Blackboard Learn by Anthology vs. Sakai

Blackboard Learn by Anthology

Sakai

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Score 6.0 out of 10	N/A	Blackboard Inc. is an enterprise learning management systems vendor. Blackboard was founded in 1997 and became a public company in 2004. The company provides education, mobile, communication, and commerce software and related services to clients including education providers, corporations and government organizations. As of December 2010, Blackboard software and services are used by over 9,300 institutions in more than 60 countries. Blackboard Learn is the company's flagship LMS, supporting…	N/A
Sakai	Score 8.7 out of 10	N/A	Sakai is an open source learning management system provided by the Apero Foundation. The LMS provides what it calls Core and Expanded Features. The Core Features encompass an integrated tool set that is tested by the Sakai community members and is then included with each new release. The tool set can be configured by: instructors, students, research investigators and project leaders. The other set of tools, known as “Contrib Tools” are specific to Sakai tools and innovations that are developed…	N/A

Pricing

Blackboard Learn by Anthology

Sakai

Editions & Modules

No answers on this topic

Offerings

Pricing Offerings
Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Sakai
Free Trial
Yes	No
Free/Freemium Version
No	Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

Entry-level Setup Fee

Optional

No setup fee

Additional Details

Must contact vendor for pricing information.

More Pricing Information

Community Pulse
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Sakai
Considered Both Products	Blackboard Learn by Anthology Sherby Gully Teacher Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard is definitely more in touch with older students, particularly high school and college age students. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I used Canvas as a student at a university in town. The feature set was comparable to that of Blackboard Learn with the mobile app was far, far superior. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard is the all around better fit for our intuition. It provides the "bells and whistles" we require in having a diverse faculty and flexibility in course delivery. The "bells and whistles" aren't cheap, but we have found that budgeting for this large expense has been … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Coursera offers a variety of modules in which a team is able to work on then, but [Blackboard Learn] offers more options to understand how are the team members developing and which tasks have offered a harder challenger for them. [Blackboard Learn] also offers a variety of … Incentivized Helpful? Meena B Information Technology Project Manager Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I have not reviewed Brightspace till now but I have heard good things about it from my peers Incentivized Helpful? Craig Smallish Instructor Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I did not select Blackboard Learn. Incentivized Helpful? QT Quincy Tamaribuchi Student Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Google Classroom has the same objective, and that is to connect students to their teachers along with the organization. Google Classroom is organized easy to read and customizable by the teacher. Very user friendly. I can say that Blackboard is a much better platform to take … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn is way far behind Canvas. Many schools are switching to Canvas as it is better integrated with other solutions, it is much more user friendly and provides better user experience. Canvas is cloud native, unlike Blackboard Learn. They are trying to catch up with … Incentivized Helpful? Becca Guler Learning Specialist Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Zoom is better equipped for live streaming and recording lectures and tutoring sessions, research interviews, etc. and does allow content files to be attached through live chat function but does NOT have a student management component for grading and instructions or a … Incentivized Helpful? Brandon Cluff Associate Game Designer Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I personally prefer Udemy because of its simplicity. Blackboard Learn has more options for how the content can be delivered to its users; Udemy only provides instructors the ability to upload videos and insert multiple choice questions for tests. Ultimately, it depends on the … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn is very similar to Canvas by Instructure since they are both essential Learning Management Systems. Canvas is a bit more rigid in the structure and does not permit faculty to customize the course navigation menu fully. Blackboard Learn allows faculty to … Incentivized Helpful? RD Renee DiBiasio Assistant Principal Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology We use another product just like Blackboard Learn, and I also have used Google Classroom. I like Blackboard for this because the system and tabs are easy to map and navigate. I also think it appeals more to the students we have today who can connect better with technology than … Incentivized Helpful? Nicolas Hanhan Distance Education Instructional Coordinator Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn is more user-friendly than Moodle. Blackboard offers support to customers which is not available effectively when using open-source learning management systems such as Moodle. Incentivized Helpful? Amy Westby High School Counselor Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard has been good for putting together course work and class discussion, which Google Classroom does not feature and Moodle is too laggy to work well. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology . Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn is more robust because it allows for much more dissemination of materials for higher-level courses. Assignments are seamlessly connected in Blackboard Learn versus Google Classroom, where you have to access Google Docs to see your instructor's comments. Edmodo … Incentivized Helpful? Anissa Harris Senior Faculty Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I am not a decision-maker about our learning platform but I have used both Canvas and Blackboard Learn for several years. From a teaching perspective, Canvas is SIMPLE and clean for a new user. However, Blackboard offers more options and creativity for integration and exporting … Incentivized Helpful? Rick Lupton Systems Programmer Analyst Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard has a vast training system to allow for supporting the product. While Moodle provides OpenSource code to allow for customization, it requires and investment in technical staff to program the software to do what you want. Blackboard has on-premise and hosted … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Very similar, equally effective in my experience. Perhaps the communication features in Blackboard are stronger. Incentivized Helpful? Matthew Deakyne Academic Services Manager Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology We did a formal evaluation of the LMS a few years ago, and selected to remain self-hosted on Blackboard Learn. At the time, we were not ready to upgrade or migrate and it was easier to remain with the system we already had. If we started from scratch - Canvas is the clear … Incentivized Helpful? Mark Fitzgerald Adjunct Professor Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology It can be configured to do anything you want. It is Blackboard's blessing and curse. I think it has the biggest feature set in the industry. It confuse people and leads to strange UIs. But some organization and working together you can find something that will work well for … Incentivized Helpful? Lori Riegel Alumni Representative Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I have used Schoology before, and I think Blackboard Learn has many more features, and is easier to navigate. It is well organized, and easy to customize for each user. Schoology might be better suited for a mobile device, but when the mobile version of Blackboard is not up … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn compares favorably to the other learning management solutions out there but has a leg up if you are using other Blackboard products. We liked Absorb a lot but it was ultimately more costly for us based on our current infrastructure. Moodle and Canvas are … Incentivized Helpful? Timothy Sawah IT Project Manager Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard is more expensive than its direct competitors but has better customer support and a wider variety of features. Courses are more structured in blackboard. The graphics are less messy compared to Moodle and Edmodo. Blackboard has more interactive features and the code … Incentivized Helpful? Erica Terry Advising and Admissions Coordinator Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I believe that blackboard is more user-friendly than the other modalities I have used and taken online course work in as well. I think it is setup in a logically way, making it easy to navigate. Incentivized Helpful?	Sakai Sarah Daggett Lecturer, Department of Communication & Theatre Chose Sakai Before using Sakai, we used Blackboard. Ultimately, I think moving to Sakai was a financial decision (it was cheaper), but I believe it ended up being better accepted by faculty and students as well. At the time (this was several years ago), Blackboard's UI wasn't as … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Sakai Sakai will check most of the same boxes as Canvas as far as features. Students can receive feedback, emails, comments, grade and submit assignments, etc. However, everything is going to be a bit more difficult with Sakai. Finding something will take more clicks. Sakai is more … Incentivized Helpful? Chani Loeb Administrative Assistant Chose Sakai Courses are organized into tabs. Teachers use the program to list assignments with due dates for students in each course. Students use the program to upload assignments before they are due. Teachers upload syllabi along which the students can follow the progress of the … Incentivized Helpful? Dave Eveland Instructional Designer/Technologist Chose Sakai When considering an LMS there are multiple factors to consider, and typically those factors are not co-equal amongst all stakeholders. Some institutions select an LMS based on C-Level directive; others narrow the field based on feedback from the largest constituent user base or … Incentivized Helpful? Keira Dooley E-Learning Developer Chose Sakai Sakai and Moodle seem to be neck and neck. I much prefer a proper LMS over a WordPress LMS Plugin. Sakai was much more robust than a simple plugin solution. Incentivized Helpful? Terry Golightly Assistant Director Online Instructional Design & Technology Chose Sakai We were for a year or two on WebCT, which has been acquired by Blackboard. It was hard to learn and difficult to administer. Changing to Sakai not only meant a great deal of financial savings, but it was easier to use and more responsive to institutional and consortial needs. … Incentivized Helpful? Jason Smith, DPA Instructional Technologist Chose Sakai Every few years we evaluate LMSs. Each time Sakai comes out ahead due to cost, customizations, and the Sakai community. We like to keep things in house because it allows us an extra amount of reliability and control that you will have to give up when running most other … Incentivized Helpful? Andi Sciacca Faculty Member Chose Sakai I was not part of the selection committee, but I believe the ability to white label Sakai was very significant to the choice being made. In another institution I taught (not the one in which I used Sakai) the decision was made to go with MoodleRooms due to the need for support … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Sakai We selected Sakai for our purposes (copyright/IP education) because students were familiar with the interface and the assessments worked just as desired. Though Canvas could serve as an ideal alternative and is used robustly here at UD, we have chosen Sakai for its familiarity … Incentivized Helpful? Raymond J. Uzwyshyn Director, Library Digital & Collection Services Chose Sakai Sakai is a fair competitor to other online learning systems (i.e. Blackboard, Canvas, Desire-to-Learn). Essentially, Sakai is simply a different flavor of similar models for online learning management systems. It is more different from Moodle and Moodle's social networking … Incentivized Helpful? Samantha J. Blevins Instructor Chose Sakai I did not personally select Sakai. However, it is fairly easy to use and customize. That being said, this product is being abandoned by developers/universities and should not be adopted by an organization. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Sakai As an adjunct professor, I didn't pick Sakai for the university. I have experience with Moodle, Blackboard, eCollege, iBoard and now Sakai. I would have to say that Sakai is one of my all time favorite LMSs to use as it is very easy to navigate. Incentivized Helpful? Becky Roehrs Distance Learning Coordinator/Learning Technologies Specialist Chose Sakai Our faculty found Moodle difficult to use-we tried at least two different releases of it with different vendors. It may have changed greatly since we worked with it in 2010-2012, but that was our experience. Blackboard was what we were familiar with, but some of its tools were … Incentivized Helpful?

Features

Blackboard Learn by Anthology

Sakai

Learning Management

Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology 8.6 Ratings 5% above category average	Sakai 7.9 Ratings 4% below category average
Course authoring	9.00 Ratings	8.00 Ratings
Course catalog or library	9.00 Ratings	7.00 Ratings
Player/Portal	8.00 Ratings	8.00 Ratings
Learning content	6.10 Ratings	8.00 Ratings
Mobile friendly	9.00 Ratings	7.00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications	7.00 Ratings	8.00 Ratings
Assignments	9.00 Ratings	10.00 Ratings
Compliance management	9.00 Ratings	7.00 Ratings
Learning administration	10.00 Ratings	9.00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics	9.00 Ratings	6.00 Ratings
Social learning	9.00 Ratings	9.00 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning	9.00 Ratings	00 Ratings

Best Alternatives
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Sakai
Small Businesses	iSpring Learn Score 9.6 out of 10	iSpring Learn Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies	Schoology Learning Score 9.7 out of 10	Schoology Learning Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises	Schoology Learning Score 9.7 out of 10	Schoology Learning Score 9.7 out of 10
All Alternatives	View all alternatives	View all alternatives

User Ratings
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Sakai
Likelihood to Recommend	9.9 (0 ratings)	9.0 (0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	4.6 (0 ratings)	10.0 (0 ratings)
Usability	10.0 (0 ratings)	7.4 (0 ratings)
Support Rating	7.7 (0 ratings)	8.1 (0 ratings)
Online Training	7.0 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Implementation Rating	10.0 (0 ratings)	10.0 (0 ratings)

User Testimonials
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Sakai
Likelihood to Recommend	A school with a well-established technology imprint with their students (for example, ours is a BYOB school where every student has their own laptop and must bring it to school every day and where over 99% of our families have reliable broadband at home) is a reasonable scenario for using The arrogance and intransigence of the sales force is quite disconcerting… They are no longer the only game in town and don't yet realize it. Less well-off schools/families may find it a challenge if students must be on campus or at a public library in order to use the technology. Obviously, during the pandemic, this became problematic for some districts. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Sakai is well suited for any size institution or training organization looking to use an extremely flexible, well-supported and extensible LMS that doesn't sacrifice budget for useless options and extra features. The community that is Sakai (by way of students, instructors, teachers, administrators, information technology professionals, instructional designers and developers) all make Sakai what it is. Sakai can be paired with multiple LTI tools, streaming services, conferencing and plagiarism detection platforms and student information systems to ultimately help students meet with success. As we have a very limited IT staff Sakai is hosted off-site, but are still able to provide support to our faculty with very little extra effort. While Sakai is not as well-known as platforms like Blackboard or Canvas, because we're one of just a few clients, requests to our host for second or third tier assistance are resolved pretty quickly. We recently had an instance where all of our users were unable to login; this turned out to be an issue with host configuration rather than Sakai itself. Sakai is not perfect: "Auto-saved draft" text disappears sometimes, question pools are difficult to share among faculty, the forums interface could be modernized and progress analytics surfaced more easily to students. Dave Eveland Instructional Designer/Technologist Read full review
Pros	Provides HTML quality course content that is easily retrievable and viewable. Provides multiple methods of communication: email, threaded discussions, real-time "live" online discussions, as well as grade portal. Allows facilitators multiple methods of grading or providing feedback: threaded discussions, rubric scoring, personal comments, inline viewer, or download/upload attachments. Incentivized Anissa Harris Senior Faculty Read full review	User friendly, easy to navigate Interactive friendly. You can link other resources to help students learn the course concepts better. Stable platform. There are a few updates from time to time but it has never gone down in my years of using the LMS. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Cons	Although the current graphic user interface is easy to use, it can be improved with larger fonts, dynamic menus, and attractive graphics. The system does not include a module to pay the school fee. The roster tab lacks detailed information about students. Incentivized Timothy Sawah IT Project Manager Read full review	While the check box to send an email when you send a message is helpful, there have been times that teachers forgot to check that box, so students didn't get important assignments/announcements. Discussion forums can be fun, but it's annoying to read other people's comments since you have to click into each person's comment, & it always marks the comments as new, even if you've read them. I think it would be helpful if Sakai warned you before submitting an assignment how many submissions or when the assignment is due, before hitting submit. Incentivized Chani Loeb Administrative Assistant Read full review
Likelihood to Renew	There are several aspects of Desire2Learn that outweigh the benefits of using Blackboard. I find that the Desire2Learn system is a bit more user friendly and looks more up-to-date. However, the decision to renew systems is not up to me because the entire University uses the same system. Regardless, I think I would choose Desire2Learn over Blackboard because of its improved user interface. James Gurney Research/Teaching Assistant Read full review	Sakai is a good general learning management system - it is not leading edge but rather a stable system with standard learning management system features. It can be fairly easily customized and is fairly easy to learn from both student learning and faculty administrative vantage points. New paradigms for online learning though are emergent so the current field should also be investigated with competitors. Incentivized Raymond J. Uzwyshyn Director, Library Digital & Collection Services Read full review
Usability	It is very usable for both faculty and students. The interface is pretty intuitive and most students can use it without a lot of additional training. Faculty do need some training to effectively use the interface, but they usually get it pretty quickly. We have had to create some additional programming to give faculty a way to delve deeper into the content. Inez Whipple E-Learning Instructional Designer Read full review	When faculty are preparing courses from term to term, a portion of the content is static within a specific discipline. The time it takes to import past lessons into new versions of Sakai can be an inefficient use of my time. When I want to add new content and edit from the old content, it's reliant upon me to cut and paste the content from term to term rather than simply import and edit from a backup. Incentivized Andi Sciacca Faculty Member Read full review
Support Rating	Itʻs a good platform for certain things such as tests. Blackboard may not be the most user friendly but there is always room for improvement in any website, business, etc. When used with other platforms such as Google Classroom, Blackboard can be more effective, but when used by itself I feel it is not as impactful from a student perspective. QT Quincy Tamaribuchi Student Read full review	Since Sakai is open-source their documentation is often lacking and support is absolutely needed onsite. Internal documentation is more important with Sakai than other services. The Sakai community is fun, passionate, engaged, and absolutely doing their best, but it's an uphill battle against the current market and trends. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Implementation Rating	Blackboard's Managed Hosting was top-notch in getting us up and running quickly. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	No, I don't Incentivized Samantha J. Blevins Instructor Read full review
Alternatives Considered	Blackboard is the all around better fit for our intuition. It provides the "bells and whistles" we require in having a diverse faculty and flexibility in course delivery. The "bells and whistles" aren't cheap, but we have found that budgeting for this large expense has been more than worth it for us. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Before using Sakai, we used Blackboard. Ultimately, I think moving to Sakai was a financial decision (it was cheaper), but I believe it ended up being better accepted by faculty and students as well. At the time (this was several years ago), Blackboard's UI wasn't as user-friendly and there were issues with administrating it. I don't think most of campus used it, actually. We changed to Sakai and haven't looked back. Incentivized Sarah Daggett Lecturer, Department of Communication & Theatre Read full review
Return on Investment	It has answered all my needs for distance learning and met most of the objectives The only negative I can think of is not having access to the past course material and not being able to download the lectures Another positive is the zoom integration feature Incentivized Meena B Information Technology Project Manager Read full review	Our Sakai costs are about 10% (ten percent) what it would cost for the big name LMS. For a school with a budget. this is a deciding factor. We can more easily afford more online programs to attract more students. Hard-won resources can go to needy places in the institution rather than to the online infrastructure. Incentivized Terry Golightly Assistant Director Online Instructional Design & Technology Read full review
ScreenShots	Blackboard Learn by Anthology Screenshots