Sakai

A Little Bird told me

Little Bird logoI've been working in educational technology for the last 14 years: first at OMSI, then at Portland State, and most recently at rSmart, focused on Sakai open source collaboration and learning technologies. As of February 2013, I have joined former data-journalist Marshall Kirkpatrick's startup, Little Bird, here in Portland, Oregon as Doorman: leading marketing, sales, and support.

I'm profoundly excited by Little Bird. While it may seem like a dramatic departure from my edtech work, at it's heart, Little Bird is ultimately a powerful tool for learning, bringing you directly to the leading people and most worthy content in any topic. Little Bird can help anyone do with purpose what I have done haphhazardly and organically: building my own understanding and relationships by connecting to people that matter, first online, but then also, almost always, offline as well. Needless to say, I wouldn't be joining Little Bird if I hadn't first learned from, and then met and developed a relationship with Marshall on Twitter. Now with Little Bird, we are working to enable everyone to learn and build relationships that can change their work and lives.

Sakai + Jasig > Apereo

Used under (cc) from http://www.flickr.com/photos/80375783@N00/2601593917Recently institutional representatives from the member institutions of the Sakai and Jasig communities voted overwhelmingly to combine their two organizations into a new, umbrella organization focused on open educational technologies and practices: Apereo.

Inspired by other multi-project open technology organizations (eg, the Apache Foundation), Apereo's mission is to assist and facilitate educational organizations which “collaborate to foster, develop, and sustain open technologies and innovation to support learning, teaching, and research." Sakai and its Collaboration and Learning Environment (Sakai CLE) and Open Academic Environment (Sakai OAE) projects will maintain their brand and identity, living on under the Apereo umbrella along with Jasig's many projects such as Bedework, CAS, uMobile, and uPortal. We are especially excited to extend and enrich Jasig's established incubation process as we work to become a fully multi-project organization. Read more about Apereo and its formation on our FAQs.

I'm honored to be on Apereo's founding Board of Directors, along with three of my fellow Sakai Board members: David Ackerman (NYU), Josh Baron (Marist), and Steve Swinsburg (ANU/Flying Kite), joined by four estimeed colleauges from the Jasig Board: Jim Helwig (Wisconsin), John Lewis (Unicon), Robert Sherratt (Hull), and Tim Carroll (illinois). One of our first tasks as founding board members will be to initate elections to bring on more representatives from our now joint community.

Open-Source Publisher Packt Reaches 1000th Title

Book cover: Sakai CLE Courseware Management: The Official GuidePackt, publisher of many worthy books about technology topics that have helped me know what I'm doing, is about to publish their 1000th book.

Many Packt titles, such as Sakai CLE Courseware Management: The Official Guide, books on Drupal, and jQuery have been my guides to the open-source technologies I use every day.

To celebrate, Packt is giving away gifts to their readers who register before 30 September 2012 over at Packt.com.

Thank you Packt, and congratulations!

Creating an Open Ecosystem for Learner Analytics

Presenters

  • Josh Baron (Marist College)
  • Nate Angell (rSmart)

Description

BOF for Learning Analytics: Current and Planned Projects and Tools

Presenters

  • Stephen Marquard (University of Cape Town)
  • Nate Angell (rSmart)
  • Lucy Appert (New York University)
  • Josh Baron (Marist College)
  • Roger Brown (University of Cape Town)
  • Madan Dorairaj (New York University)
  • Charles Hedrick (Rutgers University)
  • Dan Kiskis (University of Michigan)
  • Eitel Lauria (Marist College)
  • Steve Lonn (University of Michigan)
  • Nicolaas Matthijs (CARET, University of Cambridge)
  • Maggie McVay Lynch (Thanos Partners, Inc.)

An Introduction to rSmart Academic: A Sakai OAE and CLE Platform

Presenters

  • Nate Angell (rSmart)
  • Trish Harris (rSmart)

Description

Sakai CLE & OAE Working Sessions Stop: Accomplishments & Next Steps

Presenters

  • Nathan Angell (rSmart)

Description

A companion to Sakai CLE & OAE Working Sessions Start, this session will enable Sakai CLE and OAE working groups to report back to the larger community about what they accomplished at the conference and what's next for their efforts. We will also discuss how to continue to harness working session energy at future Sakai conferences and in between.

XWiki: A New Wiki Alternative for the Sakai CLE

Presenters

  • Nathan Angell (rSmart)
  • Josh Baron (Marist College)

Description