Some classes are self-contained -- the textbook and lectures are the only knowledge resources students are directed to.

Many online course instructors develop extensive portals to important online resources in the subject area. A portal can be as simple as a collection of links, or as elaborate as a knowledgebase tool allowing students to construct a class knowledgebase. Ideally a portal includes the link, title, and description of the resource.

Portals differ from collections. A collection creates its own knowledge resources (such as this PBS site about their Civil War documentary). They offer a ton of content. It is a rich repository. It may be better than a portal. But it is self contained.

Some portals are supplied by the instructor. Library liaisons who are experts in a particular subject matter know which web sites are key resources in their field and can help you create portals. Other classes assign students to contribute sites to the portal. Portals which allow participants to add resources can grow quickly. An interesting approach for learning is to require students to find and contribute resources to a Class Contributed Knowledgebase. The knowledgebase is collaborative. Students and the instructor add value by adding new links and by commenting on existing resources.

Matrix is a digital library initiative developed by faculty at MSU. The project is creating tools for making your own portals, and they maintain many specialized portals. H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences) was the original portal they created. H-Net includes forums and reviews and lists of lists, job postings, and all manner of resources.

Imagine a way technology could be used to make a portal (a list of online resources including link and description) even more valuable for learning.