Sakai Holds First Ever Online Conference

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Dec. 4, 2014 - PRLog -- 340 participants registered for the faculty-friendly Sakai Virtual Conference that took place November 7, 2014. With 7 tracks, 57 presenters and co-presenters, and a focus on pedagogy and best practices using the Sakai learning management system, the event showcased the vibrant and participatory nature of the Sakai community.  The Virtual Conference took place entirely online, requiring no travel and only a $50 registration fee, plus special group rates, making this one of the most accessible Sakai events ever. The registration fee will be contributed to further Sakai development effort.

The conference format provided an enhanced opportunity for teachers, learners, instructional support personnel, and administrators to present, participate, and engage in discussion in a cost effective, timely, and engaging way.

●      Attendees could participate from their office or home, alone or together with colleagues.
●      Interacting was easy and everyone had a “front row seat”.
●      Peers and colleagues shared their latest successes and challenges based on real world experiences.
●      Featured a Spanish track
●      Sessions were recorded   -  http://lanyrd.com/2014/sakaivc14/video/
●      Keynote from Michael Feldstein, renowned educational blogger and speaker. Michael is a Partner at MindWires Consulting, Co-Publisher of e-Literate, and Co-Producer of e-Literate TV.
●      The Sakai Virtual Conference covered a broad range of topics including using Sakai for MOOCs, online teaching, autonomous learning, faculty development, IMS LTI adoption, and improving Sakai’s user interface and mobile capabilities now and in the future.

What people are saying:
     “Well worth doing - and it's always good to see people in technology using technology tools, instead of just talking about using tech tools!”
     “There was no travel so everyone on our team was able to take part.”
     “Lots of interesting and challenging topics, the opportunity to "meet" people from other institutions who care about pedagogy and technology.”
     “There were quite a diverse range of topics and I quite enjoyed the BOFs. I think it was a wonderful way of being updated of what is currently happening in the Sakai community.”
     “Keynote speaker was very informative and interesting. Having facilitators and presenters in different locations was a unique experience. Loved the format.”
     “Great participation from the community... I believe it is really important for a community to organize events like this. For a global community, it really makes sense to have virtual events.”
     “This was an AMAZING event. Kudos to all organizers.”

Special thanks to our sponsors the Apereo Foundation, Longsight, asahi net international, Unicon, Blindside Networks, and LAMP Consortium (http://lampschools.org/) for providing the scaffolding and for our community for building and delivering a great conference.

About Sakai
Sakai is an international open-source community of peer institutions and commercial affiliates that collaborate to expand the possibilities for technology-enabled learning.  Serving more than four million users, Sakai is the learning management system of choice for more than 350 colleges and universities, K-12 schools, hospitals, government organizations and research organizations around the world.  Since 2012, the Sakai project has been part of the Apereo Foundation, which provides organizational and administrative support for a variety of software communities whose focus is to serve the academic mission.

Photo:
https://www.prlog.org/12397114/5