jumping into the frying pan lessons learned deploying and supporting sakai in a liberal arts...
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Jumping Into the Frying Pan
Lessons learned deploying and supporting Sakai in a liberal arts environment
Mary P. Glackin & Julie Habjan BoisselleMount Holyoke College
Copyright: Julie Habjan Boisselle & Mary P. Glackin, 2007. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.
Background
WebCT campus for 6 years Year-long product evaluation & user
feedback process 3 products short-listed: Moodle,
WebCT, Sakai Why Sakai? Broad long-term scope,
open-source
Sakai Implementation:
One-year overlap with WebCT license Jump-start with Unicon Brand local instance as ella Cross-departmental implementation team,
including: networking, web lead, librarians, instructional technologists & archivist
Pilot goal: 20 course sites first semester
Implementation Planning:Planned Actual
System Install Summer 2006 Test July 2006
Production mid-Aug 06
StaffTraining
Summer 2006 mid-August 2006
Pilot Fall 2006: ~ 20 courses, encourage incoming faculty
86 courses
Early Production
Spring 2007: Migrate current WebCT courses, automate course site creation; pilot curricular project sites
WebCT material, integrate e-reserves, manual course creation and enrollment; ~100 non-curricular project sites
Production Fall 2007: Automate course site creation and enrollment
MySQL->Oracle DB transition; Automation; 279 course sites published
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Fall05
Spr06
Fall06
Spr07
Fall07
What's in Use?
WebCT Courses ella Courses e - reserves
Who is Using ella?
Courses with ella sites: 60% Humanities: 70% Social Sciences: 70% Languages: 58% Visual & Performing Arts: 49% Sciences: 45%
Outcomes After 1 Year
Fall 2007: ~280 course sites & 150 diverse project sites
User feedback overwhelmingly positive, “basics are easy to learn”
Delivery of electronic reserve readings improved
~Half course sites represent new faculty users of LMS
Introducing ella http://ella.mtholyoke.edu
Example Course Site
Words of Advice1. Partnering with a vendor was very helpful for start-up 2. Everyone says that you need a 1/2 FTE programming &
systems staff for care and feeding: it’s true!!! 3. Combined librarians, instructional technologists and
systems support team is incredibly effective 4. Constant cross-departmental communication is critical 5. Avoid the lure of new-found ability to customize before
you know your system :) 6. “Desk-side coaching” for faculty targeting course
learning goals works7. Balance of localized and external training documentation
works well. Don’t spin your wheels unnecessarily8. Market the new system as a solution: ex: e-reserves
A Few Caveats
1. Everyone says that you need a 1/2 FTE programming & systems staff required for care and feeding: it’s true!!!– negotiate this ahead of time and formalize it
2. Open source is a constantly evolving arena, make sure your team understands the implications. Project planning and decision-making is continuous; process differs from commercial products
3. While auto enrolling students in ella pleased the community, it also created confusion about course registration status
4. Cross-departmental collaboration is wonderful, however -- Who’s in charge? Who owns the system? :)
5. Sakai reporting features are minimal making assessment challenging
6. Don’t do too much too fast!
Interesting Outcomes
1. Branding the local install ella created a buzz, everyone identified with it and “owned” it
2. Community liked open-source nature, instilled pride3. They looooooooooooove project sites4. Faculty adapt simple tools in incredibly diverse ways ex:
wiki5. Migration of e-reserves to the LMS enticed faculty users
to try other tools
The Cliff Notes:
1. It costs more than you expect (people, commitment and time)
2. You need engagement of all stakeholders
3. You can do it -- successfully
Our contact info:
Mary Pat. Glackin [email protected]
Julie Habjan Boisselle [email protected]
Our thanks to all the folks who helped Mount Holyoke implement Sakai especially our ella
development team
Questions & Discussion?