e-training

Centra software from Gurukul Online Learning Solutions has solutions for e-meetings, e-conferences, and e-symposiums. We checked out the Centra Symposium, which lets you set up a virtual classroom over the Internet, intranet, or extranet. You can hold training sessions for your employees, with the employees and the instructor located in different geographical locations.

You can also use Centra Conference for e-learning if you don’t need more advanced e-learning features. Conversely, you can buy Symposium and conduct both virtual training and virtual conferences.

You can either buy the software and host it on your Web server, or go in for an ASP model whereby the classroom is hosted on GurukulOnline’s server and you pay for it on an hourly or monthly basis for each user. On your server, you have to install CentraOne Enterprise Server Software (this supports thin-client architecture), on top of which you can install Conference or Symposium. The client component of CentraOne is just 1 MB, and connects you to the server for a session. The company claims that the software will work on even a 28.8 kbps Net connection.

Centra Symposium supports about 500 concurrent users on a single server, while Centra Conference supports 1,000. You can have an unlimited number of presenters or instructors in a session, who then control it. The interface is like a classroom.

The presenter, who has the mike, begins the session (voice-enabled). Trainees can ‘raise their hands’ electronically using the appropriate icon for comments or questions, and the instructor passes the mike to them. You can also engage in open or private chat with the instructor, though not with each other. Collaboration is possible through whiteboards and if you have a Webcam, you can also do video-conferencing–your picture will be displayed when you speak. There are also tools for instant Yes/No polling, applause, and laughter responses.

Its useful features include the ‘breakout’ tool, where the instructor can divide trainees into groups to work jointly on assignments. The instructor can then look into what each room is doing, but trainees in one room can’t see what other rooms are doing. You can also share applications–for example, if the instructor is talking about MS Excel and the trainees don’t have it, the instructor can share the application and all changes made to it by anyone in the class are visible to everyone.

Another interesting tool is WebSafari, where the whole class can visit websites together. You can also share Shockwave and

Flash content.

You can also record these live sessions to share them with other users later. The software also has detailed evaluation sheets that you can fill online at the end of the session and see whether your answers are correct or otherwise. Apart from this, the instructor can also give you feedback instantaneously and privately during the session.

Pricing begins at Rs 800,000 (for 10-15 concurrent users) for buying the software, though the ASP model may be cheaper if you don’t have too many employees. The exact price depends on the features you select.

Contact: GurukulOnline Learning Solutions.  Tel: 022-6141111

Fax: 6141111. Shradhanand Road Extension, Vile Parle (E), Mumbai 400057.

www.gurukulonline.co.in  E-mail: kumar@gurukulonline.co.in

Pragya Madan in Mumbai