Brock’s Sakai System to be Updated to Version 19 on July 1

Brock University’s update to Sakai 19.4 mainly focuses on streamlining performance issues and workflows in tools such as Assignments, Gradebook, Lessons, Tests and Quizzes with the addition of a new tool: Rubrics.

Instructors, faculty and TAs will find the following new features and updates in the Sakai 19.4 upgrade planned for July 1st, 2020 from 8:00 AM to Noon.

Updates to watch for:

  • The addition of a Rubrics tool, applicable to Assignments, Forums, and Tests and Quizzes. Rubrics will allow for grading to be input and calculated in the Rubric and applied to the assessment. Rubrics are customized and designed by instructors.
  • Changes to the Tests and Quizzes interface: Tests and Quizzes look more like Assignments and Resources, with an ‘add’ tab at the top, remove column on the right side, and an Actions button to the right of the Quiz name. The tabs for Working Copies and Published copies now appear in a list similar to Assignments with “Draft’ identifying the working copy of a quiz.
  • The option to enable statistics and grade distribution for student view in Gradebook.
  • Excuse/Include Grades in Gradebook.
  • Site Info has a cleaner interface and the addition of tabs at the top of the page to view participants and manage the overview page.
  • A collection of small updates to Sakai’s component technologies. These updates will ensure Sakai is robust and ready for future challenges.

Echo360 note:

Enabling the “Video” tool (Site Info > External Tools > Videos) now presents options for accessing the Library and “Creating a Video” immediately upon selection from the left side navigation space.