[Announcements] Sakai Newsletter February 18, 2010

Margaret Wagner mwagner at umich.edu
Wed Feb 24 15:29:40 PST 2010


Sakai Newsletter


February 18, 2010

1.  From the Executive Director -- Transitions

2.  Interim Executive Director Position

3.  DEADLINE -- Sunday, February 28 -- Call for Proposals for Sakai  
Conference

4.  Melete & Jforum Tutorials -- Updated

5.  Sakai-2.7.0-b03 QA Tag Available

6.  rSmart Welcomes Learner's Edge

7.  "Open Source, Why or Why Not?" -- Market Research by Unicon

8.  rSmart is Hiring People with Sakai Expertise

9.  Instructional Technology Position Open at Pepperdine

10. Recent Discussion Groups

11. Events


-----------------------------------------
1.  From the Executive Director -- Transitions

As you may have read by now, I've accepted a position at LinkedIn and  
will be stepping down as Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation as  
of March 15.

In any transition of this type there will always be those individuals  
who speculate about difficulties that are or will be facing the  
organization. Those who follow Sakai closely know that the Sakai  
Foundation is not the driving force behind Sakai product development  
efforts. The distributed nature of Sakai's development is a real  
strength. My departure will have little to no impact on product  
development for Sakai 2 or Sakai 3. The Sakai Foundation staff members  
each know their roles and already work very independently. The fact  
that Lois Brooks is able to step in as interim Executive Director will  
further ensure that everything progresses smoothly. [See the next  
newsletter item.]

As for why I'm leaving, it has nothing to do with the state of Sakai.  
Sakai continues to head in a very positive direction. A few things  
that I would highlight are:

- The Sakai Teaching and Learning community is very impressive. Not  
only has it become a place to share best practices but it is also  
emerging as a strong voice into the product development process.

- The new Product Development Process and corresponding Sakai Product  
Council made great strides with Sakai 2.7 and, from where I sit, look  
to improve both product management and governance.

- The process of maintenance releases (recently Sakai 2.5.6 and 2.6.2)  
and the emergence of the maintenance team illustrate the continued  
community focus on quality.

- Sakai 3 has really picked up steam in the last few months and more  
institutions and individuals are getting involved every month. The  
vision is in place, the technical foundations have been laid and the  
design is progressing at a rapid pace. I regret that I'm not able to  
stay around long enough to take credit for the results. The good news  
is that all the credit will go to those who actually deserve it.

As for why I'm leaving...  those who know me well know that I've been  
a big fan of LinkedIn for many years and the particular position,  
leading global customer operations, is a great opportunity for me  
personally. I'm also looking forward to having a chance to work with  
my old friend Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn's founder, and to be in the thick  
of the
social/professional-networking space.

Sakai is a great project with a great community behind it. The work  
you are doing is important and is having a real impact on the world of  
education.  I will (happily) be going to the Sakai Europe conference  
in Valencia and am very pleased to have that opportunity to say  
"farewell" to at least some of the community in person. An unfortunate  
part of Sakai's distributed nature is that I can't shake hands with  
most of the folks I've worked with over the past few years. But it is,  
of course, a small world and I'm sure I will cross paths with many of  
you again before too long. And, of course, you can find me on LinkedIn.

It has been a great learning experience and a real privilege.

-- Michael


Michael Korcuska
Executive Director, Sakai Foundation
mkorcuska at sakaifoundation.org
phone: +1 510-859-4247 (google voice)
skype: mkorcuska

(From Michael's blog -- http://sakaiproject.org/blogs/michael-korcuska/transitions)


-----------------------------------------
2. Interim Executive Director Position

Community Members,

The Sakai Foundation Board of Directors has decided that an interim  
Executive Director is needed to assure operational continuity of  
Foundation activities after Michael Korcuska leaves on March 15.   
Sakai co-founder and former Board member Lois Brooks has agreed to  
serve as interim Executive Director. Her long association with the  
Sakai Foundation leaves her well positioned to step in and help with  
this transition.  Michael and Lois will work together in the coming  
weeks to ensure a smooth handover. The Sakai Foundation would like to  
thank Stanford University for helping to enable Lois' transition into  
this role.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Sakai Foundation, I would  
like to thank Michael for his service to the Foundation and the Sakai  
community.  Sakai has matured considerably over the past few years and  
we are well positioned for the future, including the exciting  
opportunities represented by Sakai 3. In addition, many of us have  
gotten to know Michael on a professional as well as personal level and  
will miss his passion, enthusiasm, and seemingly endless optimism and  
goodwill.  We wish Michael well in his future endeavors.

In the next few weeks we will communicate more details on the  
transition plans.

Josh Baron
Chair, Sakai Foundation Board of Directors
Josh.Baron at marist.edu


-----------------------------------------
3. DEADLINE -- Sunday, February 28 -- Proposals for the Sakai Conference

Reminder:  You have through this coming Sunday, February 28 to submit  
your proposal for a session at the 2010 Sakai Conference in Denver,  
June 15-17.  The submissions are made online at:

http://bit.ly/9ALf9v

You can review the simple Guidelines for proposals on the Sakai wiki at:

http://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/CONF2010/2010+Sakai+Conference+Proposal+Guidelines

It's pretty easy, you just need a Title and Abstract, and to pick from  
the following:

Track - (pick one)
- Building Sakai
- Deploying Sakai
- Using Sakai
- Portfolio
- Sakai Showcase
- Multiple Audiences

Subtrack (Subject/Area of Focus Tags) - (pick one)
- Newcomer
- Sakai 3
- Research
- Pedagogy
- QA
- Portfolios
- Faculty practices
- Student Involvement
- Innovation
- User Support

Target Audience - (pick one)
- Developers
- Faculty
- System Administrators
- Managers/Administrators
- Instructional Designers/Academic Technologists
- Support Staff
- Students

We look forward to your proposals. And please forward this reminder  
email on to others who may wish to participate in the conference.

Sincerely,

Pieter Hartsook
Sakai Foundation Communications Manager
hartsook at sakaifoundation.org


-----------------------------------------
4. Melete & Jforum Tutorials -- Updated

Dear Colleagues:

This is to let you know that we've now posted updated user tutorials  
on the etudes.org website. They include all new features and  
enhancements of the recent releases of Jforum and Melete (both 2.7.x).

You may download them from the following web pages:

- Melete: http://etudes.org/release/melete/
- Jforum: http://etudes.org/release/discussion/

All Etudes user tutorials are licensed under the "Share Alike" Creative
Commons 2.0 license.

Best,

Vivie Sinou
Executive Director, Etudes, Inc.
Etudes.org


-----------------------------------------
5. Sakai-2.7.0-b03 QA Tag Available

The third 2.7.0 beta tag is now available for QA server admins to  
deploy.  QA server admins should download and install the tag at their  
earliest convenience.

Tag: svn co https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn/sakai/tags/sakai-2.7.0-b03

Fixes for core projects versioned as 2.7-SNAPSHOT (n=60):

http://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/SAK/fixforversion/11784

In addition the following new indie releases with additional fixes are
deployed with sakai-2.7.0-b03:

kernel-1.1.0
basiclti-1.1.0-b02
edu-services-1.0.1
msgcntr-2.7.0-b04
samigo-2.7.0-b01
search-1.2.0

common-1.0.1 (pom updates only)
emailtemplateservice-0.4.1(pom updates only)
entitybroker-1.3.8 (pom updates only)
jsf-2.7.1(pom updates only)
purepoms-2.7.1 (pom updates only)
polls-1.3.0 (pom updates only)
profile-2.7.0 (pom updates only)
sakai-mock-2.7.0 (pom updates only)
scheduler-2.7.0-rc06 (pom updates only)

The next QA tag is scheduled for Friday, 5 March 2010.

Release schedule:

http://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/REL/Release+Management+Calendar

Cheers,

Anthony Whyte
arwhyte at umich.edu


-----------------------------------------
6. rSmart Welcomes Learner's Edge

rSmart welcomes Learner's Edge to the Sakai Community as one of its  
recent rSmart Sakai CLE support customers.  Learner's Edge leads the  
way in providing educators with the most flexible, dynamic and timely  
continuing education graduate courses to advance teacher skills,  
career objectives, classroom instruction and ultimately student  
achievement. Anticipating the needs and aspirations of teachers,  
Learner's Edge has helped thousands of teachers succeed in every  
aspect of their career -- from writing units and lesson plans, to  
motivating their students, to working with parents.

Learner's Edge courses offer clock hours or graduate credit from its  
partner colleges/universities. All partner colleges/universities are  
regionally accredited, with long-established traditions of quality  
teacher continuing education programs. Learners Edge is also  
accredited as a distance learning school by the Northwest Association  
of Accredited Schools.

Learner's Edge went live with the rSmart Sakai CLE in October 2009  
after a short 4-week implementation performed by rSmart's professional  
services team as part of a Standard Support services agreement.  After  
evaluating its deployment options, the company decided to use rSmart's  
Application Hosting Services for Sakai in order to reduce expenditures  
in hardware, infrastructure, and IT resources.  rSmart completed an  
integration with Sakai and the company's Student Information System in  
December 2009.

"Our company is focused on providing the best education possible to  
educators," said Wendy Knapp, director of online learning, Learner's  
Edge.  "We chose the open source rSmart Sakai CLE over the leading  
commercial course management systems because it meets all of our  
technical requirements for functionality, scalability, and stability,  
and because we trusted in rSmart's excellent reputation and track  
record for support services."

Mike Zackrison
VP of Marketing and Strategy
www.rsmart.com


-----------------------------------------
7. "Open Source, Why or Why Not?" -- Market Research White Paper by  
Unicon

Unicon, Inc., has published its market research findings from the  
EDUCAUSE 2009 Annual Conference in the white paper,  " 'The Future of  
Free:' Open Source, Why or Why Not?"  Unicon conducted a market  
research session at the conference on November 4, 2009, in which  
participants were invited to discuss why their institution has or has  
not adopted open source software (OSS), their opinions on the future  
of OSS, and what challenges they see for increased OSS adoption among  
higher education institutions.

For more information and to download the full white paper, visit:

http://www.unicon.net/node/1356.

Lisa Di Pietro
Marketing Coordinator
ldipietro at unicon.net


-----------------------------------------
8. rSmart is Hiring People with Sakai Expertise

We are looking for a Support Engineer, Support Analyst, and Systems  
Engineer. Please see all three job descriptions at the end of the  
attached PDF version of this newsletter.  If you are interested,  
please email resumes to jointheteam at rsmart.com

John Bush
john.bush at rsmart.com


-----------------------------------------
9. Instructional Technology Position Open at Pepperdine University

We have an open at Pepperdine University  with the Graduate School of  
Education and Psychology in West Los Angeles, California.

Job Title:  Senior Instructional Technology Analyst
Position Number:  00021501

For more information about the position, go to:

http://jobs.pepperdine.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=150543

Alan Regan, MFA
Manager, Technology and Learning
Information Technology
Pepperdine University
(310) 506-6756


-----------------------------------------
10. Recent Email Discussion Groups

[Building Sakai] Duplicate Site
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Duplicate-Site-td4624315.html#a4624315

[Building Sakai] Forums Tool Instructor Access
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Forums-Tool-Instructor-Access-td4620135.html#a4620189

[Building Sakai] SAK-7956 (enable/disable "guest" section in WSS/Site  
Info)
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-SAK-7956-enable-disable-guest-section-in-WSS-Site-Info-td4619304.html#a4619304

[Building Sakai] qa8-us upgraded and back online
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-qa8-us-upgraded-and-back-online-td4614469.html#a4614469

[Building Sakai] Fwd: Hierarchy working as expected?
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Fwd-Hierarchy-working-as-expected-td4612594.html#a4612594

[Building Sakai] Starting Nakamura on sakai3sam.caret fails
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Starting-Nakamura-on-sakai3sam-caret-fails-td4599937.html#a4602079

[Building Sakai] Security Service
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Security-Service-td4599077.html#a4599077

[Building Sakai] Tool categories
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Tool-categories-td4597764.html#a4597764

[Building Sakai] Deleting entities via EB
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Deleting-entities-via-EB-td4598068.html#a4598068

[Building Sakai] Autojoin tool
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Autojoin-tool-td4591859.html#a4591859

[Portfolio] Sakai Conference panel
http://n2.nabble.com/Portfolio-Sakai-Conference-panel-td4621799.html#a4621799

[Building Sakai] Export sites from 2.4 & import to 2.6
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Export-sites-from-2-4-import-to-2-6-td4587700.html#a4587700

[Building Sakai] QA worksheets
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-QA-worksheets-td4588747.html#a4588747

[Portfolio] OSP roster automation proposal
http://n2.nabble.com/Portfolio-OSP-roster-automation-proposal-td4592663.html#a4592663

[Using Sakai] Possible Sakai Conference Proposal Topics (Teaching and  
Learning)
http://n2.nabble.com/Using-Sakai-Possible-Sakai-Conference-Proposal-Topics-Teaching-and-Learning-td4587663.html#a4587663

[Portfolio] access to images, etc.
http://n2.nabble.com/Portfolio-access-to-images-etc-td4549036.html#a4549036

[DG: Teaching & Learning] Teaching award committee in full swing
http://n2.nabble.com/DG-Teaching-Learning-Teaching-award-committee-in-full-swing-td4620557.html#a4620557

[DG: User Experience] Sakai 3 UX tag: 0.1.2
http://n2.nabble.com/DG-User-Experience-Sakai-3-UX-tag-0-1-2-td4615139.html#a4615139

[DG: User Experience] Edit and Publish model for 3.0?
http://n2.nabble.com/DG-User-Experience-Edit-and-Publish-model-for-3-0-td4581479.html#a4581479

[Using Sakai] Conditions for use in the site's creation
http://n2.nabble.com/Using-Sakai-Conditions-for-use-in-the-site-s-creation-td4625405.html#a4625405

[Building Sakai] Sakai integration with publisher portals
http://n2.nabble.com/Building-Sakai-Sakai-integration-with-publisher-portals-td4583735.html#a4583735

[Using Sakai] How to copy course content in Sakai?
http://n2.nabble.com/Using-Sakai-How-to-copy-course-content-in-Sakai-td4562613.html#a4562613


-----------------------------------------
11. Events

European Sakai Conference 2010 in Valencia, Spain
March 1-3, 2010
Valencia, Spain
http://sakaiproject.org/sakai-european-regional-conference-2010

Jasig 2010 Ten Years of Open Source Innovation
March 8-10, 2010
The Town and Country Resort
San Diego, California
http://www.ja-sig.org/conferences/10spring/index.html

2nd Annual Etudes Users' Summit
May 13 & May 14, 2010
Burlingame / San Francisco, California
Crowne Plaza San Francisco International
http://etudes.org/summit/

11th Sakai Annual Conference
Date and Time:
Tuesday - Thursday, June 15-17, 2010
Pre-conference sessions: Monday, June 14, 2010
Hyatt Regency Tech Center
Denver, Colorado
http://sakaiproject.org/news/2010-sakai-conference-website-goes-live-call-proposals-now-open


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