Situation

Over the years, vhw has developed a broad training portfolio tailored to the needs of professionals working in municipal administration. Across 18 subject areas, the organization offers multiple formats, including:

• In-person seminars

• Certification programs

• Webinars

• Blended learning formats

• Fully digital E-learning courses

As public administration undergoes a generational shift and digitalization continues to accelerate, learning expectations are changing. Participants increasingly expect flexible and digital learning experiences that fit into demanding professional schedules.

In response, vhw has steadily expanded its digital learning formats and hybrid learning models.

Challenge

While digital learning formats provided greater flexibility, they also introduced a new challenge: ensuring that participants retain knowledge after completing a course.

Many of the topics taught by vhw—such as building regulations, housing law, or administrative procedures—are complex and require a deep understanding of detailed regulations. Simply completing a course or watching a webinar is often not enough to ensure that knowledge is retained and applied in daily work.

The organization needed a way to:

• Reinforce key learning content after course completion

• Encourage regular repetition of important concepts

• Support professionals who learn alongside demanding full-time jobs

• Maintain a high standard of learning quality across digital formats

At the same time, any new solution had to integrate seamlessly into the existing learning environment and work within the organization’s Learning Management System.

Solution

To strengthen long-term learning retention, vhw integrated Taskbase, a digital learning assistant, into its E-learning ecosystem.

Taskbase extends existing course formats by enabling structured repetition of learning content after the course modules have been completed. The system is based on learning psychology principles and adapts repetition intervals based on individual performance.

Key elements of the implementation included:

Personalized repetition of learning questions
Taskbase tracks how learners answer quiz questions. Incorrect answers are repeated more frequently, while correctly answered questions reappear later to reinforce retention.

Direct links to learning materials
Each question can link directly back to the relevant section in the course script, allowing learners to quickly revisit the underlying content when needed.

Integration into the LMS environment
Taskbase is integrated directly into the organization’s Moodle Learning Management System through a standard plugin. Questions are only released once the corresponding course content has been completed, ensuring that repetition aligns with the learning journey.

Support for long-duration courses
The tool is particularly valuable in vhw’s blended-learning programs, which can span up to six months. In these longer programs, regular repetition is essential to ensure that participants retain earlier material.

Feedback loop with learners
Participants can provide feedback directly within the system if they notice unclear wording, factual errors, or improvement ideas. This allows the training team to continuously refine learning materials.

Outcome

The integration of Taskbase significantly strengthened the learning experience in vhw’s digital training programs.

Participants report that the system makes learning more engaging, motivating, and easier to maintain over time, particularly in complex subject areas.

Key outcomes include:

• Improved long-term knowledge retention through structured repetition

• Higher learner engagement through interactive and adaptive question formats

• Seamless integration into the existing Moodle-based learning environment

• Continuous improvement of course content through direct learner feedback

The collaboration between vhw and Taskbase has also received international recognition. The project was awarded the delina Award 2025 in the category “Education and Training” and received Bronze in the Online Learning Experience category of the IELA Awards.

Today, vhw continues to expand the use of Taskbase across its digital and blended learning formats. The initiative supports the organization’s broader goal: building modern learning environments that help professionals in municipalities across Germany develop and retain the knowledge needed to address complex challenges in urban development and public administration.