Google Sites

I spent a little time this morning looking at Google Sites. It's not better than pbwiki, but it does allow you to set up a course page alternative fairly easily. You have some control over layout of page elements, colors and themes. You can define several different kinds of pages, including one called "File Cabinet," which works very well for uploading Word documents. You can change the hierarchy of pages relative to one another and a site map is automatically generated. You can make the site private or public, and further make it read-only or editable by all members.

Apture is amazing!

Apture--quick and easy way to add "rich" html to your website. This means that you mouse over a word, and a little box pops up that automatically loads certain links you've told it to show--usually wikipedia definitions, videos, or other such things. You don't need to be in the "editor" function of the webpage to do this. It works in any site that you have access to the html code--you just paste one line of text into the code (like in pbwiki--haven't tried moodle yet) and it works. You need to have an account to access it, and right now it's in beta testing, with no more accounts being granted, but it has a lot of promise. Another nice thing is that it can automatically convert certain links you may already have--youtube, wikipedia, etc.--into Apture links. It's very, very easy to use, with only minor trouble-shooting necessary. It makes your site look much, much more professional. Looking forward to doing more with it.

ETA: Initial impression is that this won't work through moodle--at least not for the wikis.

Copyright Issues: Fair Use

One thing to keep in mind is our responsibility to respect copyright laws when posting student work on the Web as well as the materials we use in our classrooms...I am referring here not so much to the students' rights (a different topic) but to the fact that fair use rules that apply within a physical classroom space do not necessarily apply to the Web. See Copyright 101 for Educators" from the Technology and Learning website, and "Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web" from the University of Maryland library.