There are many technological tools readily available to enterprising faculty willing to put in a little time. What follows is a very brief list.

Course Website Options

  • WordPress Blog as Course Website – Blogs@Baruch has been taking this approach seriously for awhile now, and it’s a good place to go for ideas.
  • WetPaint Wiki as Course Website – WetPaint is a wiki (collaborative writing) tool with a heavy website element to it. One of my colleagues uses it as his class website; his students participate in group-based research and share their work on the wiki.
  • Google Site as Course Website – Google is known the world over for search. But search is among the least of its intriguing features.  Google Sites enables anyone to create a website with Google.

Full Learning Management System Options

  • NfoMedia (http://www.nfomedia.com/) – a full learning management tool available as a hosted LMS at no charge. A pro version will cost you a little.
  • Edu2.0 (http://www.edu20.org/) – a full learning management tool in a free, hosted environment.
  • My iCourse (http://www.myicourse.com/welcome) – a full learning management tool “flattening the world one course at a time.” I’ve had trouble connecting to this resource in recent days.
  • 15 Desks (was College Brain)  – a learning management tool with no ads. I’m no longer sure about this option.
  • PB Works (http://pbworks.com/) – formerly PB Wiki, these folks tossed in a lot more features and changed the name. Not just a wiki these days.

Discussion Board Options (old school tech that still rocks)

Blogging Only?

  • Blogger (http://blogger.com) – Google is everywhere, including here. If you haven’t looked at blogger in a couple years, it’s worth another peek. It supports multiple authors now, template support and customization is awesome and easy, and they don’t put ads on your blog. (Sorry. That’s a review.)
  • WordPress (http://wordpress.com/) – Another great blog tool. Template customization isn’t available with the free version.
  • Live Journal (http://www.livejournal.com/) – This blog tool is a cross between a blog and a social networking site, so it’s something like Blogger + Facebook.
  • I would put Movable Type here because it’s good. Unfortunately, it isn’t free.