I want to add new content and edit from the old content, it's reliant upon me to cut and paste the content from term to term rather than simply import and edit from a backup.
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Support Rating
Edsby
No answers on this topic
Apereo
Since Sakai is open-source their documentation is often lacking and support is absolutely needed onsite. Internal documentation is more important with Sakai than other services. The Sakai community is fun, passionate, engaged, and absolutely doing their best, but it's an uphill battle against the current market and trends.
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Implementation Rating
Edsby
No answers on this topic
Apereo
No, I don't
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Alternatives Considered
Edsby
EDSBY was piloted at the school last semester, and I found it made my job easier, which is a boon since time is fleeting and I could get more done with less effort with Edsby. After the pilot the entire school district was signed up to use Edsby. I like it very much. I did use a blog on First Class which was extremely difficult to learn, and a blog on WordPress which was easier to learn how to use but not interactive like Edsby is. To my mind, Edsby is far superior to the former.
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Apereo
As an adjunct professor, I didn't pick Sakai for the university. I have experience with Moodle, Blackboard, eCollege, iBoard and now Sakai. I would have to say that Sakai is one of my all time favorite LMSs to use as it is very easy to navigate.
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Return on Investment
Edsby
  • For the most part, teachers, parents and students love the system. It provides easy access to the information that they need when they need it.
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Apereo
  • Sakai makes it easy for students to monitor grades which puts their minds at ease.
  • Sakai makes it easy for teachers to assign and receive assignments from students.
  • Communication is one of the most important and one of the most taxing parts of an educational system. Sakai makes this process just a little bit easier.
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ScreenShots

Edsby Screenshots

Screenshot of Student's dashboard view in EdsbyScreenshot of Private teacher observations of students in Edsby, taggedScreenshot of Mobile Edsby clients available for iOS and AndroidScreenshot of A teacher's view of an Edsby class, the heart of the Edsby learning and analytics platformScreenshot of Teacher's view of a class gradebook in the Edsby learning and analytics platformScreenshot of A student eportfolio in the Edsby learning and analytics platform