Join the dots

Following up on my recent trip to Canberra for the Moodleposium, I headed over to Bathurst to spend a day at the third annual AuSakai conference.

To start with, I was extremely fortunate in getting a chance to have a beer with Michael Korcuska on Wednesday night, which is not a chance that comes along every day. It was fantastic to hear the clear vision for Sakai 3.0 in particular, which is heading in a direction that will address virtually every gripe I have about versions 2.x (which I voiced at last year’s AuSakai, even though I thought I was going to be lynched for the presentation I gave).

For those who haven’t come across Sakai before, there is a very neat overview of the project available on YouTube and displayed below.

One of my biggest criticisms of Sakai in the past has been its lack of a teaching and learning focus, even though I have readily conceded that it would be my choice for a pure research and collaboration space. I think going to the AuSakai conference just gave me the little reminder that I need on occasions that Sakai isn’t trying to be (for example) a java-based Moodle. Its primary focus is as a learning and collaboration space, rather than a tool designed primarily to to deliver online/blended learning courses a-la Moodle. Even the naming of the environment as a CLE (Collaboration and Learning Environment) attempts to distance itself from being an LMS (Learning Management System), even if many of the tools used (assignment drop boxes, forums, quizzes, web pages etc) are comparable to those on offer in an LMS.

Getting out there in the midst of the Sakai community for the first time for a while made me re-realise the above points, and also highlight how the ‘Moodle vs Sakai’ topic that I presented on in the previous year really wasn’t all that fair, because it is comparing two tools that, in their current versions, are really aimed at solving somewhat different problems. Not to say that my experiences weren’t valid, but I think what I realise more now looking back is that expecting Sakai 2.x to be as good as Moodle 1.9 for teaching and learning is as unfair as expecting Moodle to be as good as Sakai for a potgrad collaboration space. Both tools can do both jobs, but trying to get either tool to do both will lead to some sort of compromise, and it really depends on where your focus lies as to which tool will be the better choice.

This will, I believe, change significantly on the release of both Moodle 2.0 and Sakai 3.0, which in both cases will not shift the foci of the platform, but unleash a suite of improvements that will make the usage of either one more flexible for a variety of purposes. On reflection, AuSakai really reminded me what a good tool Sakai is for the right job, and how lucky we are to have two such products available in the open source domain.

Thanks need to be given to the overseas speakers, including Michael Korcuska, Ian Boston and Peter Knoop, who brought a wealth of Sakai experience to the conference and really made it a worthwhile experience (not to detract from the local presenters either I might add).

And finally, I’d like to thank the organisers of the conference for putting on such a good show, including the brilliant ‘hot lap’ of the Mt Panorama track in a school bus, followed up by a trip to the Racong Museum – for a wannabe petrol head like me it was a brilliant way to finish the day and a chance I won’t get again for a long time. See you all next year in NSW for AuSakai 10.