Newsbyte: Development Training for SAP HANA® Successfully Delivered as Massive Open Online Course; Mobile Solutions Development Course to Begin Soon

WALLDORF, Germany, Aug. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced the continuation of the successful massive open online course (MOOC) format for technical IT professionals through the openSAP platform. More than 40,000 enrolled virtual attendees from 158 countries participated in the initial developer course about the SAP HANA® platform, one of the largest corporate MOOCs. Based on this success, SAP will offer a new MOOC addressing mobile solutions development for the enterprise.

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The inaugural enterprise MOOC offered on openSAP drew from the expertise of the Hasso-Plattner-Institute and offered IT professionals and students an interactive way to participate in career-enabling activities. Attendees were able to work collaboratively with SAP experts and SAP HANA developers on the innovative SAP HANA platform. Among the record number of more than 40,000 enrollees, nearly 16,000 learners actively participated, with close to 9,400 successfully gaining the record of achievement. Participant interest resulted in 500,000 video lectures being watched, 70,000 assignments submitted and 160 private discussion groups created by participants with more than 5,500 posts in the discussion forums. Participants welcomed the combination of online video lectures, self-tests, gamification, community and social Web delivered on PC and mobile platforms.

"This new form of education in IT is taking off, and the breakthrough for me is the interaction among the students," said Professor Hasso Plattner, chairman of the Supervisory Board of SAP AG. "We could not have trained that many people in this short period of time through traditional educational courses. The real-time speed of SAP HANA and the lifestyle of the Facebook generation fit perfectly."

Mobile technology has become an integral component in people's lives and their experience of mobile technology is driving expectations in the workplace. Businesses today recognize the value of enabling employees to work anytime, anywhere through the use of mobile technologies. However, providing this ability in an enterprise context can be challenging, as mobile devices come in various forms and run a variety of operating systems. In the upcoming MOOC, participants will learn how to leverage mobile and cloud technology from SAP to develop mobile enterprise apps. The course will also show participants how businesses can support the influx of mobile devices and apps at work while also maintaining control over costs, complexity and mobile data security concerns

"We were positively surprised by the large number of developers participating in our first open online course on SAP HANA," said Dr. Bernd Welz, executive vice president and head of Solution and Knowledge Packaging, at SAP. "Participant feedback is extremely encouraging. We are on the right track in terms of getting the knowledge on SAP innovation out, and will now continue with a new course on mobile solutions development for the enterprise."

Registration is open to all audiences on openSAP. The six-week course is entitled "Mobile Solution Development for the Enterprise" and is scheduled to begin September 9, 2013. It will require approximately six hours of study time per week and course participants who successfully complete their assignments and the final exam will receive a record of achievement confirming that they have taken successful first steps toward becoming a developer of enterprise-ready mobile apps. The MOOC also complements the comprehensive training and certification courses on mobile technology currently available from the SAP® Education organization that are delivered online and in training centers worldwide."

For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews and @opensap.

Media Contact:
Martin Gwisdalla, SAP, +49 (0) 6227-7 67275, [email protected], CET

SOURCE SAP AG