Course Management Software
A number of you have indicated interest in using Blackboard. Blackboard is proprietary course management software. Because it is proprietary software, the university pays big bucks to offer it to all instructors. But being proprietary, it also can't be modified: you're pretty much stuck with the way it's set up. Because its sole function is to serve to manage classes, it does that well: it offers space to upload course documents (syllabi, etc.), to conduct discussions, to post grades, etc. ET@MO offers a number of guides for Blackboard use.
WebCT was once a competitor with Blackboard, but Blackboard has since taken over that company.
Sakai is an open-source (and so potentially modifiable) course management program that is being used on a limited basis at Mizzou.
Moodle is a free, open source course management program that you can download and use.
Wikis
Of course, we're using a wiki in this class. A wiki is an easily modifiable, collaboratively composed website. We're using pbwiki. If you go to their website, you can set up a wiki for yourself in just a matter of minutes.
Here's a wiki I used in my Introduction to Women's Literature class last summer. I was able to use this wiki much like a course management program, but I was in full control of what I did and didn't want to include. I also find a wiki simpler to access.
(Note: You'll find some student collages on the wiki. I'd like to talk a bit about how I used them in my class and how I see them as facilitating rather than replacing written arguments.)
There are many other kinds of wiki software available. MediaWiki is the program that Wikipedia uses. It's available as a free download. Using downloaded programs does avoid the ad problem that you get with a free but proprietary program like pbwiki.
Blogs
I am, as perhaps you've noticed, a great fan of blogs. I've used blogs in classes for a little over three years now, and while the results are always different, I'm rarely disappointed. I can talk more about why I prefer blogs to discussion boards, but here are a few reasons:
* they tend to be easier to access (you don't have to use a password, unless you choose to)
* they tend to be visually more appealing
* they bring students into a form of writing that is very popular for journalism, business communication, and, yes, education.
Blogs, in short, are put to all sorts of uses. Just take a look at all you can find at Technorati, which keeps track of all public blog entries. And the cross-talk, cross-linking that happens on blogs is an excellent example of the kind of connecting that academic thinking is based on. (This doesn't happen on all blogs, of course. But it CAN happen. Blogs facilitate linked thinking.)
You can also modify the sidebar of a blog so that it includes links to class syllabi, assignments, etc. Here's an example from my blogging class last winter.
Online management systems
If you choose to use blogs and/or wikis rather than something like Blackboard, you might consider encouraging students to use a system like del.icio.us to keep track of their course websites and any other websites that they want to remember.
(Also useful to know about if you don't are "feed readers," which allow you to keep track of blogs and other sites that publish feeds. I currently use Bloglines, but I know a number of people who prefer Google Reader.)
In short, you could say I'm more of an advocate of Web 2.0 than of older, more proprietary technologies. I appreciate the ease and free access of Web 2.0, and I like introducing students to these technologies that can help them connect and use information. I also like the way that Web 2.0 emphasizes user production, not just consumption. For me, English 1000 is a chance to teach students various ways of producing texts, not just (but certainly including) ways of reading/analyzing them.
Here's a concept map of Web 2.0, from Tim O'Reilly:
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