The relatively new and easy to use tool suite for building and managing online programs and courses, Blackboard's CourseInfo, is attracting attention with a great set of tools that can be used to create content, design assessments and manage all learner activity. Blackboard also allows you to try your hand at authoring and teaching with 120 days of free authoring and hosting of a class.

That's the way we started at UW-Madison and UW-Extension. Now UW-Extension has licensed CourseInfo, installed it at our institution and are in the early stages of developing programs and courses. The first FOCUS article in this issue looks at these beginning stages. The second two articles are from universities that are farther along - the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and California State University, Long Beach. They're each using it in quite different ways, as you'll see below.

(NOTE: If you'd like to try out the 120 day free offer, go to: http://classroom.blackboard.net)