There are a few important changes to CourseWorks (Columbia's current learning management system) and Sakai (the system that is slated to replace CourseWorks in the future) for the spring 2010 that help streamline the use of both systems.

CourseWorks has been updated to utilize the university's standard WIND authentication scheme. This change has several positive repercussions for spring 2010 courses. First, it allows users to move seamlessly across other WIND-authenticated services like Sakai, EdBlogs, and course reserves without a need to re-authenticate. So, linking among systems can be seamless, which will help faculty who are exploring any of these tools.

For example, from Sakai you can link directly to a CourseWorks course or evaluation:

• course: https://courseworks.columbia.edu/course/[COURSE_ID]
• course evaluation: https://courseworks.columbia.edu/evaluations/[COURSE_ID]

Where [COURSE_ID] can take several formats, but the recommended format is the "CourseWorks ID" (e.g. HUMAC1001_001_2004_3).

Instructors can link directly to a Sakai site from CourseWorks using standard Sakai URLs:

• https://newcourseworks.columbia.edu/portal/site/[COURSE_ID]

Sharp-eyed observers will notice that the Sakai Pilot has lost the word "pilot" from its Web address. Sakai is now accessible via http://newcourseworks.columbia.edu.

Finally, faculty can request that the links from their traditional CourseWork's "My Courses" page reference new Sakai URLs (or a combination of CourseWorks and Sakai links). This means that students can have one-stop-shopping for course sites via the CourseWorks login page. If you have a Sakai-based course Web site, please ask your educational technologist (or email ccnmtl@columbia.edu) to set up the links.