Google Groups vs Lefora

When browsing the Internet to find a suitable forum to use for my VLE I came across two main contenders so this is:

Google Groups and Lefora are both platforms for the creation of a forum and the invitation of persons to take part. 

Google Groups is the more basic of the two. You set up a Group to which you can invite students via e-mail and create discussion topics as well as general announcements for viewing or editing. One of the main benefits of this forum is that notifications can automatically be sent to the students e-mail. If a new topic is created for example, the student can receive and e-mail notifying them of it. This should mean that students will never miss an important announcement or topic for discussion.

The other main benefit of Google Groups is that it is completely compatible with Google Sites. This means that the forum is easily embedded into the Site and can exist both on the VLE as well as its own entity. 

Moving onto Lefora the benefits of this forum are quite different. Although it does provide a notification system it is not as useful as the Google Groups feature. Also, Google has recently disabled the ability to embed the forum onto Google Sites. Therefore a link must be provided to the forum itself.

The benefits of Lefora lie in its customisation. Everything from the look of the forum to the type of forum and topic you want to create can be customised. Unlike Google Groups (in my opinion) Lefora actually looks like a forum. One of the best features that can be customised is the post count 'levelling up' system. This means that the more posts students make the different level they can achieve. These levels can be named whatever the teacher wishes and can be linked to rewards both on the forum and in the classroom. Having frequented football forums for quite some time I have found the Lefora template to be the most user friendly and simply the best template to use. 

A payoff of all the customisation is the fact that the Lefora forum becomes its own stand alone entity. Whereas Google Groups would be embedded into the VLE and has the look of a formal almost administrative forum, Lefora provides students with somewhat of an escape. As a student myself I know that I am more likely to use applications that are not strictly college based. As Lefora is its own forum with its own customisation I feel that students will be more willing to visit the site and interact with it. 

For the reasons stated therefore, I have decided to create a Lefora forum and provide a link for it on my VLE. Additionally however, I have created a makeshift forum directly through my VLE for those students who do not wish to frequent an outside forum but may still have issues to discuss.