| With the coming of computers and the internet | | | | coming into being of the Sakai CLE, the Sakai Project |
| reaching to almost every nook and corner, | | | | was initiated by the Mellon Foundation. The various |
| communicating to any part of the world, across | | | | educational institutions which played a dominant role in |
| geographical boundaries, beyond continents is no | | | | the inception of the Sakai Project and which have |
| more a difficult proposition. This is how the internet | | | | thereby developed extensive course management |
| has facilitated the growth and development of online | | | | systems include Stanford University , Indiana |
| education which involves various online courses | | | | University, University of Michigan , Massachusetts |
| designed by various institutes and on the completion | | | | Institute of Technology. Recently, University of |
| of each course, online degrees are awarded to the | | | | Virginia has also decided to introduce Sakai . |
| successful candidates. It is necessary to point out | | | | The Sakai software system possesses the various |
| that online education depends primarily upon the close | | | | common features that are present in the course |
| interaction between the tutors and th students online | | | | management systems. These include chats, wiki, |
| and for this purpose there are various significant | | | | online assessments and gradebooks, RSS reader and |
| software tools which have been devised to aid in | | | | uploading facilities of assignments. The Sakai |
| effective course management online. These | | | | Foundation is a non-profit organization which boats of |
| applications can be referred to as Learning | | | | a huge and growing membership of educational |
| Management Systems, Virtual Learning Environments | | | | institutions which come together in order to facilitate |
| and Course Management Systems. Sakai refers to a | | | | the spread of education and research online and it is |
| conglomeration of educational institutions, individuals | | | | possible for the various members to benefit from the |
| and commercial organizations which work for the | | | | software applications of Sakai . However, it is |
| development of a Collaboration and Learning | | | | necessary to point out in this case that it is not |
| Environment to CLE. The Sakai CLE is a free and | | | | necessary for one to be a user of the Sakai |
| open source software based on Java and is | | | | software applications in order to be a member of the |
| circulated under the authority of the Educational | | | | Sakai foundation. The main purpose of the foundation |
| Community License, aiding considerably in the | | | | is to ensure the spread of knowledge through the |
| imparting of knowledge through online education. This | | | | use of better software applications which will aid the |
| educational learning software platform is used | | | | interaction between the tutors and students |
| commonly used by the various educational institutions | | | | considerably. |
| offering online educational courses. Prior to the | | | | |