International ILIAS Blog
ILIAS @ KROHNE: Positive Experiences with an Open Learning Platform
In the series ILIAS @ home we like to use our blog to introduce you to new and veteran users of ILIAS and show you how they use the software and help to make it even better as part of the ILIAS community. Today, in the eighth part of the series, we are going to take a look at how ILIAS is used at the KROHNE Group.
How does measurement technology work? How can we best measure physical values such as flow rate, fill level, temperature, and pressure? One of the world's leading manufacturers and suppliers of solutions in this area is the KROHNE Group based in Duisburg, Germany. Whilst there are differences between the measuring devices of the various manufacturers, the underlying physical principles are constant. For this reason the people at KROHNE came up with the idea to have not just an internal ILIAS environment, but to also create a second platform where external visitors can learn about the basic principles behind measurement technology. The cunning plan behind this idea? As well as helping to maintain existing customer relations, the learning content, kept supplier-neutral, would help generate new interest in the company. Additionally, the free material on offer would speak directly to other interesting target groups – such as potential future staff among students.
The KROHNE Academy Online has now been available worldwide since 2012 and has over 12000 active users. Hundreds more join every month. The users spend up to 20 hours on the free courses - a huge success for Steffen Brauers, who is responsible for direct marketing and global e-learning at KROHNE.
It is a priority for Brauers that the content of the platform can be accessed properly using mobile devices. For this reason the Academy was promptly updated to ILIAS 5, which has has in-built responsive capabilities. Further adjustments were made to the platform by the ILIAS Premium Partner Qualitus. As well as installation, hosting and support, advice was given regarding the implementation of various usability and design optimisation issues. The whole platform now visually matches the brand design of KROHNE and is extremely easy to use even for inexperienced learners. Just one click gets you to the course you want to access, a further click gets you in to the SCORM learning module contained within. All learning modules have had professional narration tracks added in up to five different languages. Content is therefore available not only in German and English, but also French, Russian and even Chinese.

The relevant tests are also integrated into the SCORM modules. If a learner passes the test, then the ILIAS-internal Learning Progress is updated and a certificate generated. This service is also a standard part of ILIAS and has been adjusted by KROHNE and Qualitus to visually match the company's corporate design.
On average around 60 learners per day are active on the platform. Thanks to its international outlook over 20% of platform users come from India, followed by Germany and the USA. Numerous interested parties also visit the platform from Nigeria, South Africa, Great Britain and France. KROHNE gathers the feedback on its learning content using a survey directly in ILIAS.
The response to the Academy has been thoroughly positive. Many users take multiple courses on the platform and it has even led to new customers being gained in the UK. The jury of the Comenius Awards like the KROHNE Academy Online so much, that they awarded it with the Comenius EduMedia Seal of Approval. Word of the quality of the platform has also spread throughout the industry: a large oil company was so impressed by the course on the leakage monitoring of pipelines that, with KROHNE's permission, they made it available to their 50000 members of staff.
Understandably, Steffen Brauers is really pleased with this positive feedback – and with ILIAS. After tests of a commercially available LMS and a different open source system proved unsatisfactory, ILIAS now fulfils all the requirements KROHNE has of a platform. The only thing Brauers would like for his department would be a more clearly arranged reporting in the form of a dashboard.
Due to their positive experience with ILIAS, KROHNE would like to continue developing and expanding their platform. A first step was the development of a comprehensive training course on functional safety together with TÜV Nord (a German technical inspection association) and two further partners from the industry. 10 learning modules cover the international safety standards. The contents ranges from hazard and risk assessment to calculation examples and the implementation of necessary measures. Although the course is being advertised on a separate website, all learning modules are available directly in the KROHNE Online Academy. According to Brauers, this type of company-independent cooperation could also be possible in other areas. It would, for example, be possible to offer premium accounts on the platform depending on the needs of the partners, so as to give other companies the option to create and administer their own accounts.
For those of you now interested in taking a look at the KROHNE Academy Online, you can register here free of cost and with no commitment.
