Introducing Sakai CLE Version 2.7

We're pleased to announce the release of rSmart Sakai CLE Version 2.7. Get ready to explore its new tools and features!

This latest version of the CLE is based on the community Sakai-2.7.0 release. We’ve made sure the rSmart Sakai CLE 2.7 is the best possible platform you can get from the open source community, with a broad range of enhancements that are thoroughly tested and reliable, fully integrated, and ready to use. Visit RSN to download the complete release notes.  

Our support staff will begin contacting hosted clients to schedule a convenient day and time in August for the upgrade. Non-hosted clients can expect to find complete installation downloads on RSN in the first week of August. 

This release includes fully updated online help. A User Guide, in both MS Word and PDF format, is now available for download on RSN, and an Administrator Guide will be available soon.

As we’ve been highlighting in recent issues of the Smart Talk newsletter, CLE 2.7 includes many new capabilities for Sakai users. With this release, we’ve added support for three promising tools that have been “stealthed” in previous releases of the CLE: 

• Gradebook2, an alternative to Gradebook, provides a speadsheet-style interface and many other helpful features.
• Profile2 is an alternative to the Profile tool that offers Facebook-style social networking functionality and integration with Twitter.
• Blogs (BlogWow), an alternative to Blogger, is an easy-to-use tool for creating and sharing blog entries.

In addition, rSmart has integrated the CLE with the Google Docs service offered by Google. In the Resources and Dropbox tool, users may now create and manage links to Google documents, as well as edit the documents. (Note: you’ll need a Google account to create links to, or edit, Google documents.)

This release also includes new tools that are not part of the out-of-the-box configuration of the CLE:

• iTunes U lets users access and manage content in Apple’s iTunes U service, all from within the CLE. (Note: you may only use this tool if your institution has an iTunes U account.)
• Basic LTI lets your institution integrate third-party tools utilizing Basic LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability), an independent standard for web-based applications.

You’ll find many improvements to existing tools, too. Tests and Quizzes, for example, sports useful changes to its interface. Instructors may now opt to have a resource released only if a specified condition is met for an item in Gradebook. A new “Message Bundle Editor” for the Customizer tool makes it easy for system admins to modify instructions and other text in the CLE. Enhancements have been made to a variety of other tools as well.

As always, we look forward to hearing from you about your experiences with this new release.