Sakai

Sakai is the primary learning management system used by Antioch University for online course content (the other LMS used by the university is called Engage, which is used exclusively by Antioch University Connected).  In addition, Sakai is used by various administrative and academic departments at the university to provide information to students, staff, and faculty, and to work collaboratively. What is Sakai?

Sakai is the name of Antioch University’s online learning management system (LMS), and is also referred to as a Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE). Sakai is used to facilitate online course delivery. It allows instructors to create online learning spaces for their classes to complete a wide variety of activities. Sakai has proven so versatile since it was launched by the university in 2008, it has also been adopted by a wide variety of academic and administrative departments as a resource sharing site, and as a place to share information, enable discussion, and work collaboratively on a variety of projects and activities. Sakai is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day through an online website – https://sakai.antioch.edu. You can also access Sakai via Antioch’s portal site, AUDirect, at https://audirect.antioch.edu.

The Sakai CLE platform is used by hundreds of institutions around the world. The name ‘Sakai’ is a play on the acronym ‘CHEF’, a learning management system on which Sakai is in part based. Since the developers of Sakai expected their new software to be “better than CHEF”, they named it after Hiroyuki Sakai, an elite chef best known for his participation in the television show, Iron Chef.

How to Log in

Open a web browser. Navigate to https://audirect.antioch.edu. Input your User ID and password into the corresponding text boxes located in the middle of the screen. Click on the ‘Login’ button or hit the enter key on your keyboard. From AUDirect, launch Sakai using the icon located in the applications menu.

Alternatively, navigate to https://sakai.antioch.edu. Input your User ID and password into the corresponding text boxes located in the upper right corner of the screen. Click on the ‘Login’ button or hit the enter key on your keyboard.

Trouble Logging In

If you have never logged into Sakai or AUDirect, the ‘Setting Up AUDirect Access’ tip sheet located at https://audirect.antioch.edu/gettingstarted will step you through the process of setting up your account. Otherwise, contact the Antioch IT Help Desk at 1-866-662-0056 (International callers, please dial: 1-937-769-1226) or submit a help desk ticket electronically at https://helpdesk.antioch.edu.

Welcome Tutorial

The first time a user logs into Sakai, they are presented with a Welcome message and tutorial. This tutorial introduces newcomers to key elements used to navigate to and access features in Sakai. The tutorial can be accessed again anytime by clicking the User Icon (described later) in the upper part of the screen.

My Workspace

After logging into Sakai, you will automatically be taken to your own private space called Home. This is the first tab on the left-hand side of the course bar at the top of the page. Home includes the ‘Administrator Announcements’, where important messages regarding Sakai are posted. Additionally, this space may be used for the following:

Reset Button

If you’re not sure where you’re at within a tool, mouse over the tool name, and a reset arrow appears. Click the reset arrow to be taken back to the home page of the tool in which you’re working.

Help Button

If you need help or have questions while working in Sakai, use the question mark buttons throughout the system.

User Icon

Located in the upper right part of the screen next to the Logout button, clicking the User Icon reveals a menu that allows you to quickly access your Sakai profile, your Sakai preferences, or review the introductory Sakai tutorial for a quick refresher on navigation and access features.

Course Links

To access a course or site in Sakai, click on the course title from the links at the top of the page. Note that you may or may not be able to see all of your course sites. To view course sites that may not be listed in the tabs, use the “Sites” link (pop up menu).

Note: Course sites are not viewable to students until they are published by the instructor. If your course site is not listed, contact your instructor or academic department for details on when the course site will be made available.

Course Sites 

* - Instructor functions

Note: Instructors have the ability to add or remove these tools and others in their Sakai courses sites. Because of this, the menu options in your course may differ from the example above.

Project/Departmental Sites

Project and departmental sites are similar to course sites and share many of the same tools, though typically the number of tools used is smaller. Projects and departmental sites also have different roles assigned, Coordinators instead of Instructors and Participants instead of Students. Project sites are used by a variety of Antioch departments for both academic and non-academic purposes. For example, academic departments at Antioch Midwest and Seattle use them to distribute departmental information and important documents to students. If your administrative or academic organization uses Sakai project sites, you will be informed of that fact and given membership.