For Instructors - Getting Started with Sakai

Welcome to Sakai!

Sakai (sometimes called 'Isaak-Sakai' or 'Isaak') is Brock University's Learning Management System. Sakai can be used in many ways by educators, though here are a few ideas:

• Quickly create a common space to which all students in your course have online access​
• Digitally share or collect learning content​ in the context of your course
• Facilitate interaction among students​
• Deliver course content in an online format
• Share instructional videos

The 60-minute video displayed below is intended for instructors and other educators that freshly learning to use Sakai for teaching.

FAQs about getting started as an Instructor

How can I find Sakai?

Sakai is available directly at https://sakai.brocku.ca/portal.

How can I log into Sakai?

After visiting https://sakai.brocku.ca/portal/, click Brock Login.

If you haven't logged into Sakai in a little while, you'll be directed to a Microsoft-hosted login page. Enter your Brock email and click Next.

You'll be directed to Brock's login page. Enter your full Brock email and password and click Sign in.

Lastly, you'll be prompted to approve your login using your chosen authenticator method. Visit Brock University's Multi-Factor Authentication page for more information about setting up authentication.

How can I find my courses?

Courses that you deliver as an instructor or co-instructor, or courses in which you possess a different role will appear within your navigation near the top of any page in Sakai. Clicking upon a course title will allow you visit that course's space in Sakai.

A full list of your courses in Sakai from the current and previous terms is available to you from the area. After opening , click upon a course to enter its Sakai site.

Can I create a new Sakai space for my course?

Instructors are empowered to create Sakai spaces for upcoming courses using steps at Create a new course site. Mainly to respect academic freedoms, sites are rarely pre-created for instructors.

Most members of Brock faculty or staff are able to create sites on demand, though only instructors of courses (aka Instructors of Record) are able to include student rosters as part of site creation steps. Some additional discussion of this is provided within the Before you begin section.

It is sometimes also useful to create a project site to test Sakai's features in a low-risk setting or to prepare course content in advance of sharing with a formal course site.

Can I create a new course space if I'm not yet known as the course instructor?

Yes! It is often quite useful to create a new space to begin planning your site, as steps to adding your students, once you're formally understood by Sakai to be the course's instructor, are quick.

Try these steps to Create a new course site without students. Note that you'll be able to add your students closer to the beginning of your course.

Or consider creating a project site.

How can I change my favourited courses?

Favourited or pinned courses will always be shown to you in your top navigation from any Sakai page and will possess a yellow next to their title. Updating your favourited courses once in a while or at the start of new terms can be handy, as it keeps your Sakai experience fresh.

To update your favourited courses, try these steps:

1. Open the menu
2. Find a course that is not yet favourited
3. Click upon its associated star icon
4. The course will now appear in your top navigation on any page in Sakai

Where can I find more help?

Instructors, other teaching staff, or staff members in the Brock community are welcome to contact the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation for assistance with Sakai.

For speediest responses, we encourage usage of the edtech@brocku.ca contact.

A great deal of help information is also available within this space. To begin from the home page, visit https://docu.brocku.ca/.

How can I add more options to my new Sakai site?

Your new Sakai site will arrive with only the essential enabled and ready to go. If you'd like leverage Sakai's ability to perform additional tasks, try taking the steps at Add tools to my site.

Some ideas about other features and their associated tools are presented in other sections of this Getting Started page.

How can I share my syllabus or other documents with students?

Though many options are available within Sakai, a common place for sharing content like course syllabi, assignments, readings, and other media with students is the Resources tool.

For steps to uploading a document, visit Upload files to Resources

A popular but optional additional measure can be to add a link to your course syllabus to your Sakai site's toolbar. Once you've uploaded a document, follow steps at Add a link to a syllabus or other document to do so.

How can I email the class?

Though there are a number of options to facilitate batch-contacting or emailing of students in your course, Sakai's Announcements tool is normally the most popular. It is typically handy for easily sharing important updates or notes with your students but is not able to receive replies. To contact students in a way that allows them to reply, consider the Messages tool.

The Announcements tool is not available in new Sakai sites by default, but can be enabled with the steps in Add tools to my site.

• After enabling Announcements, take steps at Add an Announcement to send a mass message to your students within Sakai only.
• If you'd like to contact your students via both Sakai and their Brock email, ensure that the steps detailed in the Notify participants of announcement by email section are taken while creating your message.

How can I add grades?

The Gradebook is a hub for all graded activities captured by your course's Sakai site. It is able to confidentially display scores / grades to respective students, though instructors can choose whether and when this ought to occur.

While the Gradebook can be used to capture the entirety of a course's assessment, instructors can also choose to use the Gradebook to track only one or several components, like participation scores, that are not practical to share with students in a classroom setting.

• After enabling the Gradebook using the steps at Add tools to my site, single components can be added with steps at Add items to the Gradebook.
• For comprehensive usage of the Gradebook, consider visiting Set up my Gradebook.
• At the end of an academic term, the Gradebook can be used to import final course grades to Brock's Registrar.

The Gradebook is understood to be a complex but powerful tool within Sakai. Please consider connecting with CPI if you'd like assistance.

How can I collect assignments online?

Sakai's Assignments tool allows instructors to create, distribute, collect, and grade online assignments.

Assignments are typically private; student submissions are not visible to other users of the site. However, the instructor has the option to enable peer evaluation of assignments if desired.

Assignments may be submitted via file upload or in-line using a textbox depending on instructor preference.

• To enable Assignments, take the steps at Add tools to my site
• To create a new assignment, try the steps to adding an assignment
• To allow students to submit video, try adding a video assignment

How can I create online modules?

The Lessons tool allows instructors to organize resources, activities, and media on a single page, and is ideal for designing modules to support online learning.

After enabling Lessons in your site, try creating a new Lessons page.

A short video has also been created to assist with getting started with Lessons.