A site that can be a very effective option for online education course development and other educational activities is PeanutButterWiki* or PBwiki, the world's largest provider of hosted business and educational wikis.** Created in 2005 by three Stanford University graduate students, PBrwiki hosts over 400,000 wikis and serves millions of users every month.

The design is very simple and useful for people who want a private collaboration environment. The instructor sets up the basic "shell" of the course (templates available) which can include Powerpoints, Word docs, PDFs, images, and anything else. Plugins such as a shared calendar, Youtube videos, chat rooms, voice chat, and more can all be integrated into PBwiki.

The wiki can be designated public or private. If private, a password is required to access the content. All users with a password have the ability to make changes, additions, and contributions to the site. There is no restriction on the number of users, number of pages, or revisions, even for free wikis.

The Standard PBwiki Plan is free. The Premium Plan begins at $9.99 per month and offers additional benefits such as enhanced security management, more space allowances, and more customizable features.

A great benefit of wikis is that they offer the opportunity for interaction and teamwork which can be engaging, motivating, and fun for students. Visit pbwiki and check out this safe and user-friendly tool for online education course work that promotes learning and teacher-student collaboration.

* PBwiki is a commercial wiki farm, a collection of computer servers usually maintained by a business to accomplish server needs far beyond the capability of one machine. (Wikipedia)

**A wiki is software that allows users to easily create, edit, and link pages together. (Wikipedia)