Have you seen Edu2.0, which calls itself ‘next generation education’? If not you should seriously check it out. It gets five stars from this guy and here is a summary w/top five big wins.

Free web-based education site with comprehensive features for teachers, students and parents. Anyone can teach and/or learn using the system, whether it’s at school, at home, or on the move.

It’s mission is to “make teaching and learning more efficient and enjoyable”, which is refreshing for learning professionals, who have been struggling with clunky purchased or home grown LMSs or lack there of.

1. Facebook-like dashboard - Your Home ‘Welcome’ space gives you a quick snapshot of how many classes you created, and/registered in, messages, contributions and even friends. Talk about ease of use for teachers, administrators and students. This is one of the reasons that people are really getting into Facebook. This type of high level connection helps us easily manage all the people we know, things we’ve done and things yet to do.

2. Web-hosted & Easy to Use - Besides being FREE, which is a BIG, BIG plus, it is web-hosted, so I can take this LMS anywhere with an internet connection, whether workstation or portable device, office or coffee shop. This is the exact reason I started using Google Docs, so I am not tied down to a location and my information can be with me at all times, when I need it. No need to install anything, just create an account and go. It is also extremely user friendly, and is similar to the Wordpress model, which makes creating and organizing content simple and fun, which can 100% motivate you.

3. Private or Public, you decide - It has growing repository of free (open) content, which would make Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams proud. As more and more organizations are opening up to leverage external resources, open content is key. At the same time, if you want to keep your (proprietary) content private, you can easily choose to do so, and not risk putting a wall around your learners because they still can access all the other open content along side.

4. Useful Tools - It includes everything you need for your virtual learning environment at your fingertips including wikis, forums, feeds and gradebooks. Besides helping instructors stay on top, it helps learners stay connected and facilitates. participation.

5. Excellent design - With a pastel color palette, simple icons and round tabs and buttons, it makes navigation quick and fun. Instead of being in a rigid, clunky ’system’, it feels like you are in a virtual IKEA office, which certainly makes for a comfortable learning environment.