They say that the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, but here’s what they don’t tell you: How long will it take? Can I stop along the way? What’s in it for me?
Learning paths help answer all those questions your learners have about their experience. It’s basically a way to group together different activities so that users move along a prescribed learning journey with regular checkpoints and a clear endpoint in mind. Think of it as a way to map out learning in the most personalized way. The good news? Chances are that you already have some of the components of a learning path built into your training already. It’s just a matter of organizing and curating materials so learners get the most out of every module. Here’s how.
Related: Adaptive learning vs personalized learning
What is a learning path?
Simply put, a learning path is a progression of information and activities that result in the mastery of a skill or subject. While we often think of paths as linear, it’s not always the case with learning paths. Rather, any time users have a learning experience that advances their skills, they’re on the path to mastery. The idea of a learning path revolves around the intentional grouping of experiences to help build confidence, promote learner engagement, and achieve real goals.
A learning path is a structured sequence of courses, modules, or activities designed to guide learners through a specific topic or skill set.
Learning paths are typically used for training that goes beyond a one-time interaction. Instead of a module that you complete once, a learning path would have you complete the module, assess your knowledge, discuss what you’ve learned, and maybe even require that you demonstrate the skill. It’s a blended approach to learning that works especially well for specific roles and specialized skills.
You might have come in contact with a learning path without even realizing it. That amateur photography course you took online that ended in a certificate of completion? Learning path. The onboarding training you did at work to take you from your first day to day 30? Learning path. The voluntary training you did to specialize in a certain skill? You guessed it—learning path.
The benefits of structured learning paths
Learning paths make the most sense when multiple learners are approaching multiple topics at once. Perhaps all learners need to complete safety training, but some will also need to receive specific certification for their roles. Both learning experiences will culminate in clear, measured goals, but the journey might look different for each.
Imagine you’re taking a road trip through a national park. Your first stop is the visitor’s center, where you pick up a park map. Look through the map, and you’ll find vital information, like different waypoints, hiking difficulty ratings, available camping spots, and the most desirable locations. The map also likely offers different pathways to follow so you can plan the route that makes the most sense for you and your travel priorities. You highlight your route, grab some road trip snacks, and are on your way.
You may not immediately link this with a learning experience, but it’s a lot like a learning pathway in a few different ways. First, it allows you to plot out your experience from start to finish so you know what you’d like to see and do. Seeing the different features available to you in one place gets you engaged with the process and puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s completely personalized—you might be hunting for the most Instagrammable vistas, while others are searching for wildlife, so your paths will be different even if your starting point is the same. At any given point, hundreds and even thousands of other parkgoers are starting at the visitor’s center before branching out to have their own experiences. They might exit the park at the same spot, but no two visitors will have the same stories and pictures or be impacted in the same way.
Compare this with a learning path. It’s made up of different components that keep you moving forward. You know what your destination is and how you’ll get there. It’s a learning theory that is engaging, empowering, and completely personalized based on your role or specialty. And, with a clear goal in mind, you’re always sure of your next steps.
Tailored to individual or organizational goals, learning paths create a clear roadmap for acquiring knowledge, improving skills, and achieving measurable outcomes in eLearning and professional development.
Breaking down the types of learning paths
Paths aren’t always in a straight line. As long as you’re moving forward and building on your existing foundations in pursuit of a destination, you’re on a path. Here are the three most common types of learning paths:
- Successive: The most common type of learning path, a successive path, requires you to follow a sequential route to complete a goal. You cannot progress until you’ve mastered one topic, which is then applied to the next step, and so on.
- Leveled: This type of path groups learning activities into leveled steps. Learners can move laterally between activities. You can complete any of the bundled activities within the level in whatever order you’d like, but you must complete the level before you can move on.
- Alternative: An alternative learning path allows the user full control of the order of activities and topics. It’s outcome-based and learners can even skip steps if they prove mastery over a certain topic or skill. This offers the highest amount of autonomy while still working toward a general goal.
Designing an effective learning path
Planning an effective learning path is as much about curation as it is developing new activities. That’s because most organizations already have training materials and modules. A learning path is simply a way of organizing them that keeps the learners moving forward.
Learning paths: An ELM Learning case study
Here’s one way that ELM has used learning paths for a retail pet client. Walk into a pet store, and you’ll come into contact with everything from kittens to bearded dragons. Employees need to have general knowledge and training on care basics, but not every employee needs to be an expert in guinea pig diets. How does a national organization create consistent learning experiences for all their employees when each store has so many different departments?
This is a perfect example of a goal primed for a learning path. ELM created general learning modules for every employee to learn things like interacting with pet parents and offering recommendations. Once they reached the end of that training path, however, they could choose a new goal with added certification with certain types of pets. This engaged employees in two ways: First, they were in control of their own learning path. Second, it created an avenue for furthering their career with new certificates for specialized roles within the organization.
It’s easy to see why this type of learning path worked so well. ELM created gamified elements where learners could compete with each other while still seeing their own personal progress. Then, broader topics slowly funneled into specialized modules where any number of employees could “choose their own adventure” for different roles. Hypothetically, hundreds of team members could be on a learning path at the same time, all working toward both organizational and personal career goals from customer service to reptile care.
Related: Gamification for corporate training
From Paths to Progress: Wrapping Up the Journey
If you’ve been trying to map out learning experiences and find yourself more in the weeds than on the road to success, consider creating learning paths. Not only does it organize your current efforts in the most efficient way, but you might be surprised at the twists and turns learners take to get to their destination. Offering the flexibility to follow their own path while still working holistically toward their goal can make all the difference in learner experience and engagement. A well-planned learning path takes your training from “Are we there yet?” to “Where to next?”
