This document is written for Sakai Functional Administrators or System Administrators. Readers should be familiar with Realms, Roles, Permissions and !site.templates in order to fully understand the topics on this page. For more reading on such topics, see: Users, Groups, Roles and Permissions
Groups and Sections function somewhat similarly in Sakai, but are also quite different in many ways. Here's a chart to compare their functions, followed by some realm/role/permission examples to ensure that you can use BOTH in any given worksite type.
| Function | Groups |
Sections |
|---|---|---|
| Worksite owners can create them manually |
Yes |
Yes |
| Can be auto-created within a site based on SIS info |
No |
Yes |
| Site members can sign-up to participate in groups/sections |
No |
Yes |
| Site participants can belong to more than one group/section |
Yes |
Yes |
| There can be different "types" of groups/sections |
No |
Yes |
| Site participants can belong to more than one group/section of the same "type" |
N/A |
No |
| Site members receive an additional subset of permissions within some group/section aware tools |
Yes |
Yes |
| Site owners can edit this additional subset of permissions per group/section |
No |
No |
| Admins can edit this additional subset of permissions per group/section |
Yes |
Yes |
| A group realm exists for each group/section |
Yes |
Yes |
| The group realm for each group/section copies from the corresponding !group.template realm for the site type |
Yes |
Yes |
| The group realm for each group/section has roles and permissions, indicating that users who participate in groups/sections may have additional permissions for tools that are group/section aware |
Yes |
Yes |
| The group realm must have the same roles as the site realm in order for groups/sections to work (see below) |
Yes |
No |
| The group realm must have appropriate section.role permissions in order for groups/sections to work (see below) |
No |
Yes |
Example: how to make groups work in course sites:
| !site.template.course roles |
!group.template.course roles |
|---|---|
| Instructor Student Teaching Assistant Auditor Tech Support |
Instructor Student Teaching Assistant Auditor Tech Support |
Note that the names of the roles are the same in the site realm and the group realm. Any additional permissions you assign within the group realm will apply to the group only. So, if the Student role in the site realm does NOT have the annc.new permission, that means that Students cannot create new announcements for the course site. However, if the Student role in the group realm has the annc.new permission, that means that Students can create new announcements for their group within the course (as long as they are part of a group or groups).
The ability to use GROUPS in Sakai depends on a direct role-to-role mapping from the site realm to the group realm.
Example: how to make sections work in course sites:
| !site.template.course roles |
Corresponding !site.template.course permissions |
!group.template.course roles |
Corresponding !group.template.course permissions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instructor Student Teaching Assistant Auditor Tech Support |
section.role.instructor section.role.student section.role.ta section.role.student section.role.instructor |
Instructor Student Teaching Assistant |
section.role.instructor section.role.student section.role.ta |
So, what does this mean? If you use sections within course sites, then Instructors and Tech Support roles will be considered "Instructors" if the course is using sections. Students and Auditors will be considered "Students" when using sections, and will inherit all additional group permissions from the group realms for group-aware tools. Teaching Assistants will be considered Teaching Assistants when using sections, and will inherit all additional group permissions from the group realms for group-aware tools.
Alternatively, you could do this to make sections work:
| !site.template.course roles |
Corresponding !site.template.course permissions |
!group.template.course roles |
Corresponding !group.template.course permissions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instructor Student Teaching Assistant Auditor Tech Support |
section.role.instructor section.role.student section.role.ta section.role.student section.role.instructor |
Dog Cat Mouse |
section.role.instructor section.role.student section.role.ta |
So, as you can see, the name of the role in the !group.template.course realm doesn't matter. Any additional permissions that users get by participating in sections depend upon the section.role permission, which maps the roles within the site realm to the role within the group realm that has the same section.role permission.
The ability to use SECTIONS in Sakai depends on the section.role permission mapping from the site realm to the group realm.
Example: how to make groups AND sections work in course sites:
| !site.template.course roles |
Corresponding !site.template.course permissions |
!group.template.course roles |
Corresponding !group.template.course permissions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instructor Student Teaching Assistant Auditor Tech Support |
section.role.instructor section.role.student section.role.ta section.role.student section.role.instructor |
Instructor Student Teaching Assistant Auditor Tech Support |
section.role.instructor section.role.student section.role.ta |
So, if you use groups, here's what will happen
- Instructors will have group "Instructor" permissions when participating in groups
- Students will have group "Student" permissions when participating in groups
- Teaching Assistants will have group "Teaching Assistant" permissions when participating in groups
- Auditors will have group "Auditor" permissions when participating in groups
- Tech Support will have group 'Tech Support" permissions when participating in groups
If you use sections, here's what will happen
- Instructors will have group "Instructor" permissions when participating in sections
- Students will have group "Student" permissions when participating in sections
- Teaching Assistants will have group "Teaching Assistant" permissions when participating in sections
- Auditors will have group "Student" permissions when participating in sections
- Tech Support will have group "Instructor" permissions when participating in sections
Groups and sections both use group realms, but in different ways.
Definition of Group/Section awareness per tool:
| Tool | Group Awareness |
Section Awareness |
|---|---|---|
| Syllabus | None | None |
| Schedule/Calendar | Site owners can create schedule items for specific groups. If a schedule item exists for a group, ONLY members of that group will see the item on the schedule (site owner can, by default, see all). Depending on configuration, if some roles within the !group.template realm have additional calendar permissions (beyond those defined in the !site.template), then once added to groups, other users may be able to create schedule items WITHIN their group only. |
Schedule section-awareness is the same as Schedule group-awareness |
| Announcements | Site owners can create announcements and target specific groups. Only members of the targeted group will receive the announcement. Sometimes, users who are not site owners (or users without announcement permissions in the site realm) may have permissions (as configured in the !group.template realm) to create announcements for their group, but not for the entire course. |
Announcement section-awareness is the same as Announcement group-awareness |
| Resources |
||
| Lessons |
None |
None |
| Blogger |
||
| Matrices |
||
| Wizards | ||
| Roster |
||
| Email Archive |
None | None |
| Assignments |
||
| Tests & Quizzes |
||
| Drop Box |
||
| Gradebook |
|
|
| Post'em |
||
| Wiki |
||
| JForum |
Site owners (or others with appropriate permissions) may create forums for groups. Members of groups may see/participate in Forums created for their group, as well as those forums created for the entire worksite. |
|
| Messages |
Groups appear in the "to" box on the compose message screen, as long as there is at least one member of the group. There is no special subset of group permissions for the Messages tool - All worksite participants can view and send messages to other groups (even if they are not a participant in those groups). |
Messages section-awareness is the same as Messages group-awareness |
| Forums |
||
| Chat Room |
None |
None |
| News |
||
| Web Content |
||
| Search |
||
| Site Info/Editor |
||
| Sections |
||
| Site Statistics |
|
|
| |
|
|