On the fly class guides?

One of the joys of teaching several sections of the same class is having the opportunity to reflect and refine, to experiment with activities and see the results immediately.

One way I like to structure dynamic class discussions is by asking students what they're going to need to complete their assignment. We often brainstorm these broad categories as a group and then fill in the blanks with specific tools and resources that will help them with the assignment. For example, if they haven't chosen a topic yet, what strategies or sources might they employ to find something interesting? I enjoy this approach because it unearths the collective wisdom of the group. It also allows me to assess their current state of understanding on the fly, both in terms of sources and concepts. Then if there are additional sources or approaches I think they will find useful, I'll throw those in along with theirs, building upon what they've already collected with a "if-you-like-Wikipedia-then-you'll-LOVE-The-Encyclopedia-of-American-Foreign-Policy" tone.

Traditionally, I've also created class webpages with a selection of sources and tools for that assignment. I'll show this at some point in our discussion, going back and forth between the strategies they've outlined, their sources, and my additional offerings. But wouldn't it be cool to collaboratively create this online class guide on the fly? In a recent session, a student emailed me a link from his laptop during the our discussion, then raised his hand to share it with the class. Wouldn't it have been great to be able to add this to the guide in the moment?

Any ideas for how I might do this? Have you done something like this? One idea would be to throw a plain Jane Word document on the screen and type things in, just as I would on a whiteboard, then tell them I'm going back to my office to hard code this bad boy, then push it through MyUW via SLN linking. But that just doesn't seem very sexy. Other ideas?

[EK]