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…
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WizIQ LMS
Score 5.5 out of 10
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WizIQ LMS is designed to meet both teaching and training
needs and to give users more control over the learning process. Users can build their learning environment within
minutes, add and manage multiple teacher accounts, create online courses, and
schedule live classes. This solution provides a space that can be built and
customized to the user’s liking.
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.
They have to try out within their own use case scenarios with a sample learner, and test the features of their course and delivery needs. As there is not a content structuring tool, the course author has to have expertise in content and instruction design to create their own materials. The rest is easy to test and check. Test it on all browsers and test the functionality under various internet service speeds.
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."
Although all are good but WizIQ needs to improve in these fields...It goes offline once in a while which is a headache as it needs to be constantly managed and needs to be kept under observation all the time.
It is better for less userbase management as its browser platform is not stable for a larger number of participants.
We need to manage each online department separately.
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.
I need to overcome some of the important limitations which have been pending for more than 6 months indicating inability of the vendor or lack of clarity among the development team about what we want and how it can be done easily on their platform and MySQL at virtually no cost without ending up in a feature modification custom development and cost. Teaching and learning with respect to an Indian scenario is different and needs to be adapted to the local needs and realities.
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.
I have understood and used most of it by now after 6-7 months of exploration and use. Though there are small glitches that could be easily resolved by WizIQ, I feel comfortable to handle the product by now. However, clients find it a challenge to explore and do not wish to spend time to learn
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.
Very responsive and accommodating during the sales period, then totally unhelpful, rude and dismissive when you are unhappy with the product. Now ignoring my messages.
It was a product presentation and not a live work through kind of training. I had to remember the presentation from remote and then go about the tool/ builder. It was difficult to handle and I had a lot of doubts and clarifications to address in my initial rounds of launching my courses.
I have developed my own expertise and that is for sale to my clients as a part of my consulting services. I have much to share for assignment and assessment models, course design aspects and mentoring aspects as this is a remote self paced service. If the courses are live and managed still there needs to be mentoring and support to help the learner.
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.
I selected WizIQ because I used them when I subscribed for org.wiziq for nearly 10 years. It was firstly trusting in their technical support system in place and their new plug-in. Other products that are available for free or a nominal amount, e.g. Zoom and Google Meet are way better in their performance and features in my opinion.
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.
