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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Classroom

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AN/A

    $0

    per month

    Sakai

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/ASakai 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
    Google ClassroomSakai
    Editions & Modules
    Education Fundamentals
    $0
    per license/per month
    Google Workspace for Education Standard
    $3
    per student/per year
    Teaching and Learning Upgrade
    $4
    per license/per month
    Google Workspace for Education Plus
    $5
    per student/per year
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google ClassroomSakai
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsEducation Fundamentals Version - 30-day free trial for qualifying institutions.Must contact vendor for pricing information.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google ClassroomSakai
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Apereo
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    37 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    89%
    Happy with the feature set
    34 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    29 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Google ClassroomSakai
    Learning Management
    Comparison of Learning Management features of Google Classroom and Sakai
    Feature
    Google Classroom
    7.4
    60 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Sakai
    7.9
    5 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Course authoring8.752 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    Course catalog or library7.639 Ratings7.04 Ratings
    Player/Portal6.538 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Learning content8.141 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    Mobile friendly7.757 Ratings7.05 Ratings
    Progress tracking & certifications7.144 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    Assignments7.158 Ratings10.05 Ratings
    Compliance management6.934 Ratings7.04 Ratings
    Learning administration7.346 Ratings9.05 Ratings
    Learning reporting & analytics6.842 Ratings6.05 Ratings
    Social learning8.751 Ratings9.04 Ratings
    Gamification3.98 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning9.812 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google ClassroomSakai
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    Teachable
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Google Classroom
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Schoology Learning
    Score8 out of 10
    Schoology Learning
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    D2L Brightspace
    Score7.8 out of 10
    D2L Brightspace
    Score7.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google ClassroomSakai
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.1
    (80 ratings)
    9.0
    (14 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.1
    (11 ratings)
    7.4
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    1.9
    (14 ratings)
    8.1
    (3 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    2.0
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google ClassroomSakai
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Classroom allows teachers to post for daily lessons and assignments. It also allows teachers to be able to communicate with students easily outside of class. Students are able to stay connected and know where to find all information and resources easily in a streamlined manner for all of their classes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Student-teacher communication - I love using Classroom for this because my students can always go back and check what was on Classroom by looking through the stream. This way they don't have to go dig through emails to find what they're looking for.
    • Posting to multiple classes - I can post the same announcement or assignment to multiple classes at once without having to repeat the process or send separate emails.
    • Streamlining grading - when students turn work in on Classroom, it all goes to one place and then when I'm grading I can open their documents directly from Classroom or my Drive folder. This way, I'm not looking through emails and Google Doc shared files for their assignment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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."
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • The content management of the Classroom is not that good. The sub-section for notes, syllabus, or discussion is missing.
    • It doesn't have parental control feature.
    • It converts the excel output into a normal file. All the formulas and pivots got changed into plain text.
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    Testing is particularly important in online learning, and Google Classroom falls far short of other learning management systems in this regard. Security is also a concern: while account control is reasonable for the account used with Google Classroom, the person controlling a particular account is often able to, for example, forward or download proprietary materials.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    Simple design and seamless integration with Google tools and drive, but missing some key features. However, since it is limited in overall functions and ability to truly personalize / customize, it is quite user friendly and easy to set up and get going, other than sending out the code to your course or dropping students in via their gmail account. Users of Google Forms and sites will find the layout similar in design.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    We have had very little trouble in accessing Google Classroom. Our issues, if any, have risen from our server and not the Google servers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Apereo
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Google
    Since this platform is provided by Google, the technical support is better than any others, and we are not required to bother about the space constraints for adding the contents. If we have a good uninterrupted internet facility we can access Google Classroom without any delay or lag. They have app support in both Android and iPhone.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    It was relatively easy to implement due to the simplicity of the platform. Even our more technology challenged teachers found it easy to get started with Google Classroom.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Apereo
    No, I don't
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    I haven't tested or evaluated another digital classroom website or application. I feel like Google Classroom is convenient for many reasons such as compatibility to Google docs, slides, etc. I also love the ability to link to YouTube and other sites. I don't know if there would be a site that is easier to maneuver.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Google
    It is very easy to push out this program across our buildings. Teachers are able to use it without much trouble.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Apereo
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Students are able to continue learning in a remote environment
    • Parents have a single, consistent organization structure to make it easy to track assignments and progress for multiple children
    • Much better solution than the quickly assembled Zoom-and-gloom of the previous spring when school abruptly went remote with no planning
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots