Tools
Many possible online tools can accomplish the goals for this project.  Some will be more effective in most targeted areas; while others will be less effective over all.  Possible solutions must address the needs of the group and the individual participant.  Since the program will focus on extending staff development of a Learning Management System (LMS), the selected tool should help the participants to use the LMS and to find ways to integrate the LMS into their classroom environment.  The tool should support participants in searching for and finding relevant information.

Requirements
Preferably, the tool should be able to support communication, data storage, collaboration, and exhibit flexibility.  To help participant buy-in of the LMS, this tool should open pathways of communication between the disperse participants (across the county of Orange – about 780 square miles).  Such communication should focus on pedagogy and application of instructional findings.  This tool should also promote data storage as in a data base structure.  Such data storage should focus on lesson plans, events, seeds, media, and findings.  This tool should encourage participants to collaborate with peer members.  Such collaboration should focus on the professional needs of the participants.  Finally, this tool should exhibit the ability to be flexible to the needs of the group as it develops.  Such flexibility should focus on ease of use and reformatting of the data storage.

Evaluation
Is there really only one perfect tool for this project?  No.  Possible options shall be selected from the synchronous/asynchronous tool within the OC Online/Angel LMS environment – behind the password protected gate.  The following tools were evaluated:

• Blogs:  Excellent for communication, but lacked data storage and flexibility – can be used for support
• Discussion Forums (Threaded Discussions):  Good for communication, but lacked structure of data and flexibility – can be used for support
• Email (CourseMail):  Excellent for one-to-one and blast communication, but lacked full solution for communication and data storage  – can be used for support
• Instant Messenger:  Good for real-time communications though other IM services support videoconferencing, but lacks effective data storage ability – not recommended
• Podcasts:  Excellent for broad communication and data storage, but does not support documents and other visual media – can be used for support
• Whiteboard: Good for real-time visual communications, but lacks effective data storage ability – like IM and not recommended – video would be superior
• Wikis: Excellent for offline communications, best data storage, strong collaboration tool, and is flexible. This project aims to help participants to use OC Online/Angel LMS and to professionally collaborate with other members. 

After the analysis, the wiki tool showed to be the strongest choice.  A more effective solution will use the other tools to support participant communication and collaboration.

Research
From a literature review on wikis within the K12 and higher education market, I found good evidence that this type of application has been recently studied, found to be instructionally effective, and has promoted learner interest.  Unfortunately, I was not able to find a study or an article that matches my project.  I would have liked to have found some barriers, constraints, guidelines, and results.  The literature seems to point positively toward releasing the control of the data storage to the participants, and to some point I intended on doing just that.  However, this will be an Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) website, and the management of the site will need to conform to established professional conventions.  The literature also focuses on the positive nature of collaboration with in knowledge construction in the wiki environment.  We build it – so that it mean more to us.

IT Concerns
OC Online/Angel LMS has been up and running at the OCDE for over a year now.  The application with supporting storage is now being housed on two servers at the county offices in Costa Mesa.  The county is highly motivated to make this program work.  They have invested time, effort, and available funding toward establishing OC Online through out the public and private elementary, middle, and high school.  Angel LMS is not open source.  Created in 2000, Angel is an enterprise level eLearning software system that was designed for higher education, but has been making inroads into the K12 and corporate markets.

TeacherWiki
Since OCDE is hosting the Angel LMS system, the county will manage user access, application updates, and related resources.  The EdTech department in OCDE will continue to be the direct managers of the program, and I will be working for them on training teachers on the application.  When teachers are given their login information, they are automatically enrolled into the OCDE Intro course, and in the course will be the wikki tool.  TeacherWiki will be the name of the tool.  With the help of other members of the EDTech department, we will facilitate the promotion, gardening, and seeding of the tool.  But most of the content will be constructed and maintained by the participating teachers. 

If some of this goes well, then teachers will learn to use an LMS to achieve effective instruction, they will join in and participate into the TeacherWiki, but above all they will reach out make connections with their peers.

Here is a wonderful video titled – Wikis in Plain English