Yahoo Groups (YG)

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo 

• There is a Daily Digest option
• Space for Files, Photos, Albums, Links
• Poll and database features
• Calendar feature ("Events") 

• Default setting keeps thread history in each post, making people scroll through lots of text to see relevant posts. Posters can erase irrelevant material, but they often forget to do so. 
• Inconvenient to use with smart phones if posters do not delete old messages

• YG has been used in EVO ever since its inception. Most coordinators are familiar with it, and detailed tutorials are available here, but Yahoo has instituted many changes recently, making some of the tutorials obsolete.
• EVO 2014 sessions that used YG include EVO Drama and ICT4ELT.

Google Plus Communities

https://plus.google.com/communities 

Here's 3 min video about creating your own community

And a great 15 min video about using G+ circles and communities:

• Create categories and have separate threads within categories.
• Works well with smart phones. [using the G+ app.] 
  

• You need a Google Plus account to use it. Accounts are free, but it is unavailable in China and possibly Iran as well. 
• There is no daily digest option. You can see if there are new messages from the bell on the top of any Google page (when signed into your G+account)  and you can turn off email notifications
  
• When looking for messages in the G+C, use the search box below the image to find the message you are looking for. 
• Very difficult to find old messages. Scrolling down and sideways is necessary.  

• Several EVO sessions used Google + Communities in EVO 2014, and the Coordination Team used it for planning purposes for EVO2015 (with varying success ;-). See Crafting the ePerfect Textbook, Dream Act: What Teachers Can Do, NNESTEVO, and Peacebuilding for Language Learners. 

WizIQ

http://www.wiziq.com

A nice video by our own Nellie Deutsch explains how to set up a course in WizIQ:

Edmodo

http://edmodo.com 

• There is a smart phone app  
  

• There is no Daily Digest option. You can turn off email notifications, but then you must remember to check online for new posts. 

• EVO sessions that have used Edmodo include Neuroscience in Education 
• This is a good course delivery option, but EVO sessions are not courses. 
  

Moodle

• Well established CMS with threading for discussions and email notifications.
• If anyone has info on phone apps, please let us know.
• Accessible from smartphones. 
  

• Not free unless your school/institution will support it, or you have your own server and can manage it yourself.
• Threading means discussions may break down into discrete communities.

• This is a good course delivery option, but may not be ideal for EVO sessions.
• Moodle for Teachers and a number of other EVO sessions have used it successfully.

ProBoards

Free Text forum for asynchronous communication

Easy to use — Our free forums are easy to use, set up, moderate, administrate, and customize.

•No Size Limit — With ProBoards, you can create as many categories, boards, members, threads, topics and posts as you like. There's no limit.

•Customizable — Create a unique and wondrous place with the best customization tools of any free forum. •Mobile App — Android or iPhone; •Simple Admin Tools —  clean organization of our easy to use admin area with clear language and a simple layout.

•YouTube Embedding — members can share their favorite YouTube clips and embed them directly into discussion posts.

•Upload Files — Share files with other forum members (music, pictures, documents, etc); Upload attachments directly into topic posts.

•Best 24/7 support — We're here to help 24/7 with our Getting Started Guide, our detailed Help Guide, and the best support community on the Internet. •Remotely Hosted — No software, no installation, no downloads.

•Unlimited Bandwidth — ProBoards doesn't place any limits on bandwidth usage for your community.

•Scalable — Whether your group is a dozen of your closest friends or millions of people, ProBoards free forums will scale to accommodate any size community!

•Top Moderation Tools — As forum moderating can often be a delicate job, ProBoards provides effective tools for moderators to discuss issues and render decisions beyond the view of other forum members.  Also, you can assign different moderators for each of the threads (great for EVO weekly mods)

Very easy to find new and old messages.

It was used in the Becoming a Webhead (BaW) session for many years to discuss the weekly readings. Here two examples (2010-2011)

http://baw2010.proboards.com/    http://baw2011.proboards.com/