My friend Howard Rheingold, (author of Virtual Community and Smart Mobs), has just launched the Social Media Classroom. The site includes an open-source (Drupal-based) web service for teachers and learners. It offers a whole bunch of stuff, generally referred to as “social media” (or, “digital media”) in an integrated platform. Courses using the SMC can select from a menu of social media, including integrated forum, blog, comment, wiki, chat, social bookmarking, RSS, microblogging, widgets and video commenting. There’s also a “classroom” side to the platform that includes various bits of curricular material: syllabi, lesson plans, resource repositories, screencasts and videos. And, possibly the best part, is that it’s all free. Or, as Howard puts it: It’s all free, as in both “freedom of speech” and “almost totally free beer.” Free is good.