I used Etudes for the first time in community college. It was easy to navigate and served multiple tools for an online course. There's the usual course map and annoucements, uploading homework and checking your grades, but there was also a discussion forum (in which my instructor required us to post and comment for credits) and private messaging (esp. useful for contacting your different professors when you don't want to remember or confuse them). I mean everything is very straightforward. No hidden functions, at least not for my online classes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I don't think there was an email notification function. Meaning if there is a course announcement or if the professor replies to your PM, you have to login to your Etudes account to find out. Which also means it is easy to miss a course updated if you don't read the updates page. Or you have to stay logged in and wait by your PM for your professor's reply. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
