Rutter 1

Nick Rutter

Fredrik deBoer

WRT 303-0001

7 March 2011

Editorial: URI Must Continue Electronic Improvements

The University of Rhode Island has proven to not only be an institution that stands out in

the Northeast Region, but also one which stands out on a national and international scale. That is

not to say that URI is perfect; there are many improvements being made everyday to our

buildings, programs, and the most relevant of these times, our technological infrastructure. More

and more programs’ instructors and students are dependent on tools that are both common to the

internet as whole, specific to secondary education, and specific to this University. In particular,

our Sakai system receives a lot of focus as it is the common worksite for all departments of study

and provides many useful tools such as electronic submission, gradebooks, forums, polls and

much more. We recommend that URI continues work with Sakai, but only in a limited capacity,

as we have committed to be involved in the collaborative community effort. We instead call for

an instructor movement to seek alternative software, in particular, the open-source program,

Moodle.

The switch to Sakai in of itself was an upgrade from the previously implemented WebCT

system, which The Good 5 Cent Cigar reported as a result of the WebCT distributors muerging

with another company and increasing the cost of operations (Myers). It is difficult to deny that

having such a variable and accessible system in place would make the jobs of students and

instructors easier. However, at least one instructor felt the opposite. In another article of The

Good 5 Cent Cigar, Professor Donna Hughes expressed strong objections after running into
 Rutter 2

problems with the software when trying to run a summer course in Women’s Studies. Particular

problems cited were assignments that couldn’t function to be completed before the due date, and

instructor loaded content disappearing on the discussion forums (Broder).

While those events are over a year old, problems still persist in the Sakai system Here are

some that we feel make Sakai much too difficult and confusing to navigate-even with an

instructor proficient and involved with Sakai:

-Sakai design breaks basic webpage layout concepts of alignment, proximity,

rhythm/repetition, and contrast.

-The layout is very similar to the social networking site Facebook, something which we

feel only serves to mix classes and data up like interactions from different people.

-New replies to forum posts are not reported, hampering the back and forth discussion

atmosphere which facilitates learning.

-Text in forum posts and in assignment boxes is not available if the browser is

accidentally clicked back or if the Sakai session times out.

-To go back within forum categories, the back button does not function, only clicking on

a return or cancel link will.

-Students have to undergo an arduous process to remove completed classes’ tabs from

display on their space. Some are still accessible even after two years.

-An overwhelming list of features, some of which are not even implemented or that seem

redundant.

These problems persist, although it is made clear that The University has put a lot of

work in maintaining the site and trying to fix them. Introducing the site is a document titled

“Learning with Sakai”, which not only outlines what Sakai is and what features it offers, but also
 Rutter 3

a “Programmers’ Log: Updates & Fixes” There are seventeen bullet points of these fixes and

updates since September of 2010. In addition, the document outlines set maintenance times:

From 7:00 am to 8:00 am each morning, Sakai may be unavailable for some or all of this

time period to allow for scheduled maintenance. The official eCampus rosters for all

academic course sites are updated automatically four times a day [during the drop/enroll

period] at 7:30 am, 12:30 pm, 5:30 pm and 11:30 pm. Each update takes approximately

35 minutes to run. Use of Sakai is not affected by this process (Rutherford and Yang).

We are well aware of work beyond scheduled updates, such as the twice a year Sakai conference

and workshops to teach and inform instructors on how to use the program.

Additionally, URI is committed to involvement with the Sakai community, as the

program itself is a collaborative effort with other institutions to improve the program, and it is

through decisions made through a board of directors that determine what updates are released

when. According to the Sakai website, “Older versions may be in use, but maintaining the code

becomes the responsibility of the individual institutions. Institutions are encouraged to take

advantage of the latest bug fixes, security patches, and feature enhancements by upgrading to the

currently supported versions.” This perhaps is the root of all problems mentioned earlier. URI is

still using version 2.6 when 2.7 was released in August of 2010.

This is where we feel Moodle shines the strongest, in addition to fully addressing the list

of Sakai problems we listed. On the Moodle wiki, MoogleDocs, Moodle is described as

operating as an open source program which enthusiasts can create additional modules and offer

fixes and reports to bugs and errors, in addition to the company’s support and maintenance. So

rather than having the University spend so much time and effort trying to update this enormous

program, instructors can download updates and bug-fixes to their modules, as well as download
 Rutter 4

or even create third party modules specific to their needs which may be outside of the vast

amounts already offered by Moodle. So if instructors, such as Professor Donna Hughes feel

frustrated, or even curious about using this alternative alongside Sakai, we encourage them to do

so and encourage other professors to do the same. Even if The University administration does not

officially endorse it, enough professors using Moodle will make this largely irrelevant. However,

we do hope the administration does support this change and encourage them to downsize Sakai

as essentially an alternative to class email.

 Rutter 5

Works Cited

Broder, Elexa. "Professor fed up with Sakai, says courseware has kinks". The Good 5¢ Cigar.

The Good 5¢ Cigar. 4 Feb. 2010. Updated 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.

Collman, Chris. “Features”. MoodleDocs. Moodle, 5 Dec. 2010. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.

Myers, Noelle. “Sakai to replace WebCT beginning fall semester”. The Good 5¢ Cigar. The

Good 5¢ Cigar. 10 Apr. 2009. Updated 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.

Rutherford, Brett and Charlene Yang. “Learning With Sakai”. Sakai@URI. The University of

Rhode Island. Ver. 3.2, 2 Feb. 2011. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.

"CLE Release" sakaiproject.org. Sakai Foundation, n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.