Virtual Learning Network

Hi there, my first post under VLN please excuse any mistakes I might make!

I teach Art, Music and ICT at a Decile 1 Intermediate School in the Far North. For this year I am also one of two ELTs at our school. I am keen to get into e-learning to a greater level than previously, at this stage in my classes, hopefully eventually further within our school.

For Term 2 I plan to teach my students how to make their own comic strips. Different to last year I want to have all work web based, meaning no work book, no pens or pencils (at least not dictated by me!). I have got a general idea of how I will structure my sessions, I also blog and have run a wiki previously, but I need some advice in how I go about setting this unit up in the web.

Our school has a student homes for each student, but I don't want to be tied to school to do my marking etc. So I am looking for a way to put a site up for free which will have my topic and background info, the brief for this term etc. I plan to include links/video clips to relevant sites and activities. I also need a space, well a lot of spaces, for my student to post their work - I teach approx. 200 students. Ideally this would be grouped into classes, with each student having their own private folder (meaning they and I can access it only).

To complicate matters further, I would like to be notified of work students have posted as completed, and ideally, a student could only move on to the next activitiy once I had checked their submitted work and given the ok.

I'm not asking for much, am I? lol Any advice would be immensely appreciated!!!!!! Many thanks in advance, Monika