I teach some courses online using Moodle and some using Yahoo! Groups.   I think Yahoo! Groups is much easier to use, partly because it has   fewer fancy features. You can learn about Yahoo! Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/ When I use Yahoo! Groups I also use skype for on-line keyboard chats.   The skype software can be downloaded free from skype.com Skype also provides voice communication and video communication.

Aloha, George

HIFA2015 profile: George Kent is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Hawaii. kent AT hawaii.edu