Life Education Australia Deploys Centra Online Collaboration to Deliver Learning to Thousands of Remote and Rural Students
LEXINGTON, Mass. (August 31, 2004) – Centra (NASDAQ: CTRA), a leading provider of specialized application software and services for online business collaboration, today announced that Life Education Australia, a registered charity that provides school-based drug education to approximately 1 million Australian primary and high school students, has deployed Centra’s virtual classroom application to deliver real-time online instruction. Over the next year, thousands of students who do not attend traditional brick and mortar schools in remote and rural areas will benefit from Centra-powered online learning.
“Centra increases our ability to provide equal support and education to communities throughout Australia with a highly interactive, easy-to-use online interface that engages and motivates students who would otherwise not have access to our resources,†said Lorraine Wiseman, ICT Director, Life Education Australia. “Centra enables us to consult with teachers online prior to course delivery and offer follow up sessions to evaluate the success of our programs. This way we can ensure more effective integration of Life Education into the school health curriculum.â€
Life Education Australia works to provide teachers with the resources, services and technologies they need to reach all student populations and teach in meaningful and relevant ways. With Centra, teachers can provide additional mentoring opportunities online that address issues arising from lessons delivered during the mobile classroom visits. Recorded sessions offer students a way to review lessons at their convenience.
According to Wiseman, Centra also brings an unexpected side benefit – a higher level of collaboration and positive communication among students.
Centra-Powered Online Course Reduces School Bullying
At Eastwood Primary School in New South Wales, teacher Jackie Slaviero became aware of some bullying issues that were disrupting the classroom. She turned to Life Education Australia to work with her in developing and testing a Centra-powered online session to address the topic of bullying and help her virtually guide students through the course.
The program exceeded expectations. Slaviero reported that the collaborative online environment provided an open forum for facilitating discussions around bullying, which lead to a quick identification of the problems. She found higher participation in the sessions by quiet students and, most importantly, a marked decrease in bullying in the school and improved student cooperation.
“Students enjoyed the interactivity of using Centra. The online environment drew them out and gave quiet students a good medium for voicing their thoughts,†said Slaviero. “We are extremely pleased with the outcome of the course and have made the online session available to the school as a recording.â€
“We are thrilled to be able to support Life Education Australia in its health education programs,†said Nigel Wilson, country manager for Centra Australia and New Zealand. “This program exemplifies how educational institutions can innovate with technology to augment traditional classroom learning using state-of-the-art, Web-based collaborative learning applications.â€
About Life Education Australia
Life Education Australia is a registered charity that provides school-based drug education to approximately 1 million Australian primary and high school students each year. Life Education Australia works in partnership with schools, communities and health agencies to achieve its mission of excellence in drug education, especially for young people. Life Education operates in eight overseas countries: China (Hong Kong), Cyprus, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Thailand, UK and USA. When requested, Life Education Australia seeks to assist these independent organizations, which together operate in more than 100 classrooms. Each organization is autonomous and is responsible for its own policies and programs. For more information, visit http://www.life-educationaustralia.com.au/
About Centra
Online business collaboration solutions from Centra create workforce efficiencies and enable organizations to share and exchange business-critical information with geographically distributed customers, partners, prospects and employees. Centra’s solutions integrate real-time collaboration and departmental business processes with specialized applications that increase sales effectiveness, improve collaborative learning and accelerate enterprise application rollouts and customer acquisition initiatives. Currently available in 12 languages, Centra solutions can be deployed as on-site software or through its ASP service and are supported by an active ecosystem of value-added partners, including Siebel, PeopleSoft, SAP and Deloitte Consulting. Organizations across every major industry and market sector choose Centra, including Wyndham International, Weyerhaeuser, Underwriters Laboratories, BMW and Stanford University. Headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, Centra serves a worldwide customer base throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, visit http://www.centra.com/.
Centra is a registered trademark of Centra Software, Inc. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.
