The contest is between Pebblepad, Wordpress, Google Sites and Blurb.
Pebblepad is great for a national or regional institution creating a workbook-like course for swimming or nursing.
I just completed a Swim Coach Level II course through Swim England that used Pebblepad. It was a monster! Demanding, massive and took several months to pull together and upload the required materials.
Wordpress is a blog.
Some tutors at GB MET swear by it and many years of students in Prop Creation / Theatre Design have used Wordpress not just to blog, but as a way to submit work for grading and to develop clients or potential employers. Having been on Wordpress since 2007 you'd think I'd be convinced: I am not. Lately the platform has become overly slick and in the process tricksy. I feel like an artist on ice-skates; it works but I don't feel in control.
Google Sites is like a paired back version of Wordpress.
For students it does the basics without too much fuss. I'm giving it a go and will report back more fully in due course.
Blurb is new.
For a tool aimed at creating eportfolio like collections of work it has the required focus and simplicity. I could see myself introducing this to students in construction and motor vehicle maintenance; it has that level of practicality about it. I wonder if students in the creative arts would want more scope to design the experience?
On the other hand, from an examiner and tutor's point of view keeping it simple might be he best answer - like putting work up on a studio wall, or in this case on an electronic scroll of paper.