TeacherEase is used in elementary and high schools. It provides lesson planning tools for the teacher, access to local, state and national standards on which to base lessons and tracking for attendance, grades and even behavior. It includes a centralized database through which parents can access lesson plans and student grades, as well as teacher comments.
Blackboard is a learning system used by many colleges. It includes online bulletin boards through which the instructor can post instruction and assignments, and receive materials from students. It also provides chat-type functions, which allow for groups to meet in real-time. Many colleges also include access to reference resources for students.
Moodle is an open-source learning system. It includes many of the same features as Blackboard at a more modest licensing cost. It allows instructors to post material, open student discussion groups, receive student material and track grades. It also allows for real-time conferencing, email communication and the ability to post links to reference materials.
Desire2Learn was founded in 1999. It is sufficiently flexible to be used by elementary and high schools, as well as by institutes of higher learning. It has many of the same features as the other three systems, but emphasizes that it can also be accessed through mobile media, such as Blackberry or Android.