Many workshops at the TÜV NORD Akademie thrive on real-world practice. Participants are not only expected to learn theory, but also to master practical skills and inspection processes, such as inspecting industrial trucks or technical equipment.

However, traditional classroom training reached its limits in this area. In groups of up to twenty participants, only a few can actively practice on the machine, while others can only watch or become distracted. Practicing was only possible at locations where the appropriate equipment was available. Webinars did not allow for this important practical component at all. Weather conditions made outdoor training considerably more difficult resulting in limited scalability, fewer course offerings, and longer travel distances for customers.

Therefore, TÜV NORD Akademie aimed to provide hands-on training for all participants, regardless of the location or format of the booked event.

One of the first successful projects was training for forklift inspectors. Together with the instructors, TÜV NORD Akademie developed content that allows participants to perform realistic inspection procedures in Virtual Reality.

Particularly impressive aspects included the combination of high quality and didactic standards, as well as the possibility of not only having training courses produced externally, but also adapting or further developing them independently. Learners can thus practice in a safe learning environment without high costs or organizational hurdles. Training courses now also take place in locations where real machines are not available, such as at Checkpoint Charlie in the heart of Germany's capital Berlin.

Results

9,000 Participants and Excellent Feedback

In the first year of rollout, TÜV NORD trained around 9,000 course participants in approximately 50 courses in the hard skills area. Of these, around 7,500 people used VR glasses and a further 1,500 participants completed the training courses in their browser as part of webinars.

Development and rollout costs were also lower than expected. Thanks to 3spin Learning's no-code authoring tool, twice as many training courses as hoped for were created and implemented within the scheduled time frame. In addition, the cloud platform allows training courses to be rolled out and updated across locations in just a few minutes.

In addition, TÜV NORD Akademie is currently working on stand-alone training courses so that work routines can be internalized at one's own pace. The result is a scalable learning library that makes continuing education even more accessible.