• About CourseForum
• Overview
• Usage Examples
• Testimonials
• Screenshots
• Feature List

• Try it Now
• Download
• Live Demo Server

• Licensing
• License Purchase
• Hosting Service
• Free Version
• Demo License
• Campus Licensing

• Support
• Getting Started
• User's Guide (PDF)
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Online Support Forum
• Email Support

Feature List

CourseForum is an easy to install web application, used through standard web browsers, that lets you and your students host discussions and share knowledge, adding interaction to your courses. Create, share, and talk about ideas, Q&A;, research, student portfolios, project work, and more. CourseForum delivers the ease of use, flexibility, and accountability needed for today's courses. Each of your courses gets its own dedicated forum, containing any number of separate web pages.

Much more flexible than discussion-only tools, each page can not only hold a discussion on a specific topic, but also a set of questions and answers, links to supplementary course material or research, a student's note-taking from a lecture, student portfolios, or more.

In CourseForum, you and your students choose what to post, what to share, what to discuss, and how to organize it all. Create whatever new pages you need for new topics. Each page is fully editable by everyone, right from the browser. No special tools are needed, nor knowledge of complicated markup languages like HTML. Its easy enough for everyone to contribute, adding their own material, commenting on existing material, or helping to organize it all. At the same time, pages can be locked down to prevent changes, and because all changes are recorded, you can easily track participation in your class.

CourseForum is centered around simple free-form text, making it easy to understand, and easy to work with - creating or modifying content within the course is as easy as writing an email message. There's no complex interface, set procedures for working, or complex web forms to navigate.

Powerful Simplicity	Standard Version?	Free Version?
Easy content creation			Creating new pages and changing existing ones is done right in your web browser, and is as easy as writing an email message.
Link material easily			Connect your ideas and resources, by linking from any page to any other, or to material anywhere on the web.
Flexible organization			Through creating and linking content, you decide how your forum is organized and structured. Start simple and adjust things as you go. Put things where they make sense to you, not where a cumbsersome user interface forces you to put them.
Easy to Learn and Use	Standard Version?	Free Version?
100% Web based			All interaction is done through a web browser, meaning no software installation for your students, and no new application to learn.
Short learning curve			CourseForum is designed so that you and your students can be creating, sharing and discussing in minutes, devoting time to course material not software.
Simple formatting			CourseForum makes it easy to format pages for easier reading, without needing to learn complex tools like HTML.
Quick comment posting			Every page provides a comment area making discussions about topics quick and easy.
New page templates			Customizable templates provide an easy way to create many similar pages, such as for lecture notes or student information pages.
Recent changes			See at a glance the last few changes, to quickly identify and contribute to the "hot topics".
Search			A search box on every page lets you easily find information throughout the course, even across projects.
Easy Setup	Standard Version?	Free Version?
Easy to install server			The CourseForum server application can be installed in minutes, and needs no cumbersome configuration or special software. A single install supports everyone in all of your courses.
Cross-platform			The server runs on any Windows, Mac OS X, Linux or FreeBSD machine. Users just need their existing web browser, whatever their platform.
Easy administration			Administration is all web-based, and generally requires little time to maintain, so you can just set it up and run.
Support multiple courses			Multiple courses can be run off a single instance of the CourseForum server application, so no system changes are needed.
Archive older courses			Keep copies of older courses available online for reference.
Accountability	Standard Version?	Free Version?
Password protect courses			Let only the people you want into your course, by assigning it a password, either to enter it or just to make changes.
Individual accounts			For more security, you can assign each student an individual account, so everyone needs their own password.
Activity tracking			See who has been contributing to discussions and who has not, or verify what each person has seen or changed, and quickly isolate trouble makers.
Advanced Features	Standard Version?	Free Version?
RSS Support			Easily track changes in any forum, or include an RSS feed in a forum page so everyone can track changes in other web sites.
Include Markup			Build up larger pages by including the contents of other forum pages or even pages from other web sites.
Email Notification			Receive emails when pages in the forum change, making sure you are notified of any changes.
Page locking			Lock down content on a single page, preventing any changes or allowing only comments to be added.
Version history			Track all changes to see how the learning process unfolded, identify individual contributions, or go back to restore older material.
File attachments			Post current copies of presentations or other supplementary course material you've prepared, or let students upload their reports, or other documents, rather than clogging up peoples' email with large attachments sent to everyone in the class.
Images			Attach images to pages, either reference material such as charts or graphs, or just some graphics to perk up the page.
Project areas			Provide students with their own forum areas for smaller group projects, linked to the main course forum, or provide a locked down forum for you and your teaching assistants to share private materials.
Choice of Themes			Allow you to choose one of several built-in themes, determining the appearance of your forum. Choose a distinctive look that fits your course.
Custom Themes			Create a new theme to more closely blend in with other web resources in your school.
Custom Links			Create new link types that allow you to directly integrate specific types of information from other web resources into your forum pages.
Slideshows			Create simple web-based slideshow presentations directly from forum pages.

Benefits of Using CourseForum

CourseForum is a great way to enhance interaction in your courses, whether you already use Internet tools (or if your entire course is delivered electronically!) or not. And better interaction between everyone involved makes for a more effective and rewarding learning experience. Students will learn better, be more satisfied, and you'll be able to spend less time on routine questions.

For Instructors. You can increase student interest in your courses by making them more interactive, and the activity going on outside lectures can help to enliven them too. Watching the forum can give you a great "heads up" on what topics are problematic for students, and give you feedback on what students are most interested in. You can also save time answering the same questions, because the forum can act as a "frequently asked questions" (often both questions and answers provided by students!). It also provides a great way to provide supplementary material, all of which can be reused semester to semester.

For Students. Students benefit from more interaction with their peers, as well as instructors. They'll see more ideas, more depth to those ideas, and a faster turnaround time in getting them. They can learn from each others' notes, the questions that are asked, and the responses. Its an easy way for students to share and archive information, whether of general interest or specific to a group project they're involved in. Its a great way for students to build portfolios of their work, or to create and deliver reports. The low learning curve makes it easy for everyone to contribute right away.