An Update to Sakai is Coming Dec. 20th

On December 20th (8am – 1pm ET), we will be updating the Sakai platform to give you access to more features to improve your experience using Sakai.

If you plan to work in a site over the winter break, note that Sakai will be temporarily unavailable during the upgrade window. Please plan accordingly.

Read on to learn more about the new features that will be available after the update.

Lesson Improvements

Improved Add Content Menu

Add content items with ease with a new, clearer content menu.

Screenshot showing new horizontal layout of content items that can be added

Improved Reorder Menu

A new, modern user interface with new icons to make reordering items easier.

Screenshot showing new reorder menu

Color Layout Options

Organize lesson pages with new layout options, color schemes and more.

Display of new layout and color scheme options

Gradebook Improvement

Bulk Message Students

Send messages to students directly from the gradebook. You may filter students by their grade status (graded or ungraded), grade achieved (minimum & maximum), group membership or all students in site. Messages will be delivered to students’ Duke email inboxes.

A gradebook item with the Message Students option highlighted

Rubric Improvements

Search Rubrics

For those that use many different rubrics, you may now search for rubrics by title, site or author.

Rubric tool with search field highlighted

Weighted criteria

Set individual criterion to have specific percentage weights for grade calculation.

Example of a rubric with weighted criterion

Dark Theme (beta)

Currently in beta, users may switch Sakai’s user interface into a dark theme to relieve eye strain.

Assignment tool with dark theme enabled

Dashboard (beta)

Currently in beta, the Dashboard tool will aggregate items across different sites and tools and display in a centralized location.

Example of Dashboard tool and various widgets added

Forums renamed to Discussions

The Forums tool has been renamed to Discussions to distinguish between the different layers within the tool. The tool can be added in the same way as previously (Site Info > Manage tools).

Schedule Old Sites for Deletion

To keep course lists fresh and optimize Sakai storage needs, instructors/owners of sites will be able to schedule their sites for deletion that they deem are no longer needed. Sites that are scheduled for deletion will have a one year grace period where the site and its contents can be recovered before being permanently deleted. Instructors/owners may refer to this guide on how to schedule a site for deletion and recover a previously scheduled site for deletion.