In this article, we’ll show you how to create a pathway to guide your people through a planned learning journey.
A pathway is a structured sequence of milestones, designed for programs like onboarding, leadership development, or certification training. Instead of assigning all courses at once, pathways break learning into manageable steps, giving learners clarity on what to complete next.
Use pathways when you want learners to follow a planned sequence of courses to achieve a specific outcome. Examples include:
- Onboarding - multi-week introductions to company policies, tools, and culture
- Leadership development - stepwise progression through management skills and strategic learning
- Apprenticeships - sequential learning for professional qualifications or certifications
We'll cover:
Build a Pathway:
Access and FAQ
The learner experience
We’ll begin with a walkthrough of how learners experience Pathways.
This includes how Pathways appear when they’re assigned as mandatory or optional learning, and how learners navigate them. We’ll also show the learner’s overview screen, where they can see all milestones and the courses contained within each one.
Now you know how learners experience Pathways, lets dive into the admin set up.
Overview for Administrators
How to create a milestone
Milestones are the building blocks for Pathways. Each milestone comprises a group of courses that must be completed before proceeding to the next milestone. When learners complete one milestone, they unlock the next, ensuring progress occurs step by step and in the correct sequence.
A few things to know about milestones:
- Milestones are interchangeable - they can be used in multiple pathways
- Courses are added to milestones (not Lessons)
- All Courses in a milestone must be completed to advance to the next milestone
Watch the video or follow the steps below to create a milestone and add Courses:
Select Pathway milestone from the Courses menu:
Select New Milestone:
Enter a unique code for your milestone. This will not be visible to learners
Enter a title for your milestone. This will be visible to learners
Add a description to provide context about your milestone
Specify the order in which the assigned Courses must be completed. Select from 'Any order' or 'Linear order'. This can be changed at any time:
Select Submit to create the milestone
Select Courses from the milestone administration menu to choose Courses to assign to the milestone
Select Edit to add/manage course assignments for the milestone
Select one or more Courses to add to the milestone
Select Submit to save the assignment(s)
To assign to a milestone, select Pathways from the milestone administration menu
How to create and assign a pathway
A pathway is a collection of milestones, ordered in your preferred sequence, that guides learners through a structured program of Courses.
A few things to know about milestones:
- There is no limit to the number of milestones in a Pathway
- You can choose the order of the milestones
- Pathways can be assigned as mandatory or selected as optional learning
Create and assign a pathway as mandatory learning
Watch the video or follow the steps below to create a Pathway, add Milestones, and assign as mandatory learning:
Select Pathway from the Courses menu:
Select New Pathway:
Enter a unique code for the Pathway. This will not be visible to learners
Enter a title for your milestone
Add a description to provide context about your milestone
Add an image to visually represent your pathway
Enter a descriptive summary for the pathway
Set whether the pathway is enabled or not. You may prefer to enable the pathway only when all the milestones are assigned
Select Submit to create the Pathway:
Select Pathway Milestones from the Pathways administration menu:
Select the milestones to add to the Pathway
Select Submit to save the assignment. Select 'reorder' to change the sequence of the milestones in the Pathway:
Select Groups from the Pathway administration menu to make the Pathway mandatory for a Group of Users
Select Edit and choose the Groups you want to assign the pathway to
Select Submit to save the assignment
Assign a pathway as optional learning
Once created, a Pathway can be assigned as either optional or mandatory learning (as described above) or optional learning. To assign a Pathway as optional learning:
- Browse to a Pathway
- Select Catalogue from the Pathway Administration menu:
- Select Edit:
- Select the Catalogue(s) to which the Catalogue should be assigned:
- Select Submit to save the assignment. The Pathway will appear in a Catalogue alongside any assigned Courses. Pathways are identified by the Pathways icon.
Assign Skills and boost on Milestone completion
- Browse to a Pathway Milestone
- Select Skills from the Pathway Milestone Administration menu:
- Select Add Skills:
- Select Actions:
- Select Edit.
- Set the Skill Target Level. If required, select the Autoboost skill' option:
- Select Save to complete the configuration
Control access to Pathways functionality with ACL permissions
By default, the LMS role 'LMS Administrator' will include the ability to create and manage Pathways and Milestones. This is controlled by the ACL permission: Admin.Pathways
View ACL permissions: manage access to specific features and functions in Learn for an overview of ACL permissions, including steps to add and remove specific ACL permissions.
Watch the short video below for an overview:
Pathways FAQ
- Can a Milestone belong to multiple pathways?
- Can you add optional courses to a Milestone?
- Can you create different Milestone paths based on pass/fail for a Course?
- Are Milestones visible to end users?
- Can you add a Lesson to a Milestone?
- Why would I use a Pathway over a Course?
- Can you add a Pathway to Catalogues?
- Can you make a Pathway mandatory?
- Can you add Pathways to development activities in Perform?
- Can you set prerequisites in a Pathway?
- Can Pathways be set to recur?
- Can all types of content be added to a Milestone/ Pathway?
- Can you boost skills with Pathways?
- Can you set deadlines for Milestones?
- If I already have a course set up that is like a Pathway, will I have to rebuild it as a Pathway?
- Can you share/recommend a Pathway?
- Can you save a Pathway to a Playlist?
- If more courses or Milestones are included in a Pathway will a Learner need to complete these?
- What reporting will be available for Pathways in Power BI?
- What is the difference between Pathways and Refreshers/ Lesson sets?
Can a Milestone belong to multiple pathways?
Yes. We’ve intentionally created Milestones for this use case, making the creation of Pathways easier with less duplication of admin work.
Can you add optional courses to a Milestone?
No. All courses in a Milestone will need to be completed in order for the Pathway to be complete.
Can you create different Milestone paths based on pass/fail for a Course?
No. All Learners will follow the same curated path, so all courses and milestones must be completed.
Are Milestones visible to end users?
No. Milestones cannot be discovered. They will only show once added to a Pathway that has been enabled.
Can you add a lesson to a Milestone?
No. Only courses.
Why would I use a Pathway over a course?
Pathways are designed to stitch together courses into a curated, one-time journey. While the same outcome could be achieved using standalone courses, managing large volumes of lessons in this way often leads to a poor user experience. With the addition of Milestones, courses can be more easily segmented into a structured order of completion. This is particularly helpful for longer, larger curriculums that may span several months.
Can you add a Pathway to Catalogues?
Yes. This can be done by going to the catalogue and using the new ‘Pathways’ tab.
Can you make a Pathway mandatory?
Yes. You can assign Pathways to groups.
Can you add Pathways to development activities in Perform?
Yes. This will be possible but there might be a delay in release given we need to create Pathways first. Timelines will be shared in the usual way.
Can you set prerequisites in a Pathway?
No. Milestones are locked to be completed in the sequence order. They will be locked until all courses from the previous milestone are complete. We will monitor feedback on this.
Can Pathways be set to recur?
No. Pathways are designed to be a single, one-time journey. The content within a Pathway can still be set to recur in the same way as regular courses, but completion will not be tracked through the Pathway view. Instead, it will appear in the usual Courses I have to do view.
Can all types of content be added to a Milestone/ Pathway?
Yes. There are no restrictions on adding courses to a Milestone. Similarly, there are no changes to how Lessons are added to Courses or the rules governing this process.
Can you boost skills with Pathways?
Yes. There are two methods of skill boosting:
- Upon completion of a Milestone
- Upon completion of the entire Pathway
Both methods can be used together, providing full flexibility for L&D teams to decide how and when skills are boosted, including the existing skill boosting at the lesson level.
Can you set deadlines for Milestones?
Not right now. If you think that would be a valuable addition to this feature please add via Airfocus.
If I already have a course set up that is like a Pathway, will I have to rebuild it as a Pathway?
Yes, if they wish to segment the lessons into different courses and Milestones. No, if they are happy with simply adding the course with all its lessons to a Milestone, and then adding it to a Pathway.
While this approach maintains reporting data in line with existing completions, it may not provide the best user experience. Admins will need to consider these trade-offs when choosing an approach.
Can you share/recommend a Pathway?
Not right now. If you think that would be a valuable addition to this feature please add via Airfocus.
Can you save a Pathway to a Playlist?
Not right now. If you think that would be a valuable addition to this feature please add via Airfocus.
If more courses or Milestones are included in a Pathway, will a learner need to complete these?
It depends on the completion status:
- If a course is added to a Milestone and the Milestone is complete, then no action is required.
- If the Milestone is still in progress, then the new course will need to be completed.
The same completion rule also applies when Milestones are added to a Pathway.
What reporting will be available for Pathways in Power BI?
We are currently defining the reporting requirements. Please feel free to suggest any key requirements based on customer feedback. However, we do know that Milestone and Pathway completion will be reportable.
What is the difference between Pathways and Refreshers/ Lesson sets?
The key difference when deciding whether to use one over the other is:
- Pathways are a one-time journey, typically used when learning is structured, spans a longer period, or involves multiple topics or areas of knowledge. They guide learners through a curated sequence to achieve a specific outcome.
- Learning Sets are designed to support recurring learning, allowing the same topic to be revisited in a shorter format or approached in a different way each time. They are ideal for reinforcement, practice, or repeated exposure to key skills and compliance topics.
A course with Lesson Sets can be added to a Pathway, but the recurring completion will be tracked in the usual way via Courses I have to do, rather than through the Pathway itself.
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