Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Sharing a Table of Information in Sakai

By Alan Regan

A professor inquired about sharing a table of information with his students. He wrote asking how to "... create a table of text that can be edited in the Resources section of Sakai. Right now I'm having to keep updating a Word document with each addition of information and it would be easier to do this in Courses."

Here are a few options to consider:
  1. Create an HTML document in Resources
  2. Create a Google doc or spreadsheet and share the link in Resources
Create an HTML Document in Resources

Using the rich text editor, a professor can create an HTML page in Resources (Resources > Add > Create HTML Page). Clicking the Table button in the rich text editor, the professor can specify the number of rows and columns desired. Once created, the professor can easily add or delete rows/columns by right-clicking in the row or column and making the appropriate selection.

Whenever the professor needs to update the information, he/she would return to Resources and edit the page (Actions > Edit Content). If the professor is familiar with HTML, he/she can click the "Source" button and modify the source HTML code to customize the table design with more detail.

Create a Google Doc or Spreadsheet and Share the Link in Resources

Pepperdine University offers Google Docs for Education for our community. It's available at http://google.pepperdine.edu

The professor can use the Google Docs service to create a new document or spreadsheet and create the table of information as desired. When sharing the document, click "Change" to modify the permissions. Select "People at Pepperdine University with the link" or "Anyone with the link" if the professor may have non-Pepperdine University participants such as guest lecturers. NOTE: Think carefully. Don't enable editing unless you want all class participants to be able to edit the document.  Also, if you select "anyone with the link" then if participants in the class post the link online or email it to others, then anyone with access to the link can see the information.

Copy the link from the Google document. Return to Courses and go to Resources in the course site. Add the link by clicking Add > Add Web Links (URLs). Paste the web address and give it a title (if desired). Click Add Web Links Now to post the link.

There are likely other solutions to this need, too.  We hope this information helps!