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The Sakai Project released its collaboration and learning environment software last month to its educational partners, marking a six-month milestone for the consortium formed to create open source software for higher education. It will be made available to the public next Wednesday (July 15).
The Sakai software was developed as a $6.8 million synchronized project of IU, University of Michigan, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
About 160 education and information technologists met in Denver last month to plan deployment of the software, future software development, and support for faculty and students. Project director Joseph Hardin said rapid deployment of the technology will improve teaching and learning for thousands of students. “The Sakai Educational Partners Program (SEPP) is demonstrating a new model of collaboration in higher education,” he said.
SEPP is a community of colleges and universities committed to extending and deploying the Sakai software and integrating it with their own software developments. SEPP was launched in February and is funded by contributions from the partner schools and a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Hardin, also a clinical assistant professor at the School of Information at the University of Michigan, said the enlistment of 43 partners in six months put the project ahead of its goal of 30 partners by the end of the year.
The Sakai Project is funded in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
http://sakaiproject.org
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