The German-Austrian Siemens subsidiary bit media GmbH is a partner in the EU's WELCOME project, which aims at developing internationally certified eLearning courses for the technical trade. Lead by the Berufsbildungszentrum (BBZ) Hellweg, nine project partners from seven EU member states have joined forces to develop eLearning content for the training areas of information and communication technology (ICT), mechatronics, and the handling and programming of computerized numerical control (CNC) machines.

The task of the project partners within this market validation project is to evaluate the respective needs for eLearning or blended learning formats in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, and Austria, and to analyze the possibilities for the development and market introduction of such solutions.

Bit media plays a key role in this project in several respects: bit media is a content partner that not only contributes large amounts of multimedia content to this project but also its know-how in technology, methodology, and the didactics of designing, developing and adapting eLearning solutions to the purposes of the WELCOME project. bit media also plays a role as platform and service provider that facilitates market testing with its learning management system SITOS. SITOS will deliver the Welcome content for the online learning pilot run with selected participants in the five WELCOME countries. Thirdly, bit media is WELCOME's multiplier responsible for the target country Austria.


BBZ and bit media can look back on five years of successful cooperation in the eLearning area. "bit media has provided and maintained our online learning platform since September 2001", Achim Hill, project manager for BBZ, reports. "During this cooperation we have come to appreciate the company as a versatile eLearning expert and were quickly convinced to also engage in a close cooperation with bit media in the WELCOME project."

Based on curricula that are applied throughout Europe, three certificates are planned within the Welcome project:

• The European ICT Pass (European Information Communication Technologies Pass)
• The European Mechatronics Pass
• The European CNC Pass

The programs will address small and medium enterprises (SME), craftsmen and individual members of the national labor force. They are conceptualized as affordable further qualification products for employees within the context of a growing demand for technical skills. Secondly, the WELCOME project aims at facilitating qualification standards that are comparable throughout the EU. Achim Hill explains the reasons for the initiative: "The demand for internationally accepted eLearning courses has continuously risen over the past years. Formats addressing the technical trade are not yet on the market."

The Directorate-General Information Society and Media of the European Commission only recently retroactively approved a 1.2 million euro grant from the eTen program that funds network based e-serves with a trans-European dimension. Until November 2005, the eLearning courses are scheduled to undergo a test run with a total of a thousand test users in the project's five target countries. Companies interested in participating in the test run can apply at the Berufsbildungszentrum Hellweg beginning immediately. The WELCOME project will run over a period of eighteen months. If the project proves successful, the new EU certificates will be available in fall 2006.