Electronic Course Layout and Presentation System

An alternative method for presenting course information and activities to

students in Sakai

University of Virginia

Here is what we do at UVa: We have modified the CKEditor’s Resources Browser so it can list assignments, discussions, and quizzes along with the usual resource files found in Resources. This means that instructors can add direct links to course activities within any document they generate using the CKEditor.

• CKEditor• Open Resources Browser• Activities & Resources in Resources Browser

Once the instructor has created the links and made the document available to students (we used the editor in Lessons to create these pages, but any tool that has the CKEditor in it would work)…

…students can access activities from within the document rather than from the Sakai tool menu bar. Thus, the instructor’s document can become a single portal to all course interactions, and students can access specific course activities or resources with one click using the instructor's desired layout and presentation (not a system imposed presentation).

LinkActivity in Popup Window

[image-1: Student tool bar.]

Student view of tools in the menu bar can be kept to a minimum…

Student view of reduced menu bar

…while the instructor’s view can maintain access to all tools.

Instructor view of tools with hidden tools greyed out and italicized

Here are some sample sites that illustrate how direct links to resources and activities can be embedded into a course's layout and presentation:

Interactive Syllabus: This page was built and stored as an item in the Syllabus tool. The item that deals with Schedule and Activities is the first (landing) page where students begin. The full syllabus is also available as a link in the header information.

Simple Activities Grid: This page was built and stored in Resources and embedded in the Home tool through Site Info URL.

A More Complex Menu-based System: This page was built using the Lessons tool with additional pages created as “groups of pages” to populate the menu bar.

A Basic Activities Grid with Additional Tool Bars: This is a page built with the Lessons tool and viewed from the student point of view. The additional menu bar is a simple “Add Text” module. The Student Pages button links to pages added by students.

A Customized Page: This page is customized html and css codes created in an external tool such as Dreamweaver and imported into Resources. The links to activities and resources are hand-coded since the external application does not have access to the Sakai Resources Browser.

A Customized Page: Here is another page with customized html and css code. The links display the underlying activities.

Essentially, eCLPS variations can be endless, which reflects our desire to support instructors to design unique experiences for their students while keeping access to information, resources, and activities as simple and consistent as possible.

Essentially, eCLPS variations can be endless, which reflects our desire to support instructors to design unique experiences for their students while keeping access to information, resources, and activities as simple and consistent as possible.

We also support migration of content with automatically updated links when sites are duplicated. This reduces work for instructors while letting them make incremental changes to improve their course over time.

Resources:• Interactive Syllabus: Building an Activity-Driven Course Site in UVaCollab (video 18:20)• Collab User Guide Series: Interactive Syllabus Overview (pdf)• Turbo Charging the FCKEditor in Sakai (video 4:58)• Overview of Interactive Syllabus at Uva (Confluence Sakai Project: Home)• Link Migration: UVa's Solution to Re-Using Site Content(Sakai Conference 2012)• iSyllabus:A “One-Stop-Shopping” Portal for Students (Sakai Conference: 2011)• Instructor-Driven Course Site Design (Sakai Conference: June 2010)

Contact:• Yitna Firdyiwek: ybf2u@virginia.edu • Trisha Gordon: psg3a@virginia.edu • Tim Sigmon: tms@virginia.edu