Sakai Roadmap

Added by Peter A. Knoop, last edited by Nathan Pearson on Oct 06, 2008  (view change)
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Sakai Roadmap

The next major release, Sakai 2.6, is anticipated to include the functionality listed below that is expected to be completed by Code Freeze on or around 29-Sep-2008. A Feature Freeze to help solidify the list of functionality and focus final development efforts will occur two months prior to Code Freeze, on or around 31-Aug-2008.

What's in Sakai 2.6?

Below is an overview of new or modified functionality for Sakai 2.6. Projects have also been busy fixing bugs, however, they are not explicitly listed here unless they were considered significant in impact or scope.

Jira Tasks scheduled to be fixed for Sakai 2.6: 346 issues

Jira Bugs scheduled to be fixed for Sakai 2.6: 707 issues

(If you don't see something important to you below, also check out What's not likely to be in 2.6?, and consider pitching-in.)

Also note additional functionality will be included in the demo version of 2.6, (e.g., Provisional tools enabled, Contrib tools integrated); however, that version should not be used for production.

Cross-Project Activities

  • Accessibility
    • Minor improvements in some JSF tags.
  • Internationalization
    • Support for localized tool and page names (SAK-8908, SAK-14393, KNL-27)
    • Completed translations (expect translation work to start after String Freeze)
    • Planned translations
      • Dutch (Edia, LOI, A New Spring, Portfolio4u)
      • Russian (Mike Ozornin, TANDEM; Philip Fedchin, Smolny College)
      • Swedish (Magnus Tagesson, Stockholm University)
  • Kernel
    • A "K1" kernel release that brings all of the current components together in a single place.
    • See individual kernel components below for changes.
  • Performance
    • Implementation of a working, proof-of-concept generic Sakai performance testing environment, including data.
    • Establish baseline tests for tools and build a test results library for comparisons among releases.
  • Testing
    • Improvements to Sakai integration test support (SAK-12334)
  • User Experience (UX)
    • No major changes from 2.5.
  • Miscellaneous New Features and Functionality

Tools

  • Assignments
    • Refactoring of db to improve performance; involves moving selected meta data from XML blob into table columns and supporting migration code.
    • Support for multiple submissions of an assignment on an assignment-wide basis.
    • Support of custom fields, with timing and role control over who/when can see them (SAK-4384, SAK-7653, SAK-5803, SAK-10211).
    • Improved integration with Schedule and Announcement; when an assignment opens, expose link to the assignment from schedule and announcement items.
  • Blog
    • Replaced rendering framework with wicket.
    • Improved performance of db layer.
  • Calendar Summary
    • Added indicator with number of events to each calendar day.
    • Event description is now formatted as HTML.
    • Improved performance, so tool loads faster.
  • Citations Helper
    • New configuration option for maximum number of databases to search simultaneously (SAK-14166)
    • Support for populating direct vendor URLs from Search Library Resources and RIS import (SAK-13441)
    • User interface improvements (SAK-14326, SAK-14343, SAK-14338)
  • Email Archive
    • Performance improvements for handling a large number of messages in the archive (SAK-11544) .
  • Forums
    • Improved user interface (SAK-13736).
    • Improved reporting.
  • Gateway
    • Improve performance when there is a significant number of sites.
  • Gradebook
    • Ability to add multiple items at the same time (SAK-12114)
  • Mailtool
    • Being deprecated and removed.
    • New version of the tool available in Contrib resulting from a major re-write, including switching from JSF to RSF, and improving recipient selection, email validation, and group awareness; not considered ready for production use yet.
  • Messages
    • Ability to reply all (SAK-12073)
    • Option to turn off 'send to email' option in message composition for a site (SAK-12176)
  • OSP
    • Improvements to UX.
    • Ability to edit and delete feedback and evaluations (SAK-8638).
    • Aggregation of Evaluations across sites via My Workspace (SAK-10139).
    • Better group awareness and filtering in Wizards tool (SAK-11545).
    • Ability to apply an OSP Style to more screens of a Matrix (SAK-12154).
    • Ability to control allowed general and item-specific feedback (0, 1, many) in Matrices and Wizards (SAK-13406).
  • Polls
    • Add entity support to Polls tool (SAK-14216).
  • Preferences
    • Customize Tabs is now the default initial page; pages can be re-ordered (SAK-6545).
    • Improved functionality for re-ordering tabs (SAK-12870).
    • User configurable number of tabs (SAK-11710).
  • Presentation
    • Retired and removed from the release for 2.6.
  • Resources
    • SAK-7670: Notification of items with release dates should be at release time
  • Schedule
    • iCal External Subscription support in Schedule Tool (SAK-12852)
  • Tests & Quizzes (a.k.a. Samigo)
    • Allow editing a published assessment.
    • Ability to release assessments to groups.
  • User Membership
    • Include the created and last modified date on the screen and in the CSV export.
    • Filtering the searching and viewing of users to only those users with the same named usertype(s).
  • Web Content
    • Option for displaying a link and user-entered WYSIWYG text.
  • Worksite Setup/Site Info
    • Add option to import and replace content from another site (SAK-12433)
    • Create sites from templates (SAK-12868).
    • Support for optional survey questions during site setup (SAK-12912).
    • More configurable control over adding tools (e.g., Chat) multiple times to a site (SAK-7209).
    • Deep delete of site data before importing content from other sites.
    • Enhanced group creation; ability to add a role or a provider id to a group (SAK-13413).
  • WYSIWYG Widget (FCKeditor)
    • FCKeditor upgrade to version 2.6.2, which brings in bug fixes and better Safari support (SAK-13844).
    • FCKeditor plug-in to allow users to embed entities.

The following tools have no changes in functionality for 2.6, incorporating only bug-fixes since the 2.5 release.

Services and Framework

(Note: Many of the services listed below, but not all, have been re-organized into a "kernel" package for Sakai 2.6.)

  • Calendar
    • Add CaldAV support to Sakai's calendar service.
  • Citations
    • Support for Serials Solutions 360 Search metasearch engine (SAK-13754)
    • Support for returning direct vendor URLs from Search Library Resources and RIS import (SAK-14322, SAK-14282)
  • Cluster
    • Improve performance by switching to a JMS-based implementation (SAK-12797)
  • Component
  • Content Hosting Service
    • JCR implementation, testing and migration.
    • Hooks for a virus-scanner service to support optional, add-on virus scanning capabilities (SAK-12985).
  • Email
    • Refactor email service
  • Entity Broker
  • JSF
    • Improved formatting and accessibility of ToolBar tag (SAK-13233).
  • Message
    • Improve performance and capabilities of the Message API and storage mechanisms (SAK-12837).
  • Portal
    • Develop an iFrame portlet that will completely replace the tool iFrame; this will eliminate one frame for web content tools.
    • Add a new view which allows a tool to request that it be shown maximized and in a frame set rather than an iFrame; helpful for things like publisher content, SCORM players, etc. that already have left-hand buttons and in preventing double scroll-bars.
    • Enhance support for displaying site hierarchies (SAK-12350).
  • Providers
    • Configure the default authz group provider without editing source code and rebuilding (SAK-12583).
  • User
    • Support for context-sensitive display names (jira:SAK-7970}, SAK-10868)
  • Web Services
    • Get a list of users in an authzgroup (or site).
    • Remove an individual member from a site (acts on Site rather than AuthzGroup).
    • Returns title of a site.
    • Returns description of a site.
    • Returns site joinability.
    • Checks if a user exists in an authzgroup (or site).
    • Gets XML doc of all users in an authzgroup (or site) with the given role(s), including username, displayname, and role.
    • Modifies a site's title value.
    • Modifies a site's skin value.
    • Modifies a site's joinable value.
    • Modifies a site's iconurl value.
    • Creates a session for a given user without knowing their password (admins-only, for security reasons).
    • Gets the displayname of a given user (the original was session based, this is more flexible).
    • Get a custom property of a site.
    • Set a custom property for a site.
    • Remove a custom property for a site.
    • Check if a role exists in a given authzgroup.
    • Search for users that meet the given criteria and returns xml.
    • Add contact name and email to site given a siteid and username.
    • Get list of groups in a site.
    • Get list of participants in a group.
    • Another signature of addNewSite() that takes an additional flag to tell it to copy the site's resources over as well.

The following tools have no changes in functionality for 2.6, incorporating only bug-fixes since the 2.5 release.

  • Access
  • Alias
  • Authz
  • Build
  • Content-Review
  • Courier
  • Course Management
  • Database
  • Entity
  • Event
  • IMSTI
  • JCR
  • Memory
  • Portlet
  • Privacy
  • Profile
  • Quartz Scheduler
  • Realms
  • Reports
  • Rights
  • Site
  • Sites
  • Skins
  • Test Harness
  • Tool
  • Util
  • Velocity
  • WebDAV
  • WSRP

What's not likely to be in Sakai 2.6?

These items were originally slated for 2.6 and/or have had lots of interest expressed; however, resources aren't likely available to finish them in time for 2.6 at this point. If you're able to pitch-in and help out on any of these, please let me know. Otherwise, what do folks think of another release in six-months, rather than one-year, incorporating some of these features, if they're ready, and if resources are available to do another release that quickly.

Cross-project Activities

Tools

  • Gradebook
    • Non-graded, non-calculating gradebook items (SAK-10427)
    • Make letter grades non-calculating
  • Page Order Helper
    • Support for page grouping.

Sakai 2.6 Demo Release

The Sakai 2.6 demo release is not packaged for production use, and is only intended as a demonstration platform for the variety of additional functionality that can be added to Sakai. All Provisional tools will be enabled by default in the demo release. The following is a tentative list of what may be included in such a demo version for Sakai 2.6:

Cross-Project Activities

  • Populate several course sites, portfolio sites, and project sites with example content suitable for demonstration purposes.
  • Populate system with demonstration users, including students, teaching assistants, and instructors.

Tools

Future Plans

These are plans with tentative deliverable targets, looking towards a 2.7 and/or 3.0 release (and beyond). See further below for plans that do not yet have an estimated delivery date, and may or may not get completed, depending on interest and available resources.

Cross-Project Activities

Area Timeline Description Contacts
       

Tools

Area Timeline Description Contacts
(Contrib) Assignments2 mid 2009
  • Using a JSON approach for rapid UI development.
  • UX goals: simplicity of screens, clarity of workflow, design for large class tasks as well as small.
 Indiana, Georgia Tech
Gradebook late 2008 Calculating letter grades Indiana
SENRG September 2008 Clean-up code and place it in Contrib SVN repository. Currently focused on improving the UX: the notebook browser is now a collapsible hierarchy, and the tool has improved keyboard accessibility. Also adding onto existing documentation.
(Contrib) Solo (Off-line Sakai) early 2009
  • First official release (post-pilot phase)
  • Enables users to work offline and to synchronize announcements, resource and Melete e-guides when they next connect on-line.
 Louis Botha

Services

Area Timeline Description Contacts
       

Kernel

Area Timeline Description Contacts
General mid 2009 A "K2" kernel release that brings all the components of the kernel into a single jar, which will require major re-factoring of the code. University of Cambridge, Ian Boston

General Future Plans

These are features and functionality that folks are working on (or plan to start work on) for which they do not have a good estimate for completion at this time.

  • Future
    • Cross-Project Activities
      • Accessibility Working Group
        • Replace FCK Editor with TinyMCE, which is more accessible than the former, and re-implement customizations (e.g., Resource browsing).
        • Help test a frame-less version of Sakai.
        • Explore problem with Content iFrames becoming unusable when CSS is disabled.
        • Suggest improvements for keyboard-only use of Page Order tool.
        • Suggest fixes for unresolved "Accessibility" Jiras.
        • Expand accessibility testing to include Tests & Quizzes (Samigo) and OSP (Portfolio) tools.
      • Archive/Delete/Restore
        • Ability to fully delete a site from Sakai to recover disk space.
        • Ability to archive a snap-shot, read-only version of site for reference purposes.
      • Internationalization WG
        • Actively looking for volunteers to help address the issue with dynamically localizing page and tool titles. (University of Michigan, Beth Kirschner)
      • User Experience Working Group
        • Determine where consistency of wording across tools is needed and address it (e.g., SAK-9410: Add and New, SAK-9678 Remove and Delete)
        • An improved and accessible date/time picker and pager for a consistent user experience across all Sakai tools, regardless of presentation technology. (Fluid)
    • Tools
      • Calendar
        • Zimbra calendar integration with Schedule tool. (Georgia Tech)
      • Calendar Widget
        • Update the calendar widget for Velocity-based tools (e.g., Assignments, Announcements, Schedule) to address internationalization and localization issues and for consistency with calendar widgets used by other presentation technologies elsewhere in Sakai. (University of Michigan, Zhen Qian)
      • (Contrib) IMS Tool Interoperability
        • Improve IMS Tool Interoperability portlet in concert with the Open University of Catelonia's Open Campus project. (University of Michigan, Charles Severance)
      • (Contrib) OpenCast (Berkeley)
        • A podcast capture, post-processing, and distribution system that will integrate current technological advancements, such as Apple's Podcast Producer, with existing academic community source frameworks, such as Sakai.
      • Worksite Setup/Site Info (University of Michigan, Zhen Qian)
        • Support for generic ability to add and configure multiple instances of a tool when adding the tool to a site.
        • A tool for generating statistics based on survey questions presented during site creation.
      • Solo (Off-line Sakai)
        • Ability to work with a local copy of Sakai (i.e., on your laptop, disconnected from the network) and sync between the local copy and your Sakai installation.
    • Framework and Services
      • Cluster Service
        • An alternative implementation based on JMS (SAK-12797) (University of California - Davis, Thomas Amsler)
      • Portal
        • When the 2.5 portal solidifies, create post-2.3 and post-2.4 branches to offer its functionality to those running Sakai 2.3 and 2.4. (University of Michigan, Charles Severance)
      • Site Hierarchy (Oxford)
        • A service that allows sites to be arranged into a hierarchy (sites can exist at multiple nodes in a hierarchy or be their own single-point hierarchy) and manages the permissions on creation/updating the hierarchy.
        • A set of tools that allow you to manage a hierarchy of sites.
        • Development of a helper tool versions of SiteSetup (Site Info, Worksite Setup) and the site browser so that they can easily be embedded in a workflow.
        • A custom portal handler to support the /hierarchy namespace.

Associated Projects' Roadmaps

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Comments (2)

 

  1. Sep 22

    Ray Davis says:

    Add to "Services and Framework" / "User": Improved performance when retrieving...

    Add to "Services and Framework" / "User":

    • Improved performance when retrieving many user records (SAK-14230)

  2. Sep 29

    Ray Davis says:

    1. Add to "Services and Framework": Course Management service In earlier Saka...

    1. Add to "Services and Framework":

    • Course Management service
      • In earlier Sakai versions, the default Course Management implementation of "getCurrentAcademicSessions()" returned only terms whose start date and end date encompassed today's date at runtime. As of Sakai 2.6, this is instead determined by the new "IS_CURRENT" column of the the CM_ACADEMIC_SESSION_T table. Upgrading institutions should ensure that the new column is initialized correctly for their local data. (SAK-12883)

    2. Remove "Course Management" from the "no changes in functionality" list.