Best environment to foster teacher collaboration and community.

Hi all,

I am working with teachers from several schools this summer to help them learn to use "technology-enhanced science investigations" with their students. In addition to the summer workshops, we plan for participating teachers will take an online course during the year and participate in an online community where they can share their experiences, struggles, etc they have using these new tools.

We would like to introduce the online teacher community tools in the summer workshop so that teachers feel comfortable with them before they return to school in the fall. Right now, we are considering several different tool options, including a course management system, a wiki/ning combination, or a all-in-one online community environment that includes file storage and discussion forums, but no wiki.

I'll ask three questions that you can choose from to offer wisdom:

1. What advantages or disadvantages have you experienced in any of these online settings?
2. What might make one of these approaches more or less appropriate for fostering a teacher community?
3. What other questions or tools should we be considering when making this choice?

Thanks in advance your your thoughts!.

Jay