How students can share documents with Sakai

Sakai is the Claremont College's online collaboration and learning environment. Essentially, every Sakai course site is a full-featured web site with extensive, integrated built-in online tools — discussion board, email, announcements, chatroom, gradebook, resource area for any files you would like to share including web links to external sites, calendar, wiki, and much more.

Sharing resources
Many faculty have found Sakai's Resource tool useful for sharing web links, documents, and other types of files with students. Although it is not intuitively obvious, Sakai's Resource tool can enhance communication and collaboration among students too.

How students can share documents and other files

• In your Sakai Resources, create a new folder by clicking the "Add" Tab next to the Folder "[Class name] Resources."
• Select the "Create Folders" link from the drop-down menu.
  
• You then need to name the folder. You can name it Paper 1, Paper 2, etc. or whatever name you want, as long as it's clear to the students which which should go where.
• If you will be adding more than one folder, you can select the "Add Another Folder" option and you will then be prompted to enter the name of the next new folder; you can do this for as many folders as you would like to add.
• When you are finished adding folders, click the "Create Folders Now" button. Your folder(s) will appear in the "[Class name] Resources.
• To allow your students to upload their papers into these folders, you will then need edit the folder's permission as follows:

1. Click on the Actions drop-down menu next to the folder.
   
2. From the drop-down menu, select the "Edit Folder Permissions" link for the folder.
3. To allow your students to upload documents, the "new" box needs to be checked for the Student role.
4. You can also decide whether the students are able to revise or delete their own documents and/or those of their classmates. When the correct boxes are selected, click on the "Save" button.
5. Options for folder permissions include:
   new: Add new resources
   read: View and download resources (checked by default)
   revise.any: Modify any resources
   revise.own: Modify own resources
   delete.any: Remove any resources
   delete.own: Remove own resources
   all.groups: Allows participants to see all resources, even those assigned to specific groups
6. When the correct boxes are selected, click "Save" button.

Online resources

• Claremont Collaborative Learning Environment
  
  1. Login to your Sakai account and explore the helpful links at the bottom of your My Workspace tab.
     
  2. SC Faculty Support Sakai project > Resources > Sakai Resources - includes links to useful campus and web online resources and the Spring 2008 Student Survey results.
     https://sakai.claremont.edu
• Student instructional technology assistants can help you in your office, over the telephone, or in the Scripps Faculty Lab. For more information, please visit:
  www.scrippscollege.edu/campus/it/it-fits/
  To make an appointment, please fill out our online request form:
  www.scrippscollege.edu/campus/it/it-fits/help.php
  

Student clubs: use of campus IT resources for communication and collaboration

Cindy Ballon '10 and Elisa Villarreal '09

Overview - Two students share how Cafe Con Leche uses Sakai to organize themselves for events, organize their subcommittees, and have resources available to all their members. Cafe Con Leche provides a forum for the discussion of past and present social, political and economic topics that affect women, particularly those of Chicana/Latina descent. The goal of all discussions is to educate the Scripps community while promoting an understanding of significant issues concerning the awareness of diversity on our campus.

In Fall 2007, Café Con Leche set up a private Sakai project site to explore how the Claremont Colleges' online collaboration and learning environment could help their club members. Current Café Con Leche's Sakai site has twenty-nine student participants, five with privileges to maintain the site. Cindy and Elisa noted that everyone in Café Con Leche likes Sakai and that using it has had a good impact overall. Club members are still experimenting with ways to use Sakai.

How does Café Con Leche use Sakai?

• The Announcement tool is used extensively because announcements are not only archived in Sakai but also emailed to members. Meeting times and changes, deadlines, and events are announced via this tool, and reminders to check mailboxes are announced.
• The Resources area is handy. It is convenient to keep Café Con Leche's member contact information spreadsheet where it can be easily updated and downloaded by members; all members downloaded this spreadsheet with information about where members live, their mailbox, cell number, and birthday. Other resources available to members in Sakai include meeting minutes, logos, Dream Act information, etc.
• Polls have been to select a logo for the organization and find out which day members are available for a group dinner. All club members participated in the polls.
• The Calendar lets members know about meeting times.
• The Forum tool allows for discussion about what committees should talk about when they meet.
• The Chat Room is used infrequently. Members find that the phone is easier for synchronous communication.

Two of Café Con Leche's members work for Scripps IT in the IT-FITS (Faculty In-office Technology Support) program and took the initiative to use this campus IT resource for their club. Cindy and Elisa noted that they never use Sakai in their other clubs-probably because most students do not know that they can create their own Sakai project sites. Anyone with an existing Sakai account can set up a Sakai project site. Students in the IT-FITS are available to help any Scripps club get started with Sakai!

Café Con Leche provides a forum for the discussion of past and present social, political and economic topics that affect women, particularly those of Chicana/Latina descent. The goal of all discussions is to educate the Scripps community while promoting an understanding of significant issues concerning the awareness of diversity on our campus.

Online Resource - Introduction to Sakai