Advanced features: integration with Sakai

Version: Kora Courses, October 4, 2023 or later

Permissions required: Faculty

There are several advanced features and troubleshooting options available in the Sakai integration.

• Create direct links to specific Digication assignments
• View Sakai connection status
• Edit title and maximum grade point of connected Digication assignments  
• View grade sync history
• Sakai view as student

Create direct links to specific Digication assignments

In your Sakai course, you can provide students with direct links to specific Digication assignments in the Lessons area.

Adding direct links allows students to go directly to a Digication assignment.

Adding direct links in the Lessons area

First, make sure that your Sakai course has been connected to your Digication course. Your Sakai course must already be connected to your Digication course in order to add direct links to Digication assignments. You can find instructions for connecting your Sakai course to Digication in the helpdesk article “Faculty overview of Digication integration with Sakai”.

• Next, create your assignments in Digication. 
• Once your assignments are created, go to the Lessons area (1) in your course.
• Then select “Add Content +” (2).
  
  
  
• Select “Add Learning App” (3).
  
  
  
• Then select the Digication tool (4).
  
  
  
• From the “Configure External Tool” (5) window, click “Launch External Tool Configuration” (6).
  
  
• You’ll see a list of all the assignments that are in your Digication course. Select the checkbox (7) next to the assignment you want to link and click “SELECT” (8).
  
  
• A direct link to your selected Digication assignment (1) will now appear in the Lessons area (2).
  
  
• We recommend setting the assignment link to open in a new window. To do this, hover over the assignment link and click Edit (3).
  
  
• Under Display Options (4), select Open in New Window (5). Click “Update Item” (6) to save your change.
  
  

View Sakai Connection status

You can check the status of the Sakai connection to Digication in several places:

1. From Grade (1), click “View Sakai connection” (2).
   
   
   

• The Sakai connection window will show the “Connection Status” (3) and “Grade Sync” (4) status. From this screen, you can disconnect (5) the LMS integration, and enable/disable grade sync (6). 
  
  
  
  2. From “MY ASSIGNMENTS & ACTIVITIES” (1) in your course or Digication dashboard, click the hamburger menu (2) and select “VIEW SAKAI CONNECTION” (3). 
  
  
  

• The Sakai connection window will show “Connection Status” (4) and “Grade Sync” (5) status. From this screen, you can disconnect (6) the LMS integration, and enable/disable grade sync (7). 
  
  
  

Edit title and maximum grade points of connected Digication assignments 

When a Digication assignment is connected to Sakai through the gradebook, or as direct links in assignments or modules, the title and the maximum grade points of the Digication assignment are sent to  Sakai.

Subsequently, if either field is edited in Sakai or Digication, the title or the maximum grade points will no longer be the same across the two platforms.

• If there is a mismatch in title or maximum grade points in one of your connected Digication assignments, you will see a red dot (1) in the hamburger menu for that assignment.
  
  
  
• Click the hamburger menu (2) and select “VIEW SAKAI CONNECTION” (3).
  
  
  
• The connection screen will show that there is a mismatch (4) between the Sakai gradebook column and the Digication assignment. Click “UPDATE” (5) to sync the changes to Sakai.
  
  
  

Any other changes to your connected Digication assignment will need to be manually updated in Sakai. This includes grade release settings.

View grade sync history

If the assignment you are grading has the Sakai grade sync enabled, your grade should automatically be sent to Sakai after you save the grade. This may take a few seconds after you save the grade. 

• You can confirm that the grade was sent to Sakai and view the grade sync history by clicking the HISTORY (1) link.
  
  
  
• If the grade sync fails to send for any reason, you’ll see a red icon (2) that displays the error “Grade failed to send to Sakai” (3) in the grading area.
  
• Click “RETRY” (4) to try to send the grade to Sakai again.
  
  
  
• You’ll also see an error if you click on the HISTORY link. You can retry sending the grade by clicking “Retry send grade to Sakai” (5) next to the error message “Grade failed to send to Sakai” (6).
  
  
  

Sakai view as student

Switching your role to a student is not supported in Digication’s Sakai integration. If you select the “View as Student” option and access the Digication link, you may receive an error message or still see the Digication course in instructor view. This does not indicate that anything is wrong with your course connection.