Learning Paths let you design structured learning journeys for learners who must complete more than one training requirement as part of a broader program. A path is made up of objectives, and those objectives can represent different kinds of activity, including course-based training, specific events, and external activities.
Learning Paths are useful for programs that mix classroom, blended, self-paced, or external requirements. They help you coordinate progression without replacing the Event as the operational truth for delivery, attendance, and most learner outcomes.
You can also associate Achievements and Certificates with a Learning Path, giving learners and administrators clearer visibility into progress and completion.
Common use cases include:
- internal onboarding programs
- qualification programs requiring multiple training steps
- custom learning journeys for specific customers or accounts
- bundled or staged programs that combine multiple courses and activities
On this page
- Why use Learning Paths
- How Learning Paths are used
- Typical workflow
- How objectives are structured
- Private Learning Paths
- Objectives
- Financials
- Learners
- Track learner progress
- Permissions
- FAQ
- Related articles
Why use Learning Paths
Learning Paths are designed for training teams that need to coordinate multi-step programs rather than single-event delivery. They make it easier to:
- bundle multiple courses or events into one structured program
- offer private training programs tied to specific accounts
- define and measure learner journeys across different activity types
- report on learner progress more clearly
- include external objectives such as reading, fieldwork, coaching, or virtual sessions
How Learning Paths are used
Training companies often use Learning Paths for packaging, bundling, and selling broader programs instead of only selling standalone courses or events.
Training departments often use Learning Paths to define and evaluate role-based or program-based learning journeys. For example, an organization might have one common onboarding path and then separate role-specific paths for different teams.
Learners can view the path they are on and track the objectives they still need to complete through the learner-facing experience. For learner-side portal guidance, see Managing Your Student Portal.
Typical workflow
The standard workflow for Learning Paths is:
- Create the path and define its objectives.
- Register learners onto the path.
- Assign event registrations where needed for course-based objectives.
- Track learner progress as objectives are completed.
- Use the path outcome for reporting, progression, achievements, or certification.
For step-by-step setup and admin workflows, see Managing Learning Paths.
How objectives are structured
Learning Paths organize objectives into steps. A step is a group of one or more objectives with a minimum number required to complete it, and that single concept covers every progression model you might need:
- A single required objective — a step containing one objective with a minimum of 1. The learner must complete it to progress.
- An optional group (choose N of M) — a step containing several objectives where the minimum required is lower than the group size, for example "choose 1 of 4".
- A fully-required group — a step containing several objectives where the minimum required equals the group size, so every objective in it must be completed.
Because a single path can mix these step types, you can design a path that says "complete these three objectives, then choose one from this group of four" — all within the same path.
Note: The separate "serial" and "grouped" path types have been retired. Serial progression is simply a step whose minimum required equals the number of objectives in the group, so all structures are now expressed through grouping and a required count rather than through distinct serial vs. grouped paths.
Private Learning Paths
You can create private Learning Paths for specific accounts. Private paths behave differently from public paths and are useful for account-specific programs.
A path is typically private when:
- you mark it as private during creation or editing
- you link it to a specific account
- the pricing model is intended to behave more like a private program than a public catalog offering
Private Learning Paths can contain private events and private paths as objectives. They do not appear in the public catalog and are usually used for governed or account-specific delivery.
Objectives
Objectives are the building blocks of a Learning Path. Each objective represents something the learner must complete as part of the broader program.
You can add objectives in three main forms:
- Course
- Event
- External
Course objective
A course objective uses one of your course templates as the requirement. This is useful when the learner can be registered onto one of several eligible events under the same course template.
You can optionally restrict a course objective to specific events, so learners can only choose from the events you pin. If no events are restricted, learners can book onto any available upcoming event for that course, as before.
Event objective
An event objective uses one specific event as the requirement. This is useful when the program depends on a pre-defined delivery instance rather than any event under a course template.
External objective
An external objective is for anything outside the standard course/event structure. Use this when the learner must complete a custom task such as a tutorial session, coaching meeting, written assignment, field trip, or external resource.
Financials
If you use Learning Paths to package and sell bundles of training, add prices on the Financial tab.
When adding a price, define:
- Region
- Currency
- Price Level
- Amount
You can add multiple prices, but only one per Region-Currency-Price Level combination.
This allows the system to suggest the correct price during learner registration and show the right price in learner-facing channels where applicable.
Learners
On the Learners tab, you can see the students that are on the learning path. You can also add students and identify pricing for their registration onto the Learning Path.
Once added, you can click into any learner and see their progress on the path.
You're also able to update manual elements of their progress if their is a manual completion element for the objective. For instance, this is common for external objectives like meetings.
Track learner progress
You can track progress for each learner directly on the path. This is one of the main strengths of Learning Paths: you can see which objectives are complete, which are still outstanding, and how the broader program is progressing.
Progress is especially useful when a path combines classroom delivery, blended components, and external activities. It gives administrators a single view of a learner’s broader program progression.
For the higher-level logic behind how participation and progress differ across bookings, attendance, and learner records, see Enrollment, Bookings, Attendance & Progress: What “Participation” Means.
Communications
As with events, you can navigate into the Communications tab to review the templates and triggers you have in place on your learning path.
Notably, On Registration triggers on learning paths override any On Registration triggers that are part of objectives so you you don't double up.
Permissions
Access to Learning Paths depends on your Administrate user permissions and role setup. Make sure the users responsible for creating, editing, and managing paths have the required permissions.
Review your role and permission design before rolling Learning Paths out broadly across your team.
FAQ
What is the difference between a course objective and an event objective?
A course objective lets the learner complete the requirement through an event under a chosen course template. An event objective points to one specific event.
Can I include non-course activities in a Learning Path?
Yes. External objectives allow you to include activities such as tutorials, meetings, assignments, or external resources.
Can Learning Paths be private?
Yes. Private Learning Paths can be linked to specific accounts and kept out of public catalog visibility.
Can I edit a path after learners are already registered?
Yes. You can add, update, or remove objectives on an active path at any time, even after learners have registered. These changes recalculate each learner's total objective count and overall completion percentage, but they don't reset a learner's existing progress — the exception is removing the event a learner was booked onto for an objective, which removes their progress on it. Review your learners before making structural changes.