The Training Foundation standardises on Centra
Centra Software has announced that The Training Foundation has selected their virtual classroom application to enhance the Certified eLearning Professional Programme(CeLP).
The Training Foundation's Learning Solutions Director Les Hobbs commented on the decision to standardise on Centra's technology: "Over the last two years we have received many requests to develop a course for those involved with delivering training using virtual classroom technology, with the ability to broadcast live sessions, facilitating effective learning over the Internet in real-time to distributed groups of students. As a result we developed our Virtual Trainer course, which uses Centra's technology, as part of the CeLP programme and launched a pilot course during the spring of 2003. The online class covered a range of topics to help trainers understand how to effectively deliver engaging courses in a virtual classroom environment, including selecting a virtual medium, preparing an online lesson, facilitating effective interactive learning and developing best-practice methods."
According to Hobbs, the feedback from learners regarding the Virtual Trainer course and the Centra application was so uniformly positive that The Training Foundation entered into contract negotiations with Centra to extend the use of the virtual classroom technology to all other courses within the CeLP curriculum.
Hobbs added, "We are delighted to have signed this contract with Centra, which will allow us to continue to use Centra's virtual classroom application for our Virtual Trainer course and provide a richer set of interactive learning experiences to learners enrolled in the other eLearning courses. By leveraging the virtual classroom capabilities of Centra's real-time collaboration application, we can provide online courses for up to 500 people at one time, something we were unable to achieve before we discovered Centra."
Centra's virtual classroom solution is probably the most widely used solution for the delivery of eLearning. Designed for highly interactive teamwork, the virtual classroom enables companies to operate faster and more effectively across great distances, while reducing training-related travel, facility and telecommunications costs. A real-time, highly scalable application deployed across Internets, extranets and Intranets, Centra's virtual classroom brings together voice, video, data and graphics in an easy-to-use interface for structured group-learning and can be used over connections as low as 28.8 kbps.