Siemens Virtual Instructor-led courses offer students a live, classroom experience with the convenience and cost savings of online learning. These courses provide hands-on instruction and live interaction, delivered anywhere an internet connection is available.

The majority of our virtual courses are 25-hours in length. These are presented Monday through Friday, in two, 2 ½ hour sessions each day at 9:00-11:30AM and 2:00-4:30PM Eastern time. Our virtual Introductory courses are 10 hours in length. These are presented Monday through Friday in one, 2-hour session per day and will be communicated upon enrollment.

Virtual sessions provide students with lecture, demonstration, lab exercises, and Q&A; sessions – all presented by Siemens subject matter experts. For the full course duration, students can complete assignments and reinforce classroom instruction using a virtual cloud-based application providing 24/5 access to fully functional Siemens software such as SIMATIC STEP 7 and PLCSIM.

Virtual Instructor-led courses include:

• Scheduled lectures and demonstrations
• Live group and individual Q&A; sessions
• 24/7 access to fully functional Siemens application software (ex., SIMATIC STEP 7)
• Working automation projects using Siemens PLCSIM simulation tools
• Lab exercises and solution reviews
• Full student and instructor desktop sharing
• Access to recorded lectures

Minimum system PC requirements for students:

• Internet Access
• Chrome or Firefox
• Decent Internet Connection (if you can stream YouTube videos without buffering, bandwidth and system are adequate)
• Second monitor
• The SITRAIN Digital Industry Academy technical producer will forward unique IDs to access the virtual platform prior to the first day.

Performance Tips for Virtual Training

Here are a few tips to improve your computer’s technical performance and enhance your user experience during a Siemens’ virtual training course.

1. No later than one hour before your session is scheduled to begin, test your computer and internet readiness using the ReadyTech performance precheck: https://siemens.instructorled.training/precheck
2. Dual monitors/screens are highly recommended; one for your ReadyTech virtual lab and one to display and follow along with the participant study guide.
3. Use a phone with a mute button paired headset or speaker to help you avoid using *3 to unmute/mute your line while using the course dial-in audio number.
4. If you are experiencing system slowness or screen lag, these suggestions may help:
   1. Close unnecessary software, apps, and browser windows before class time.
   2. Close any unnecessary VPN tools and connections.
   3. Try rebooting your personal computer at a class break. If that helps, you may want to reboot your machine before the start of class each day.
   4. If you suspect your internet connectivity is the issue and you are working from home, we recommend unplugging your modem for 20-30 seconds each morning to give your internet signal a fresh reset.
   5. Used a wired internet connect to your network/modem
5. If your ReadyTech virtual machine freezes or won’t perform a task, you can perform a soft reboot of your system using the following instructions:
   1. While logged into your virtual lab instance, click on the Desktop dropdown at the top of your ReadyTech window.
   2. Mouse over Actions and click on the arrow.
   3. Scroll over to Soft Reboot and select it, then click OK in the notification box
   4. The reboot will take about 2-3 minutes. You will have to click on the "Connect to the Lab" image to log back into your virtual lab instance.
6. If you continue to have ReadyTech system issues, please let your instructor know. If the problems persist, contact ReadyTech Support:
   1. Email: get-support@readytech.com
   2. Call: +1 510-834-3344 (recommended)