Learning Paths

A learning path is a set of various learning goals where the user's progress is tracked and displayed in various parts of Valamis.

Learning paths can be a handy tool for organizing and curating learning content. It utilizes gamification principles, allowing users to receive awards and increase their skills in the environment.

1. Main View
2. Creating a Learning Path
   1. Goal Completion Options
   2. Certification
   3. Connect Skills to Learning Paths
3. Adding Members
   1. Mandatory Learning Paths
4. Browsing Learning Paths
5. Viewing Learning Goals with Learning Path Player
   1. Navigating the Learning Goals
   2. Adding Goals to the Saved list and Adding Notes
   3. Summary Page
6. Learning Paths Preferences

Main View

The main view has five tabs:

• All learning paths - shows all of the learning paths in the chosen scope (all courses or one course)
• Created by me - the list of the paths created by you 
• My learning paths - the list of the paths that you have joined
• Available learning paths - the paths that you've joined and those that are available for you to join
• Inactive learning paths - deactivated learning paths that are no longer available for completion but not deleted. 

You can filter learning paths by category, course, language, and whether a learning path awards CPD points. In the Actions menu of a learning path, you can do the following:

• Open - does the same thing as clicking on the learning path.
• Clone - create an inactive copy of a learning path with no members in it.
• Publish/Deactivate - publishes a learning path to the users, or deactivates it.
• Set permissions - allows you to set permissions for various roles for this specific learning path.
• Delete - permanently deletes the learning path.

Creating a Learning Path

To create a new learning path, click the Create learning path button.

Basic information of a learning path includes:

1. Language - Titles, descriptions, and goal group titles support localization. Just pick the languages you want to use, and add each localization by selecting a language and editing the text.
2. Title
3. Cover image - can be uploaded or created with an Open Badges editor. A 4:3 JPG or PNG image under 200kb is recommended.
4. Description - it's shown in the learning path info. 
5. Publish location - a learning path can be published to a specific course or be globally accessible.
6. Categories - uses the same category pool as lessons and other things in Valamis

The next section allows you to set learning goals.

Learning goals can be of different types:

1. Course - achieved by getting a course grade from the instructor.
2. xAPI - achieved by getting the xAPI statement for performing the related activity.
3. Activity - achieved by performing the described activity.
4. Web Content - achieved by viewing the specific web content.
5. Lesson - achieved by completing the lesson.
6. Assignment - achieved by completing the assignment.
7. Event - achieved by participating in the event. May need manual participation confirmation.
8. Learning path - achieved by completing a learning path.
9. Form - if filled out by the user, the goal is marked as completed. This is Liferay functionality.
10. External goal - this is a special type of goal that allows self-evaluation by learners. You can describe a task in the goal title. If a URL is provided, it can also be automatically completed upon visiting that link. 
11. Integrated content (relevant integrations need to be configured):
    1. LinkedIn Learning course- achieved by completing a LiL course. 
    2. Udemy course- achieved by completing an Udemy course. 
    3. Harvard Business Publishing- achieved by completing HBP content via manual self-confirmation or following through the link. 
    4. getAbstract - achieved by completing getAbstract content via manual self-confirmation or following through the link. 
    5. Go1 - achieved by completing Go1 content. 
12. Group of goals - allows you to group your goals for an easier organization.

Goal Completion Options

You can also enable Strict learning progression to define a specific order in which the goals need to be achieved. Note that it doesn't stop users from accessing the content through other means, like Lesson Viewer. If the user has previously completed a learning goal currently locked in the learning path, it will simply count as achieved as soon as it unlocks after the preceding goal is completed.

Every goal can be optional or mandatory. When all mandatory goals are completed, the learning path is finished.

A Completion review required setting allows you to make it so that the learning path doesn't count as completed until the instructor's review for each user. Such a learning path will have an In Review status. Instructors can review the progress in the Members tab of the learning path. If satisfied, instructors can mark the learning path as Passed or Failed and also give a grade according to the grading scale used.

Each goal can have a deadline and availability limits:

• Deadline - a period during which the user has to complete the goal. This period starts when the user joins the learning path. Because of this, the deadline is individual for each learner and can pass before the Available to date.
• Available from - defines the starting date when the users can access the goal from the learning path.
• Available to - the last date when the users can complete this goal.

Certification

Certification for learning paths, if enabled, provides users with certificates upon full completion.

• Visual template - we provide you with a default markup for the visual style of a certificate. Custom templates can be created by advanced users with technical knowledge of XSL-FO markup.
• Validity period - a certificate can either be Permanent or have a Validity period. The users will get a notification before expiration in a period of time that you set here.
• External credentials - if enabled, it allows you to add an Open Badge from the corresponding provider to this learning path, like Badgr, Accredible, or Credly.

Users can claim the badge after the learning path completion.

Connect Skills to Learning Paths

You can also bind Skills to your learning path with the following options:

• The Skill required to join field limits the learning path to users with the specified competence.
• Recommended skills field defines the recommended skill levels for that learning path. Every user will see that information before joining.
• The Skills which will be improved field does just that: upon completion, every user will get a certain skill level. If they are already at that level or higher, nothing will change. 

Adding Members

Depending on your case, you may want to let users find your learning path and join it themselves, or you can add them on your own. 

To add members to a learning path:

1. Open your learning path editing view, and go to the Audience tab.
2. Click Assign people, and select one of the following from the dropdown:
   1. Users - assign individual users.
   2. Organizations - assign whole organizations. Any member of organization will be a member of your learning path.
   3. Roles - assign the learning path to all people with selected role.
   4. Custom audiences - assign the learning path to a custom audience.
3. Select the user, organization, role, or audience that you want, and click Assign. You can select multiple items on the list.
4. Your selection will appear on the list of learning path members. 
5. You can also make the learning path Mandatory for a certain audience of any type by clicking in the relevant column. This will make it so that these learners will not be able to leave the learning path unless they are administrators.

Mandatory Learning Paths

You can mark Learning Paths as mandatory for specific Users, Organizations, Roles, or Custom Audiences. Learners won’t be able to leave such mandatory Learning Paths (unless they are administrators).

1. To make a learning path mandatory for an audience, go to your Learning Path info.
2. Open the Audiences tab.
3. Find the user, organization, role, or custom audience you need by sorting by these types.
4. Click the corresponding toggle next to them in the “Mandatory” column.
5. This will change the text from Optional to Mandatory.
6. Save your changes.

Now, the Learning Path will be marked as "mandatory" for these learners. They will see a Mandatory label on such learning paths when browsing.

In a Grid view, the label will be smaller to accommodate learning path titles.

Browsing Learning Paths

Learning paths can be accessed by learners from different places:

• The main Learning Paths view
• User Dashboard
• A direct link copied from the Learning Path info

Most of the time, clicking on a learning goal will open the relevant content to be viewed and completed.

The following actions are available in the info window (depending on permissions):

• Edit - change the learning path details, settings, or learning goals.
• Share via message - opens a message form with the learning path link attached.
• Copy link - copies a link to the learning path to the clipboard.
• Clone - creates a copy of that learning path.
• Deactivate - prevents completion and removes it from lists without deleting it. 
• Set permissions - defines permissions for various user roles for that specific learning path.
• Delete - deletes the learning path completely.
• Start - opens up the learning goal viewer, which shows goal statuses and tracks general completion. Depending on the type of goal, you can either complete it right there or use the provided link to access it. 
• Leave - abandon membership in the learning path.

Viewing Learning Goals with Learning Path Player

We’ve developed a new way to view your learning goals. This feature is a large rework of the learners’ user experience and will be developed and gradually updated with new improvements.

In the current state, the player opens when the user clicks on any learning goal of the learning path they are a part of, which provides a straightforward navigation where users can complete their goals immediately and all in one place.

Navigating the learning goals

The learning goal navigation is available in the top-left corner. The goals are shown in the order they are set in the learning path, and groups of goals are indicated.

You can go to any goal unless the strict goal completion order is enabled. In this list, each goal will show the learner progress icon.

The content shown in the Player for each goal depends on its type:

1. Lesson - the Player will be shown the pages and the internal navigation for the lesson, allowing the user to complete it on the spot. The same goes for non-Valamis SCORM lessons, which will use their own navigation.
2. Event - Event goals will provide details like a cover image, a webinar link or classroom location, the participation info, and a description. If the user is not an event member, they can enroll or request access directly from the Player.
3. Integrated content, e.g., a LinkedIn Library course - users will see the important details of the content and a link to it. If the completion tracking is not automatic, a 'Mark as completed' button will be available.
4. Assignment - users get a link to the assignment, assignment deadline, status, a list of attached documents (if any), and assignment type. Users can go to the Assignments app by clicking the "Open in Assignments" or "Submit in Assignments" buttons. If the instructor has given a grade, it will show up here.
5. Course - the Player will provide a link to the course and the details like start/finish dates, participation info, description, and prerequisite LPs with their statuses. A user can enroll or request access via the corresponding button. A link to the course is provided.
6. External Goal - an external goal type supports automatic and manual completion of the activities outside Valamis. It provides a link, if available, or shows the 'Mark as completed' button if the completion is manual.
7. Learning Path - will show the relevant information, like title and description, information on participation, learning path status, and estimated duration. A link to the learning path is provided.

Adding goals to the Saved list and adding notes

Learners can add each goal to their Saved list by clicking the bookmark button in the top-right corner when each goal is opened.

The same goes for the Notes feature: users can add notes to each learning goal by clicking the corresponding button in the top-right corner. Lastly, the fullscreen button will toggle the fullscreen mode on or off.

Summary page

After completing the last goal, you will be taken to a summary page, where you will see the results and can get the certificate if certification is applicable for this learning path.

By clicking Finish Learning Path, users will open the last page, where they can download or print their certificate.

Learning Paths Preferences

Click on the Preferences to see additional settings:

• Scope filter toggle - turn on/off the scope switch (All courses/Current Course)
• Default scope - sets the default scope of shown learning paths
• Default tab - sets the default tab to be opened first
• Category - choose the learning paths with the categories that you want to show
• Filter by user language by default - if enabled, this setting will make it so that, for each user, the list of learning paths will be filtered, showing only the ones in that user's language
• Learning path display limit 

As usual, Preferences only define the settings for a specific app instance on a specific page. Different Preferences may be defined on different pages.