{"id":65685,"date":"2025-02-11T13:06:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T13:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.totara.fortyapp.com\/?post_type=customer-story&p=65685"},"modified":"2025-06-24T11:18:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T11:18:51","slug":"flexible-learning-vdab-training-platform","status":"publish","type":"customer-story","link":"https:\/\/staging.totara.fortyapp.com\/us\/customer-stories\/flexible-learning-vdab-training-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"Flexible Learning for All: VDAB\u2019s Open Training Platform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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VDAB<\/span><\/strong>,<\/strong> the Flemish Service for Employment and Vocational Training,<\/span> is <\/span>the<\/span> employment service <\/span>of Flanders\"\" (the Northern part of Belgium)<\/span>. It <\/span>helps <\/span>citizens<\/span> look for work by<\/span> offering a job <\/span>platform <\/span>with thousands of jobs and useful online tools,<\/span> providing training, and<\/span> guiding <\/span>them<\/span> in <\/span>their<\/span> job search.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Challenge<\/h3>\n

As a support service for citizens, VDAB aims to provide lifelong training for Flemish citizens during their careers by making a low-threshold online learning offer available.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

All Flemish citizens, that’s potentially 5 million users<\/strong>, must be able to consult the open learning offer from VDAB\u2019s website<\/span>. <\/span><\/i>The open offer contains online trainings, seminars and programs. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once learners have chosen an online training or seminar, they enrol for the training and are redirected to the LMS. An important requirement was therefore the integration possibilities. Training information, like the description, keywords and specific fields for seminars such as planned events, location, available seats etc. are managed in the LMS and must be displayed on the website.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The LMS serves to offer online trainings to <\/span>external users<\/span><\/b>, not internal employees. However, internal employees play a guiding role in citizens’ job search. Therefore, they must also have access to the platform in order to be able to recommend interesting trainings and to follow up on their clients (the citizens).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Solution<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

VDAB chose Totara Learn<\/a><\/strong> for the <\/span>flexibility<\/span><\/b><\/a> and <\/span>scalability<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0of the platform. The users do not end up on the home page or the catalog in Totara, but directly from the website on the training page. As soon as they click ‘start training’, they have to log in on the website and end up in Totara on the training page. A major challenge was to integrate VDAB’s custom authentication system with Totara. We solved this by developing a <\/span>dedicated plugin<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>To make the enrolment flow as short as possible we used the<\/span> auto enrol<\/span><\/b> plugin. For seminars, learners are taken directly to the event page via the registration method ‘seminar direct enrolment’.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So, a deep integration had to be made with the <\/span>website<\/span><\/b>. This was possible because Totara is an open source platform and due to the many possibilities to use custom fields. For example, all information about the online training and seminars is managed centrally in Totara and adjustments are also visible on the website in 1 catalog<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>together with many other intensive training programs that are managed outside the LMS.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An extra challenge was to match the<\/span> look & feel <\/span><\/b>as well as possible with the look & feel of the website. The focus was mainly on CSS adjustments, but custom development was also used for certain blocks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

For a large part of the trainings, <\/span>online coaches<\/span><\/b> are also available who answer questions and validate assignments. For this, an integration was set up with an external application. An e-mail button to contact your online coach appears on the desired training pages. If an online coach is available for a particular training, a chat button will also appear. A learners can immediately chat from the training page.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The role of VDAB in the field of training is evolving more and more into a director’s role. So, more and more trainings from training providers are offered through LTI and VDAB is also a <\/span>provider of online trainings<\/span><\/b> for various organizations, such as schools and non-profit organisations. Certain online trainings of VDAB are linked via LTI to make trainings available to partner organisations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the users on Totara are citizens (> 100K\/year), but <\/span>internal employees<\/span><\/b> must also have access to the LMS. <\/span>The intention is not that they follow trainings themselves, but that they can follow the citizens in their progress in online trainings and seminars. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The very specific VDAB roles for internal employees required a flexible approach, which we found in the way Totara compiles roles based on capabilities. Through the authentication method, they end up in a different audience and get a tailor-made role with a lot of view permissions in trainings and access to various reports. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For <\/span>reporting<\/span><\/b><\/a>, an integration has been set up with their reporting tool Microstrategy. Here, all personal data is anonymised and the data is enriched with data such as diploma, region, whether the users are job seekers, age, etc.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVDAB selected Totara due to its flexibility and scalability, which plays a crucial role in tailoring Totara to easily align with our complex business requirements. This adaptability enables us to customise each training uniquely, establish department-specific dashboards, define unconventional roles, effortlessly generate custom reports and easily integrate with our main company applications. Even with this high degree of flexibility, Totara can still be managed and administered centrally!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u2013 Anton Dimitrov, Teamlead Online Learning\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Results<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

Totara Learn empowers users with unparalleled <\/span>freedom in learning<\/span><\/b>. With over 300 online trainings and more than 100 seminars available, the platform ensures accessibility and a broad learning offer. Each year, it supports over 178,000 online training registrations,<\/strong> attracts more than 13,000 seminar participants<\/strong>, and engages upwards of 60,000 unique training participants<\/strong>. This versatility allows diverse audiences, including citizens and partner employees, to access tailored training programs through the same platform.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learners also benefit from <\/span>freedom of choice<\/span><\/b>, as the open learning catalog allows citizens to select the trainings that best suit their needs and aspirations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond accessibility and choice, Totara Learn fosters <\/span>innovation<\/span><\/b>. VDAB has leveraged this platform to build an extensive learning ecosystem, with Totara Learn playing a pivotal role in its structure.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, the platform offers significant <\/span>cost efficiency<\/span><\/b>. With over 100,000 users, Totara Learn delivers excellent value for money, making it a cost-effective solution for large-scale training initiatives.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

\n
\u201cVDAB selected Totara due to its flexibility and scalability, which plays a crucial role in tailoring Totara to easily align with our complex business requirements.”\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
\n Anton Dimitrov,<\/strong>\n
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