Using Learning Paths

One of Academy of Mine's flagship features are Learning Paths. With Learning Paths, you are empowered to award certificates to students after they complete a grouping of courses, as well as let students know which courses they must complete. You may specify a sequential order to the courses and even lock courses--for instance if one of the courses is a prerequisite for another in the Learning Path and must be completed before the student can continue.

If a student is enrolled in at least one course that is part of a Learning Path, they will be automatically be added to any Learning Paths that course is a part of. So, if they are enrolled in and complete all the courses in the path, they will complete the Learning Path!

In this guide, we'll be going over why you'd use a Learning Path, how to create and enroll students in a Learning Path, and what the student experience is.

Why Use Learning Paths?

Learning Paths are essentially structured training programs that will lay out a sequence of courses which the student can take one at a time. For instance, if you have courses that can be banded together for an overarching learning goal/objective, Learning Paths allow you to tie a those courses together to guide the student through in order to master a subject or program.

You can attach certificates to each Learning Path, which will be awarded to the student upon completion of the Learning Path.

Learning Paths also allow you to enroll a student(s) in multiple courses in a single click, by selecting the Learning Path when enrolling a single student or via the user Bulk Upload feature.

Once your Learning Path is created, can Import Courses from a Learning Path by entering the Learning Path's name in these circumstances:

Creating/Editing a Product: If you wish to sell access to the Courses and Learning Path online, you may select a Learning Path when creating a Product. Then, the student may purchase the Product which will enroll them into the Learning Path courses included. For more information on Products, please see this article: Using Products to Offer Self-Enrollment in Courses.
Using the User Bulk Upload: When bulk uploading users, you can choose to enroll them in courses that are part of a selected Learning Path. Learn more here.
Enrolling a single student into a Learning Path: You can also choose to enroll an individual student into a learning path as seen below.

Creating a Learning Path

To create your Learning Path by following these steps:

From the Admin Dashboard, click Courses, then Learning Paths in the left sidebar.
Click + Create Learning Path
Enter in the necessary information:
1. Name: Enter the name of the Learning Path. This will also be the name of the certificate if the user is assigned one after completing the Learning Path
2. Courses & Order: Type the name of the courses you'd like to add to the Learning Path and select them from the list. A Learning Path must contain a minimum of 2 courses.
  
  Once the courses have been selected, you can reorder them and specify the order by dragging and dropping them. You may also specify whether a course is a prerequisite to the courses after by locking the course.
3. Certificates: This is an optional field. You may select the certificate(s) the user will receive after completing all courses in the Learning Path.
  
  Note that a course within a Learning Path cannot have the same certificates as the Learning Path.
4. If you are using the Accredible integration, you can select the Accredible group you'd like to add.
Once you are done filling out the details for the Learning Path, you may click "Save Learning Path" to create it.

If you're more of a visual learner, we've got a helpful video going through all the details of how to create a Learning Path and enrolling students.

Enrolling a Student in a Learning Path

Users are automatically enrolled in a Learning Path if they are enrolled in at least one Course the Learning Path contains. You may select a Learning Path when Bulk Uploading users, which will add them to the courses included in the Learning Path--see here for more details.

If you're wanting to enroll a single student, you can enroll them in individual courses using the steps in this article, or you can also select to enroll them in all courses that are part of a Learning Path by following these steps:

From the Admin Dashboard, select Users, then All Users
Find the student you want to enroll in the Learning Path on the list, and click to go to their profile
Click View All Courses
Click Enroll in Course in the upper right corner
Start to type the name of the Learning Path, and then select it from the list. As you can see here, it will give the option to import courses from the selected path
Select Confirm once you have chosen the Learning Path. The student will then be enrolled in all courses associated to that Learning Path!

Note that while students are automatically added to a Learning Path when enrolled in at least one course that the path contains, the student will still need to be enrolled in a course to launch it--for example, if they are enrolled in a single course that's a part of a Learning Path, they will be automatically added to the Learning Path where they can view the other courses included on the path, yet won't have access to them if they aren't enrolled.

Student Experience of Learning Paths

If a student is enrolled in a course which is part of a Learning Path, in their Dashboard they will see a "My Learning Paths" menu item on their left sidebar.

Once the student clicks on the "My Learning Paths" button, they will be redirected to a page showing them the Learning Paths they are enrolled in. Below is a screenshot of a student's view on the "My Learning Paths" Page (The Learning path awards one certificate, is in progress, and has prerequisites on later courses)

Once a student has completed a Learning Path, they will receive an email notification! This notification can be configured in your Email Templates. Please click here to learn more about the Learning Path Completed Email Template

Viewing, Editing and Deleting Learning Paths

From the Admin Dashboard, select Courses, then Learning Paths
From this page, you can Create/Edit/Delete a Learning Path as well as see information regarding the learning paths:
1. ID: The unique identifier for the Learning Path. If clicked, you'll be taken to the Edit page for that Learning Path
2. Name: The Name of the Learning Path. If clicked, you'll be taken to the Edit page for that Learning Path
3. Courses: The courses that are within that Learning Path
4. Order Type: Suggestive (no specific completion order) or Prerequisite (a specific completion-order)
5. Date Created: Date the Learning Path was created
6. Certificates: Shows "Yes" if the Learning Path has at least one certificate attached. Otherwise, says "No"
7. Actions: The three-dot menu will show and Edit and Delete option
Select the three-dot menu next to the Learning Path you'd like to Edit or Delete, and opt to:
1. Delete: confirm you want to delete the Learning Path. This cannot be undone
2. Edit: this will open the editing page where you can change the Learning Path name, add, remove, or reorganize the courses included, as well as add or remove certificates. Be sure to save your changes by clicking "Save Learning Path" when you're done