Slides used during workshop at European Sakai Days 2006, Lübeck, Germany.

1. We have just started!
On forming a Sakai Special
Interest Group NL
September 7, 2006
1st European Sakai Day
including results of feedback of participants
Wytze Koopal
http://elearning.surf.nl/sakai
http://sakai-nl.blogspot.com

2. Agenda
• Some facts and figures from NL
• Some (personal) viewpoints
• Some context
• Sakai SIG NL
• (Some) Discussion
• What’s next?

3. Dutch facts and figures
• VLE in primary and secondary
education: very fragmented market
• Higher Ed: large market share of
Blackboard (~ 50 %), plus local players
• HE: Total of ~60 institutions, 500 k
students
• Within HE: some 3-5 institutions that are
evaluating Sakai
• Some commercial interests in Sakai…

4. Sakai at our institutions
• Amsterdam (University of Amsterdam and VU)
• University of Twente
• Utrecht
• Rotterdam
• Saxion
• Stoas & Hotelschool The Hague
• Leidse OnderwijsInstellingen (LOI)
• 3TU: TU Delft & TU Eindhoven

5. Some viewpoints - 1
• There is a lot of discussion in NL about VLE’s
recently etc
• But: there is lack of information regarding
– open source / open standards, and
– how to move forward
– how to collaborate (really!)
• Although: 80% of our (administrative)
processes are the same….[mainly based on
thorough legislation]
• But: we are ‘direct’ competitors in certain
ways

6. Some viewpoints - 2
• ICT in Education: NL HE sector is very well
organized; thanks to SURF (http://www.surf.nl/en)
• SURF is really active on the forefront of
innovation, for example:
– NL standards community (http://elearning.surf.nl/six)
– E-framework
– Studielink (http://www.studielink.nl)
– Elearning research programme (http://www.surf.nl/elr)
– NL portfolio community (http://elearning.surf.nl/portfolio)
– Sakai community (http://elearning.surf.nl/sakai)

7. Some context
• More and more interaction (quite recent)
between SIS and VLE ‘specialists’
• SURF has formed Sakai SIG NL (more on
this in a minute)
• SURF is more and more involved in e-
framework (close collaboration with JISC)
• Almost no fuzz (or ‘spin’) regarding
Blackboard patent in NL

8. What is Sakai SIG NL?
• Informal, virtual community, started in July
2006
• Coordinator (1 day/week, this is me)
• Work plan: communication,
communication, exchange of experiences
• Website / weblog: just to inform those that
do not know (yet)
• Just getting started: focus of different
member institutions of different subjects

9. 1st results Sakai SIG NL
• There is more to Sakai than programming!
There is
– QA (UvA)
– General requirements for tools (Resources,
– Requirements for OSP
– European (Dutch) requirements: Bologna, Lisbon
(see Portier, Koch & Oldsjö)
– Localization & Internationalization (I18N & L10N)
–…

10. Challenges Sakai SIG NL
• Lurking… ?!
• Them (US) and we: there is no they!
• Lack of knowledge of Open
Source/Access/Standards
• Not invented here
• Is there a longterm leadership
commitment on institutional level?:
relationship with strategic plans of our
institution

11. Discussion
• Take a look at (also on handouts)
• Divide in 4 or 5 groups
http://www.sakai-pilot.utwente.nl/sakaiwiki/european_dutch_enhancements
• Ask yourself (and take 5 minutes):
– What’s missing on this list? I need at least one item
from every group 
– What should have high priority? Only 3 please 
– Are you willing and able to work on it?
– Who will (wants to) be ‘owner’ of this list (or a
subset) ?

12. Result: What is missing on the list?
• Regarding the Dutch community: we need a
sort of roadmap (what are reasons that will
result in management buyin)
• Migration support (how to migrate from
current VLE to Sakai): technical stuff, but also
user support materials
• Regarding issue of surnames: first collate use
cases (might not be the same all over
Europe) and then write down requirements.

13. Result: What should have priority?
• Item #6 (international date and time
formats): 7 votes.

14. Result: What is not an issue (any
more)?
• There is a patch for #6 (date and time
format)
• # 9: (sort of) you can use webservices
to overcome problem; this is a hack
• #12: seems to be solved in Version 2.2
• # 5: is actually a localization issue

15. What’s next
• Check out:
– http://sakai-nl.blogspot.com
– http://elearning.surf.nl/sakai
– Wiki:
http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/confluence/display/EUROSAKAI/Home
– Collab: DG: Euro Sakai
• Let’s talk: leave your business card / email
address

16. Thanking you for your
attention and
collaboration!