ABC Education Delivers Rich Resources to Teachers and Students

Choosing the platform

A critical success factor in the deployment of the project was the short time to deliver. The flexibility of the Liferay platform and out-of-the-box functionality were key factors in the selection of Liferay and enabled ABC Digital Education to meet their target delivery dates.

There was a rapid implementation, from signing in June to a live product in just over five months with 300 pieces of content live from day one. ABC Education now has more than 4000 pieces of content.

The Liferay platform provides flexibility and extensibility for building customised functionality and capacity for future extension and integration. Many features required for the ABC Education digital platform, such as social media capabilities, are supported out of the box, so significantly less development resources and time are required to develop.

Project aims and vision

A significant amount of the content delivered on ABC Education is rich video and audio materials and live events, therefore, the site needed to be delivered on a light-weight, open standard web platform which would enable rapid development and flexibility.

The site also needed to appeal to a broad audience, students ranging in age from five to 16, teachers and parents, and have organised and searchable content delivered in an engaging way for all users.

In addition, the digital platform needed to:

• Use and promote the capability of the National Broadband Network

• Provide engaging and immersive digital learning experiences to engage students and parents in the home

• Deliver a wealth of digital media clips, content and interactive tools which align to the Australian national curriculum

• Ensure the ABC fulfils its charter obligation to educate and inform Australians

The destination for Australian education

ABC Education offers a world-class education experience and all resources are free to watch and play at home and in school and guaranteed to spark discussion and promote curiosity.

Development within the Liferay framework ensured a consistent and predictable output and reduced management overhead. The Liferay technology has enabled the ABC team to continually update the site and now some time on from when the site launched it is still fresh and engaging for students, teachers and parents who visit the site regularly.

ABC Education has become an indispensable resource to help transform learning in the classroom. For students, it is the go to place for helpful,

fun and informative content in a world that is media rich and a space to create and collaborate. The feedback from teachers across Australia

has all been positive and included praise for the sites accessibility, ease of use, and suitability for Australian students.

Since the site’s launch partnerships with the National Archives of Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), Australian War Memorial, The National Portrait Gallery, and National Museum of Australia have been established to supplement existing content.

These partnerships deliver selected content from the institutions’ exhibitions and collections to teachers and students through the site – providing rarely seen archival documents, artefacts and artworks – bringing day-to-day lessons to life.

The ABC Education team is now focused on increasing audience reach to more teachers and students.