A friend of mine started http://hootcourse.com/ http://hootcourse.com/ which attempts to integrate the communication tools students are using with their courses

A friend of mine started http://hootcourse.com/ http://hootcourse.com/ which attempts to integrate the communication tools students are using with their courses. The instructors and students using it thus far seem to enjoy it. Though it's not a replacement for products like Blackboard since it's not really a repository for content, it does replace their poor communication tools well.