Frequently Asked Questions













Who can register for Lernen.cloud?

There are no access restrictions. Anyone can register independent of education level, grade average, age, nationality or company affiliation.

Does participating in Lernen.cloud courses cost any money?

No, the courses are offered entirely for free.

What happens to my personal data?

Hasso Plattner Institute is subject to the Federal Data Protection Act, as the servers with the user data are situated in Germany. Hasso Plattner Institute does not transfer any personal data to third parties. For platform improvement and research reasons only, expressly pseudonymized data is used. Further information on data protection and privacy on Lernen.cloud can be found here.

In what languages are the Lernen.cloud courses offered?

Courses are either offered in German or in English. You will find the appropriate information on the course detail page.

Is it possible to get a record of achievement at Lernen.cloud?

Yes, after successful completion of an Lernen.cloud course you can receive a graded record of achievement from the Hasso Plattner Institute. The requirements for a successful participation depend on the informations given inside a course. The record of achievement will be issued in the name you used to register at Lernen.cloud. Official approvals for teachers are under discussion.

Can I discontinue my participation in an Lernen.cloud course whenever I want?

Yes, discontinuation of a course is possible at any time. You can unsubscribe from a course by using on the course detail page the button "Un-enroll". But this is not essential.

Can I still register at Lernen.cloud if a course has already started?

As a rule, course registration should take place before a course has begun - or at least in the first week of the course. Starting a course late means it becomes increasingly difficult to earn the number of points necessary for a graded record of achievement. You can, however, sign up for a course at any time and receive access to all material. After a course is over it is no longer possible to obtain a record of achievement as the deadlines have already passed.

What happens to the Lernen.cloud course material after the course is over?

After the end of a course, the course contents remain available on the platform. You can follow the course in the self-paced mode which is explained above. The discussion forum is closed after the course ends and remains in read-only mode.

Please explain self tests and homework. What is the difference between these two?

  • Self tests are short multiple-choice quizzes which are directly linked to a video or a text. The purpose of a self test is to self-control the understanding of the just required knowledge. The self-tests can be repeated as often as desired and they do not count for the record of achievement.
  • Homework, in contrary, has to be finished by a certain fixed (usually weekly) deadline and is precondition for receiving a record of achievement.
  • Depending on a certain course structure, additional assignments can be part of a course week. These serve, for example, as practical and interactive tasks in which course participants can directly apply their required knowledge. These could be for example coding assignments which are embedded on Lernen.cloud via an external tool. Points for the record of achievements can be collected as well by successfully finishing these assignments.

Please find additional explanations about offered homework, assignments, their deadline and significance for the record of achievement on the respective course pages.

In many courses we offer bonus exercises in which you can obtain additional points. In this way you have the possibility to compensate a missed homework or missing points in the final exam. If some points are still missing you can close this gap by taking the bonus exercise.Even if you have answered all exercises fully correctly, it's worth having a look at the bonus exercises. They often contain interesting practical exercises.

You can achieve a maximum of 100 percent of points in a course. If you have collected more than 100 percent (bonus points included), the surplus points are cut.

How are multiple choice and multiple answer questions graded?

Exercises and examinations consist of multiple-choice tasks (with exactly one correct answer) and multiple-answer tasks (with one or more correct solutions). For multiple-choice questions you can receive either full points if you answered correctly or none if you did not. For multiple-answer questions the case is a little more complicated. The number of achievable points is divided by the number of correct answers. The result of this division forms the base value. For each correct answer this base value is added to the sum of points that you’ll receive for this question. For each incorrect answer, the base value is subtracted from your result. If the total result is negative, you’ll receive 0 points. Here’s a short example: a total of 3 points is assigned to a question. Three out of five answers are correct. The participant has marked two correct and one false answers. For each of the correct answers s/he receives one point (3 divided by 3), for the false answer one point is subtracted. The participant, therefore, receives only one point for the question.

I would like to register for other Lernen.cloud courses. How can I do that?

If you forgot to sign up for a course when you registered, that's not a problem. Just login to Lernen.cloud and follow the Quick Guide .

I have problems with the registration or activation of my Lernen.cloud account. Who can help me?

To finish your registration on Lernen.cloud, you will receive an e-mail in which you will be prompted to confirm that you are the owner of the email address. Once you receive this email, please click on the link in this email to verify your email address.

If you don't receive a confirmation email, please check your spam folder. You can request a new confirmation E-mail logging in with your access data previously selected. As long as your account is not confirmed, a message appears with a link to request a new confirmation email.

If your account is already confirmed but you can not log in, please make sure you have JavaScript enabled and accept cookies from our site. If it still does not work, please use the "Reset Password" function in the log in form.

Please click on the Helpdesk button on the right hand side of your browser window and describe your problem. We will be glad to assist you.

I can't participate in the whole course because I'm on vacation. Can I still earn a record of achievement?

Unfortunately, we can't extend the deadlines for homework completion. If you're not able to turn in the homework within the course week, you will need to earn more points in the following weeks to reach the total number of points necessary for a successful course outcome.

I just want to get familiar with some of the material, but not earn a record of achievement. Is this allowed?

You can participate in the areas of the course based on your own interests and possibilities. There is no obligation to complete the homework and earn a record of achievement. But, we do welcome every active contribution to the discussion forums.

Where can I find the course materials?

From the course list or your dashboard you reach the individual courses. There you will find the materials in the tab "Course Content". The contents are based as follows:

  • On the left side is the course navigation - with this you can navigate through the course of weeks. Because the weeks of the course will be released on Lernen.cloud only gradually, all weeks aren't always active.
  • In the course navigation you can find in the active week (week 1 in the graph) also always some links for quick access
  • Above the actual learning content is the current weekly navigation, a series of symbols that indicate the type of learning units.
  • The active learning unit is marked by a red bar above the icon.
  • Already visited learning units have a light gray background and stand out from the non-visited from.
  • The title of a learning unit appears as a tooltip above the icon by remaining with the mouse over it.

I have forgotten my password. How can I reset it?

In the login-form you will find on the bottom the password entry field as a small link. This will take you to another form where you must enter the email address that you used for your registration at Lernen.cloud.

After submitting the form, you will receive an e-mail address. This mail contains a link that takes you to the actual password reset. After clicking the link you have to enter your new password and confirm it. Now you can log in!

I would like to build my own MOOC. Where do I find guidelines on the steps I should take?

If you want to create your own MOOC, you will find practical advice in the MOOC BOOK. This is an open source collection of guidelines for different user groups (universities, business, individuals), created within the framework of the EU project BizMOOC. You can find it at: http://bizmooc.eu/mooc-manual/. For Lernen.cloud, we are in preparation of distinct formats for courses, which will be anounced soon. We welcome your comments.

How can I contact the Lernen.cloud-Team?

If you didn't find any answers to your questions on our website and in the FAQs please contact us via the green Helpdesk button on the right side of your screen.

This page was last changed at Mon, 25 Jan 2021 19:11:57 +0000.