Learning Paths

In JoomLMS, a Learning Path is one of the ways to organize the course structure. Usually one or several Learning Paths represent the main part of the course and consist of multiple steps. You can add various types of content as steps to a Learning Path: documents, quizzes, homework assignments etc. 

A Learning Path has a tree-like structure: it may contain a number of chapters, each of which may contain child elements - documents, links etc. It's possible to add SCORM/AICC packages and LTI resources as Learning Path steps too. Passing to the next step of a Learning Path may be conditioned by completing the previous chapters of the Learning Path. In this way, the Teacher of a course can make sure that Students study the course materials thoroughly, without skipping any steps.

To work with the course Learning Paths, enter the course and click the Learning Paths() icon in the left course menu. You will see the list of Learning Paths, SCORM/AICC packages and LTI resources.

Tip: If you don't see the Learning Paths menu item in the left course menu, make sure it is published at Step 4 of the Course Builder or in the back-end Configuration > Menu Manager.

To manage the Learning Paths in the list, use the Actions () and Reorder () buttons.

Learning Path structure

As a rule, to create a complete Learning Path and populate it with content, you need to follow these steps:

1. Add a new Learning Path.
2. Create chapters in the Learning Path. (optional)
3. Add steps to the Learning Path.
4. Set conditions for the Learning Path steps. (optional)

Creating a Learning Path

To create a new Learning Path, do the following:

1. In the Learning Paths section of the course, click New > New Learning Path. You will be redirected to the new Learning Path page.

    

2. Configure the parameters for the new Learning Path:
   • Enter name: specify the name of the Learning Path.
   • Published: select Yes if the Learning Path should be visible to Students or No if you don't want Students to see it yet.
   • Resume from the last attempt: Select Yes if you want Students to return to the latest incomplete step when they resume taking the Learning Path. Select No if you always want Students to restart the Learning Path from the very first step. 
   • Navigation Model: Select Open the following step as the next one if you want Students to always view all the steps in the sequence in the original order when they navigate through the steps using the Previous/Next buttons even if some of the steps have already been completed. Select Open the incomplete step as the next one if you want Students to skip the previously completed steps and go straight to the next incomplete one when they navigate through the steps using the Previous/Next buttons.
   • Show navigation: select Top if you wish the Learning Path contents to be displayed at the top of the page above the current step contents when the Contents button is clicked. Select Left if you wish the Learning Path contents to be displayed on the left side of the page to the left of the current step contents when the Contents button is clicked. Select Hide if you wish the Contents button to be removed from the Learning Path pages so that users wouldn't be able to view the Learning Path contents.
   • Show Previous button: select Yes if you want Students to be able to use the Previous button to navigate to the previously completed steps again. Select No if you only want Students to use the Next button to move to the next incomplete step in the Learning Path.
   • Time released: If you wish this Learning Path to become published in a certain period after the Student's enrollment you can use this feature to determine a period of time after which the Learning Path will be published. Select Yes if you wish to enable this feature and the fields on the next line below will become active. Enter the necessary time period in days, hours or minutes in the respective fields. 
   • Short description: specify a short description for the Learning Path, if any, it will not be visible for Students. 
   • Description: specify a description for the Learning Path, if any, it will be visible for Students at the Start page of the Learning Path.
   • Show this message on completion of the learning path: enter the text of the message that should be displayed when the Learning Path is completed.
3. Click Save to save the Learning Path. You will see the new Learning Path in the list of Learning Paths, SCORM/AICC packages and LTI resources.  

Configuring Learning Path prerequisites

If you plan to have multiple Learning Paths and wish your Students to take them in a particular order, you can configure prerequisites for them.

Note: Prerequisites can be configured only after the Learning Path is added to the system, so you will see this option only when you edit the existing Learning Path in the course.

To configure prerequisites for a Learning Path, follow these steps:

1. Click Edit in the drop-down menu next to the name of the Learning Path in the list or select the Learning Path by checking the box next to it and click Actions > Edit.
2. Under Prerequisites, in the Select learning path(s) frame, click on an another existing Learning Path or a SCORM/AICC package (that should be prerequisite to the Learning Path you are editing) to select it, then click the blue arrow pointing right to move the selected item to the Added learning paths frame.

    

   Tip: To select multiple Learning Paths/SCORM/AICC, hold Shift and select the items either using keyboard controls or dragging the cursor over the items with the left button of the mouse pressed.

3. Click Save to save the changes. The item that has prerequisites set will be marked in the list with the () icon. Students will see the items with prerequisites greyed out or will not see them at all until prerequisite items are completed, depending on the respective setting at Step 2 of the Course Builder.

Creating Learning Path chapters

When your Learning Path consists of a large number of steps, it might be more convenient for your Students if you organize these steps into chapters which are basically folders and subfolders inside the root folder of your Learning Path. You can have as many sublevels of chapters as you wish.

You can add a new chapter to a Learning Path in the following way:

1. In the course Learning Paths section, click the name of the existing Learning Path where you wish to add chapters. You will be redirected to the Learning Path contents composing page.
2. Click the New button at the top of the page. You will be redirected to the adding items to the Learning Path page.
3. Click the Chapter tab at the top of the page to select it. Configure the settings for the new chapter, as follows:
   • Enter name: specify the name for the chapter.
   • Place in: select Learning Path root if the chapter should be located directly in the Learning Path root folder. Select another existing chapter/subchapter as the parent item if you wish to create a new subchapter.
   • Ordering: select First item from the drop-down menu if the new chapter should be displayed first within the Learning Path/parent chapter contents. Select another existing chapter/step if the new chapter should follow that item in the contents. Select Last item if the new chapter should be displayed last within the Learning Path/parent chapter contents.
4. Click Save to save the new chapter. You will see it in the list of items at the Learning Path contents composing page.

Adding steps to a Learning Path

There are two main types of steps that can be added to a Learning Path: new content-pages created from scratch directly in the Learning Path itself and existing, already uploaded course materials linked from several different course sections to the Learning Path. The procedures to add different types of steps to the Learning Path are slightly different:

1. Adding content-pages as steps

   A content-page is a kind of step inside the Learning Path that can include text, images etc. and is created from scratch so you need to add the content to the content-page either when creating the content-page step in the Learning path or later when editing the existing step of the content-page type. To add a new content-page, do the following:

   1. In the course Learning Paths section, click the name of the existing Learning Path where you wish to add a content-page. You will be redirected to the Learning Path contents composing page.
   2. Click the New button at the top of the page. You will be redirected to the adding items to the Learning Path page.

      Tip: If you wish to add the content-page to a specific chapter you can also open the drop-down menu next to the chapter where you wish to add this step using the down arrow () button and click Add step there (instead of clicking the New button at the top of the Learning Path contents composing page). In this case the chapter will be pre-selected in the Place in setting drop-down menu.

   3. Click the Content tab at the top of the page to select it (it is pre-selected by default). Configure the settings for the new content-page:
      • Enter name: specify the name for the content-page.
      • Place in: select Learning Path root if the content-page should be located directly in the Learning Path root folder. Select another existing chapter/subchapter if you wish to place the content-page there.
      • Ordering: select First item from the drop-down menu if the new step should be displayed first within the Learning Path/chapter contents. Select another existing chapter/step if the new step should follow that item in the contents. Select Last item if the new step should be displayed last within the Learning Path/chapter contents.
      • Short description: specify a short description for the content-page, if any, it will not be visible for Students. 
      • Description: Enter the content of the content-page here (text, images etc.) and format if necessary using the default HTML or visual editor (the default editor for your site is selected in Joomla! CMS global configuration at the back-end).
   4. Click Save to save the new step. You will see it in the list of steps at the Learning Path contents composing page.

2. Adding course materials as steps

   You can include existing, already uploaded and published course materials as steps in a Learning Path. The following course elements can be added as steps: documents, links, quizzes, SCORM/AICC packages, assignments, LTI-compliant resources. The procedure for adding different types of course materials as steps is the same:

   1. In the course Learning Paths section, click the name of the existing Learning Path where you wish to add a new step. You will be redirected to the Learning Path contents composing page.
   2. Click the New button at the top of the page. You will be redirected to the adding items to the Learning Path page.

      Tip: If you wish to add the step to a specific chapter you can also open the drop-down menu next to the chapter where you wish to add this step using the down arrow () button and click Add step there (instead of clicking the New button at the top of the Learning Path contents composing page). In this case the chapter will be pre-selected in the Place in setting drop-down menu.

   3. Click the respective tab at the top of the page to select it (click the Quizzes tab if you wish to add a quiz as a step etc.). Configure the settings for the new step:
      • Name/Title: check the box/boxes next to one or several items you wish to add as steps.

        Note: If you don't see the item you wish to add as a step here, make sure it is uploaded and published in the respective course section (e.g. a link should be first created and published in the Links section of the course, then you will be able to add it as a step to a Learning Path).

      • Place in: select Learning Path root if the step should be located directly in the Learning Path root folder. Select another existing chapter/subchapter if you wish to place the step there.
      • Ordering: select First item from the drop-down menu if the new step should be displayed first within the Learning Path/chapter contents. Select another existing chapter/step if the new step should follow that item in the contents. Select Last item if the new step should be displayed last within the Learning Path/chapter contents.
   4. Click Save to save the new step. You will see it in the list of steps at the Learning Path contents composing page.

Setting conditions for the Learning Path steps

If there are multiple steps in your Learning Path, you might not want your Students to be able to skip some of them but would prefer to make sure the Students take all the steps in a particular order. To prevent Students from skipping steps, JoomLMS allows to set conditions for any of the steps in a Learning Path.

To set conditions for a step inside a Learning Path, follow these steps:

1. In the course Learning Paths section, click the name of the Learning Path that contains the step for which you would like to set conditions. You will be redirected to the Learning Path contents composing page.
2. Click the down arrow () button next to the step for which your wish to set conditions and select Edit conditions in the drop-down menu that will open. You will be redirected to the access confditions page for this particular step.
3. In the Student must complete drop-down menu select another step of the same Learning Path that should become the condition for access to this step.
4. Click the Create a condition button. You will see the new condition listed below on the access conditions page. You can add as many conditions as you wish. Students will have to complete all the steps added as conditions before they can proceed to the step for which the conditions are set. If a Student tries to access a step with conditions set before all the set conditions are met, they will see an error message with a link to the step that has to be completed:

    

To remove a condition, at the access conditions page for a particular Learning Path step check the box next to one or several conditions you wish to remove and click Delete a condition.