There are many open source content management systems out there which could make good platforms for writing teachers to use in their classes.

However, almost all of them present access barriers to all but the most technologically minded in computers and writing. Difficult installation processes and minimal configuration documentation make it even time consuming for the more geeky-minded among us. Suppose documentation were better, installation easier, and a good software platform was more readily configured out of the box to work in the classroom?

With that in mind, myself and a few others will begin working with drupal.org on creating more user-friendly documentation, offering input on usability, and eventually creating an installation distribution configured as an online classroom space. I recently posted about this project to the Drupal development list (the announcement has now been posted to drupal.org). Know that the Drupal development team is excited about having us work on expanding the Drupal experience for a wider audience and have already created a new mailing list to help create a better user experience for Drupal.

Now, while Drupal is an excellent platform for an Internet community of writers, there are no grading and testing modules. This would be a problem for many disciplines, but not so much I think for those of us who are writing teachers and really just want a smooth online communication experience (as opposed to Blackboard and WebCT). In the long run, if this plan is successful, I would imagine that coders in education might be attracted to Drupal and create grading and testing modules, thus expanding Drupal's ability to appeal to a wider education audience.

Note that this is a unique opportunity. Dries, the lead developer at Drupal, has been discussing this project with me. He's willing to work with us on making this happen as he sees it as benefitting Drupal greatly in the long run for all users. I therefore hope that other educators will join in.

For those of you who don't know about Drupal, here are a few important features:

• Every user can have their own weblog space within the site. All the teacher would have to do is turn on the module (one checkbox) and give regular users the permission to use it (another checkbox). It's all automatic.
• Forums and Chat module
• Comment boards
• a wiki-like Collaborative Book
• Individual static site pages
• There's a Story module which creates a community center home page, similar to the Kairosnews home page. However, the teacher can also enable a moderation queue which allows site users to promote individual weblog posts to the front page.
• Useful as an individual blog site:

  • CultureCat
  • cyberdash
  • Langemarks Cafe
  • urlgreyhot
  • writingfly

• and much more!