22 MATERIALS PERFORMANCE February 2013 NACE International, Vol. 52, No. 2

Defense Department Launches E-Portal Dedicated to Corrosion Training The Corrosion Office’s Resource Positioned to Benefit Industry and UniversitiesCynthia Greenwood, editor-at-LarGe, CorrDefense

A lesson inside DoD’s Cathodic Protection (Level One) course titled CP 01: Inspect and Protect addresses the safety procedures required for the practice of taking measurements on rectifiers. Students can either download the course through the CorrConnect.org Web site or access the lessons via Facebook. Image courtesy of GSGI Systems.

Since 2005, the U.S. Depart-ment of Defense (DoD) Cor-rosion Policy and Oversight Office has partnered with

corrosion experts from industry and academia to educate tomorrow’s workforce in controlling and pre-venting corrosion. To advance its training mission in 2013, the DoD Corrosion Office has launched a

powerful Web portal that will make myriad corrosion courses, tutorials, and games accessible to the wider corrosion control and prevention industry. These courses were origi-nally developed for the defense ac-quisition workforce.

DoD’s new online resource is CorrConnect, a Web site now open to the general public in version 5.0. CorrConnect, found at www.corrconnect.org,

offers a variety of training modules on the science of corrosion, its causes, and the technological methods required to pre-vent and mitigate it. Developed by Game Services Group, Inc. (GSGI) (Sunnyvale, California) for the DoD Corrosion Of-fice and a broad community of corrosion experts from all military services, CorrCon-nect received the endorsement of NACE International members in 2012 when it received a MP Readers’ Choice Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award.

“We have a mandate to reach out to industry and academic institutions, and the CorrConnect portal gives us a way to do this,” says Daniel J. Dunmire, director of the DoD Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office. “The corrosion courses housed on CorrConnect incorporate video, animation, closed captioning, mini-games, lectures, quizzes, and exams in order to teach, engage, and entertain users while they are learning about the science of corrosion and the practice of mitigating it.”

“CorrConnect’s training modules and in-teractive simulation games employ digital media, top-quality graphics, and social net-working access to ensure that students are highly engaged throughout their learning experience,” Dunmire adds. Most impor-tant, version 5.0 of CorrConnect allows users to access course content on all mobile devices, as well as the Windows† 8 (PC-based), OS X† (Mac-based), and Linux desktop operating systems. CorrConnect also supports the operat-ing systems for the iPad† and Android† tablet computers.

†Trade name.

NACE International, Vol. 52, No. 2 February 2013 MATERIALS PERFORMANCE 23

Course Content and Corr-Simulator

For aspiring corrosion control practi-tioners and experts alike, CorrConnect offers easy and engaging student access to text-book-quality courses and tutorials in basic and advanced corrosion, polymers, ca-thodic protection, coatings and coating inspection, corrosion management, materi-als characteristics, and other sub-specialties of corrosion science. Established courses available for immediate download include the Defense Acquisition University (DAU)-accredited Corrosion Learning Module (CLM) 038: Corrosion Prevention and Control Overview, as well as Cathodic Protection (CP) 01: Inspect and Protect, and Cathodic Protec-tion (CP) 02: Maintain and Protect.

In February 2013, DoD launched its four-part Corrosion 201 Series titled In-troduction to Corrosion Engineering. Developed by military researchers and academic experts from The University of Akron’s National Center for Education and Re-search in Corrosion and Materials Per-formance, the new series is comparable to college-level engineering courses in ma-terial science and corrosion prevention. Course titles within the 201 series include Corrosion Basics (201A), Characteristics and Impact of Materials (201B), Corrosion Preven-tion and Mitigation (201C), and Corrosion Management Methodology (201D).

“Each course on CorrConnect offers a mix of text, videos, and games in order to maximize the potential for interaction,” Dunmire says. “Certain courses will offer a final exam to help students gauge their comprehension of material.” CorrConnect will eventually house the Analysis of Alter-natives for Hexavalent Chromium VI and other Analysis of Alternatives tools designed for ac-quisition program managers, engineers, and weapons systems manufacturers.

“The Corrosion Office has been working to secure accreditation from the Defense Acquisition University for each of these courses, in order to meet the professional needs of defense acquisition employees and anyone from industry that supports that workforce,” says Dunmire.

CorrConnect’s library also features a variety of tutorials about corrosion, of-fering industry users a fast, seamless, and error-free experience during the viewing process. The titles in this four-part Cor-rosion Comprehension (CC) series feature

host LeVar Burton, and they include CC1: Combating the Pervasive Menace; CC2: Portraying Polymers; CC3: Specifically Ce-ramics; and CC4: Corrosion Environments. “The videos are organized into chapter modules, each of which includes quizzes for comprehension evaluation,” notes Dunmire. One additional tutorial—CC5: Policy, Prevention, and Procedures in Combat-ing the Pervasive Menace—is expected to be released during the spring of 2013.

CorrConnect’s educational offerings also include a single-player, turn-based

simulation game called Corr-Simulator, or CorrSim. Designed for college students and researchers, CorrSim outlines the environmental factors that cause corro-sion on man-made structures and reviews information about how to protect the structures and the consequences of cor-rosion on the economy. Aimed at varying professional levels, CorrSim players are challenged to build an industrial complex and protect it from corrosion using a

The DoD’s advanced CP Level Two course, titled CP 02: Maintain and Protect, includes a lesson on CP systems in hazardous environments. Image courtesy of GSGI Systems.

One of the four DoD-sponsored tutorials inside CorrConnect's "Courses" section, titled Corrosion Comprehension 1: Combating the Pervasive Menace, is moderated by LeVar Burton. Each chapter can be unlocked as the student takes the concluding quiz of the preceding chapter. Photo courtesy of GSGI Systems.

Continued on p. 25

24 MATERIALS PERFORMANCE February 2013 NACE International, Vol. 52, No. 2

DoD Corrosion Courses and CorrSim Game Available on Mobile Devices

Scenes from the CorrSim tutorial can be played on CorrConnect.org and are also available for download on the iPad or accessible via Facebook. Image courtesy of GSGI Systems.

The first tutorial in DoD’s four-part series, titled Corrosion Comprehension: Combating the Pervasive Menace, is now available as a mobile app at the Apple Store online. Image courtesy of GSGI Systems.

If you’re looking for an easy way to access Web-based courses on the science of polymers and ceramics, the Defense Department’s (DoD) Corrosion Policy and Oversight (CPO) Office may have just the right app for you.

Or, if you need to understand the corrosion control technologies on a cargo seaport or an oil rig, you can download CorrSimulator—also known as CorrSim—on your iPad† or iPhone†. Or you can access it via Facebook† if you prefer.

Four mobile apps for the Corrosion Comprehension series feature acclaimed actor LeVar Burton, and they are the available offerings in a four-part tuto-rial series. Jointly developed by GSGI Systems, The University of Akron, and Bruno White Entertainment for DoD’s CPO Office, the courses can be down-loaded from the Apple Store for free. From the store, users can also download the CorrSim training game free of charge.

Developers at GSGI Systems cre-ated the corrosion mobile apps after the military corrosion community expressed an interest in making its existing training courses more portable. The Corrosion Comprehension tutorial series and the CorrSim training game are also housed at CorrConnect.org, the DoD Corrosion Office’s e-learning portal.

“Beginning in 2013, all DoD certi-fication and training courses are being made available on the iOS [iPad†], Android†, and social networking plat-forms, as well as Windows 8† [PC-based], OS X† [Mac-based], and Linux† desktop operating systems,” says Isabel Manalac, vice president of GSGI. “All coursework sponsored by the Corrosion Office has been developed for each type of mobile application and will eventually be available on Facebook and Google†.”

†Trade name.

NACE International, Vol. 52, No. 2 February 2013 MATERIALS PERFORMANCE 25

In addition to fulfilling its role as DoD’s leading source of virtual corrosion training, CorrConnect has been configured as an up-to-the-minute news source and medium for information sharing. The News tab provides users with daily corro-sion news updates, while the home page features the latest issues of CorrDefense e-magazine. The Simulations & Tools section currently features the CorrSim game, which can be played via the Web site or through the Facebook platform. “GSGI will be adding new simulations and tools in the future,” says Dunmire.

“By the middle of 2013, we expect that the Community section of Corr-Connect will allow NACE members to post comments and suggestions about specific courses, while also allowing for general member interaction and discussion,” Dunmire says. “Currently the Community section functions as a bulletin board supplementing the needs of our course administrators. Adminis-trators are free to modify content ac-cording to student feedback.”

DAU Accreditation Is Paramount

Since 2005 the DoD Corrosion Office has partnered with the DAU to provide numerous online training courses on the CorrDefense and Corr-Connect Web sites for scientists and technicians who acquire and maintain military aircraft, ships, and ground vehicles. Most of these courses have mi-grated to the CorrConnect e-portal. While CorrConnect is a powerful outreach tool, the DoD Corrosion Office’s principal aim is to support the DAU platform so that corrosion practitioners who take courses through any online platform can receive DAU accreditation.

DAU is reviewing all courses cur-rently available on the CorrConnect Web site to ensure that they comply with their own system requirements, as well as SCORM standards and specifica-tions for Web-based learning.

To access the Corrosion Office library of corrosion-related courses and tutorials, visit www.corrconnect.org.

menu of combating technologies. Dur-ing the game, players can optimize their earnings and use their money to build more structures. CorrSim, a recipient of a 2012 MP Readers’ Choice Corrosion Innovation of the Year award, is also configured as an app for Facebook and the iPad.

The DoD Corrosion Office and GSGI are seeking feedback from industry users who access CorrConnect’s training courses and tutorials. “We expect that the corro-sion community of experts within industry and academia will want to offer us their ideas and preferences related to the func-tionality of our course content,” says Luis Manalac, president of GSGI Systems. “We welcome any insights from our users and will try our best to accommodate as many of these requests as possible.”

Using Cloud-Based TechnologyCorrConnect runs on the latest cloud-

based technology to enhance the process of learning in cyberspace, and ensures that all students seeking corrosion training have an equal advantage, notes Dunmire. “CorrConnect has the ability to provide quick access and ease of navigation for our online users within DoD and industry, and it allows us to make instant changes to course content, if necessary. Moreover, our server provides multiple layers of secu-rity and authentication protocols.”

“CorrConnect is one of the first cloud-based projects executed for the Depart-ment of Defense that uses commercially available, off-the-shelf technology,” says Isabel Manalac, vice president of GSGI. “CorrConnect also follows the standards and specifications of SCORM [Share-able Content Object Reference Model], the Web-based learning system that optimizes e-learning platforms used by industrial, academic, and government institutions.”

News and Information-SharingCorrConnect is organized according

to various general tabs or button links that refer to services created for industry and military users. The organizational tabs most useful for industry and NACE members would include News, Podcasts & Magazines, Courses, Simulations, and Community.

Using Social Networking to Build a Community of Users

The DoD corrosion community began working with GSGI Systems four years ago to foster a community of corrosion practitioners. Only now has technology caught up to allow collabora-tion by way of social networking.

“The Corrosion Office courses are significantly more powerful on these social networks than if they were to just hang passively on traditional stand-alone Web sites,” Manalac says. “Social networking allows you to com-municate with corrosion practitioners instantly. On Facebook, for example, you can post a question on a wall, it will go out to the world, and it can be answered quickly by an expert or someone with an interest similar to your own.”

The dominant players in the social networking landscape are Facebook and Google†, Manalac says. “Between the two of them, they have 98 to 99 percent of the market. If a new one comes into play that is significant, we’ll look into adapting DoD courseware for it as well, with the goal of casting as wide a net as possible.”

Manalac’s team began marketing CorrSim on Facebook during the last week of December 2011. In just 10 days, they attracted 1,300 users who downloaded the game.

“Such is the power of social net-working—the uptake is so much faster than it is on a stand-alone Web site,” Manalac says.

Editor’s Note: A version of this article originally appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of CorrDefense e-magazine.

Continued from p. 23