LiveText - A Cross Platform Online Education System

In the last couple months I have posted my disgust about two different online education systems that are being used at various colleges around the United States. My dislike for these systems stems from the fact that even though they are web based, they do not adhere to Web Standards. This means that they are not fully accessible on FOS operating systems as they should be.

Too often in the world in which we live only the negative things in life get attention drawn to them. That is why today I would like to talk about an online education system that is accessible to all students, not just those running Microsoft Windows. The service is called LiveText. Now while LiveText is not FOSS it does function (as all sites should) with an FOS browser. In fact if you look under their FAQ Firefox is their recommend browser for viewing the website.

LiveText provides all the key functions you need from an online education system:

• Turning in Assignments
• Grading Assignments
• Discussion Boards
• File Downloads/Hosting (for syllabus and the such)

LiveText also has a fairly decent online document creator, that largely resembles Google Docs, so students can create files right in their browser. In addition to all that I listed above LiveText allows you to easily create an "e-portfolio" of all the documents you have assembled on the website.

So if you are an educator looking for a platform to teach your online class through (or an administrator at a school that make the decision for many) I implore you to choose LiveText or another system that supports all operating systems (Not just those paying a Windows Tax).

~Jeff Hoogland