Return to Contents

Sakai Help Document

Getting Started with Sakai

Includes:

Opening the software and logging in
Your workspace
Joining course sites and project sites
Setting up a course site or a project site

Open Sakai at:


https://courses.hiram.edu/portal

Once you type in the Sakai URL or click on a link to the site, you will arrive at a page we call the Gateway or home page. This is the public face of the tool and is viewable by anyone with web access.

- From the Gateway, it is possible to access a variety of information through the left-hand navigation menu such as:
- The Message of the Day, which provides updates on new features, service issues, outage messages, etc. (Welcome link)
- Detailed descriptions of Sakai features and functionalities (About and Features links)
- A public list of sites on Sakai (Sites link)
- A list of upcoming training sessions and/or contacts (Training link)
- Full documentation and a link to the Support Desk (Help link)


 Hiramnet Users
To access the Sakai environment, click on the Login button at the top left corner of the Sakai Home page, type your Hiramnet user name (without the "@hiram.edu" and Sakai password in the spaces provided, and click on the Login button. Make sure to use only lowercase letters when typing your user name.

Non-Hiramnet users
Non-Hiramnet users may gain access to Sakai and other University environments, but this is a two-step process:
A... The user must create an account using the New Account link at the left hand side at https://courses.hiram.edu/portal.
B... Once the account has been created, the user must then be manually added to a site by the site owner or instructor.

Note: The email address used to access Sakai must match the address you provided for the creation of the account.  Also, because the system converts the email address you submitted to all lower case, you must enter it without any capital letters when you're logging in to Sakai.

When you sign on to Sakai, you will automatically open a site called My Workspace.

When you sign on to Sakai, you will automatically open a site called My Workspace. Your workspace includes the following five features:


- Membership -- The Membership feature provides a list of the Sakai sites that you have access to. It also lists open groups that you can optionally join.

- Schedule -- Your Schedule tool can be used to track appointments and other items you would include on a personal schedule.

- Resources -- In the Resources area, you can store personal files. You may choose to arrange your Resource area into folders based on different interests, or different assignments, classes or projects -- it's entirely your decision.

- Worksite Setup -- This is where you will find the online tools and forms needed to set up a website for your course or project.

- Help -- This feature contains answers to questions about Sakai, plus a link to this online Help guide.

- Announcements -- Shows recent announcements from all class and project sites in which you are a member.

- Web content-- A page that displays a Web page of your choice.

- News -- A page used to display RSS news feeds of your choice.

- My Profile-- Shows your Name and email settings in Sakai.

- Preferences-- Used to set your preferences on how you would like to receive notifications about new postings from sites in which you belong.

1... While you are in your workspace, click Membership in the menubar.

You may or may not see a list of project sites and/or course sites to which you have been granted access by the sites' owners. Before you can open one of these sites, you must join it.

2... Click the box next to a site and click Join.

The site you joined will be added to a list of sites that you can visit.

3... Click on a site's name to open it.

There are three basic steps for setting up a course website or a project website.


1... Create your site
2... Publish your site
3... Prepare your students or other users


These steps are described in detail the later sections of this online help guide.