I've never heard of this site before but it seems to follow a similar model to other websites I've used in school for group projects and discussions in a centralized location/website affiliated to the college. This is just different in the presentation, organization, and methods of interaction, in addition to not being explicitly associated with any particular educational entity.
This is conjecture though... I'm mainly saying that because all I see on the front page are educational and local-community resources, and the link you provided of your own "inn" redirects me back to the homepage because I don't have permissions to view it (maybe I need to create an account?).