I have been using a phpBB forum as a tool to interact with my pupils for about six months now and I have to say that I have enjoyed it very much and that my pupils continue to use it to get in touch with me if they have a problem, to hand in homework and to chat to each other online. You can see what they have been getting up to here.

phpBB3 has now been released and it offers a much better looking interface, more up to date with more rounded edges and nicer and more subtle icons. The bulk of the changes has taken place behind the scenes though, with better security features and admin management tools.

I am a bit disappointed, however, that the new forum does not allow html code in posts, so if you or your pupils want to add youtube videos or vokis, for example, to your posts you’ll have to find alternative ways of doing it, like creating substitute BBcode to behave like html syntax, which immediately puts me off as a non techie. I’ll have to play around with it first and see how I get on.

In order to install phpBB3 you have to have your own webspace with supported MySQL databases (if this doesn’t mean much to you, just tell your hosting provider that you need databases, they’ll provide you with the username and password you need to install phpBB3).

This post is tagged internet resources