The spread of the coronavirus is currently disrupting many things – including everyday university life at Fachhochschule Dortmund – University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Due to the resulting restrictions [1] in the implementation of classroom-based courses and sessions, we would like to inform you about the offered IT service options supported by us. Here, we will briefly explain the e-learning options that support teaching and learning digitally.

ILIAS – the central learning and communication system

ILIAS integrates essential functions necessary for the offer of online-only courses.

The open-source-based platform is an „Integrated Learning, Information and Work Cooperation System“. You can find more information on ILIAS along with extensive instructions on helpful ILIAS tools here on our blog.

Web conferences (with ILIAS)

Integrated in ILIAS is the option to conduct a web conference with Adobe Connect (Adobe Meeting). You can use this service for presentations, discussions or collaborative work with students. Since this service is offered by the German National Research and Education Network (Deutsches Forschungsnetz, DFN), we unfortunately do not have any influence on the availability and quality of the service itself. Currently, it is already being requested to such an extent that the available resources are not always sufficient to guarantee a high-performance provision. You can find current information on the pages of DFN.

Update (16.03.2020)
Recent statement of DFN:

„The utilization is constantly increasing, it came to temporary limited accessibility. (…) We try our best to ensure the service for every user also under the present circumstances. (…)“

Video portal of Fachhochschule Dortmund

Videos can be made available to a broad audience via our video platform. It is also possible to provide videos to an exclusive circle of participants (e.g. of a course) via the ILIAS Video Plugin. In this case, the rights are obtained from ILIAS. Some content already provided is only available for members of Fachhochschule Dortmund.  Please do not forget to register with your university ID.

If you want to publish new video material via ILIAS, you can find the instructions in our blog article or you can write us an e-mail to: video@fh-dortmund.de

Our Twitter

You can find updated information on the IT services described above on our Twitter. We also provide information on topics from the world of e-learning and keep you up to date on digital teaching at Fachhochschule Dortmund.

Do you have any questions regarding the general use or organizing web conferences via ILIAS? Please contact our support: ilias@fh-dortmund.de

Should you have any other IT service-related problems at Fachhochschule Dortmund, please contact us via the central e-mail address: support@fh-dortmund.de

[1] All classroom-based courses and sessions have been cancelled until 20 April 2020. (statement from 13.3.2020)

Image sources: Michał Parzuchowski (Unsplash), E-Learning Koordinierungsstelle