Overview

This document confirms the Product Goals for the initial release of custom Learning Paths. The release is designed to provide value to administrators and learners, though within a focused scope.

Problem

On the Open edX Platform, the course is the highest level at which content can be delivered to learners. As a result, platform administrators cannot create groups of related courses - such as subject-specific Learning Paths - that culminate in a specific outcome, such as a Certificate of Completion. 

Aligning with the relaunch of Content Libraries that enables flexible mixing of content within courses, introducing Learning Paths will support flexible mixing of courses into organized collections.

Use Cases

The use cases are categorized per the four user types identified:

1. Instance administrator

2. Organization administrator

3. Sub organization administrator

4. Learners

The following diagram demonstrates the hierarchy of the four user types, along with their definition:

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The following table covers the key use cases for each user type:

Proposed Solution

The Learning Paths feature will be designed as an independent Micro-Frontend (MFE). The goal is to provide an efficient, intuitive interface for managing and engaging with Learning Paths across different user levels within the platform. This approach ensures that each role has appropriate access and functionality to create, manage, and engage with Learning Paths.

Learning Path Creation and Configuration

A Learning Path will consist of a curated set of courses designed to help learners progress through a specific subject or skill. The complexity and duration of a Learning Path can vary - some may be short and straightforward, while others could span longer periods. For the initial release, the outcomes of completing a Learning Path will either be a certificate or no outcome at all.

Who can create Learning Paths

Only Instance Administrators will have the ability to create, edit, and manage Learning Paths, which will be scoped to the specific instance, its organizations, and its learner base. For the initial release, Instance Administrators will only be able to create Learning Paths using existing courses.

How to create Learning Paths 

Instance Administrators will create, edit, and manage Learning Paths via an MFE-based Admin interface. When creating a Learning Path, Instance Administrators will define the following parameters:

• Name: Title of the Learning Path

• Image: Image representing the Learning Path

• Product Name: Organization or Product Name

• Short Description: Brief summary of the Learning Path

• Type: Auto-filled as "Self-paced" for the first release

• Duration: Estimated time to complete

• Expiry date: The date when access to the Learning Path expires

• Course Selection: Search, filter, and manually select courses from the existing courses. Users will also be able to define the weight of each course if the Learning Path outcome is grade-based

• About: A full description of the Learning Path

• Order: Recommended order of course completion (nonmandatory for learners for the initial release)

• Required Skills (Optional): Predefined skills required for enrollment

• Acquired Skills (Optional): Skills that learners will acquire through the Learning Path 

• Learning Path Outcome Criteria: Learners will earn a certificate for a Learning Path by meeting one or both of the following criteria:

  • Completion-Based: Achieve a required completion percentage (eg. 100%)

  • Grade-Based (future-ready): Achieve a required minimum overall grade.

If either or both conditions are satisfied, a certificate will be automatically generated and emailed to the learner (for the initial release). The grading logic is already in place; our next step is to design the UX that communicates progress and criteria clearly to learners.

For Enterprise Customers

Administrator Features

1. Instance Administrator Capabilities

• Learning Path Catalog: View a list of available Learning Paths.

• Search and Filter: Easily search and filter Learning Paths to find specific ones.

• Learning Path Management: Create, edit, and manage Learning Paths (including courses, names, and descriptions).

• Access Control: Assign Learning Path access to Organizations (Orgs), Sub-Orgs, and individual Learners.

2. Organization Administrator Capabilities

• Learning Path Catalog: View a list of available Learning Paths to the organization and its sub-organizations.

• Search and Filter: Easily search and filter Learning Paths to find specific ones.

• Learning Path Overview (Read-only): View detailed Learning Path information (no editing rights).

• Access Control:

  • Manage users within the organization, sub-organizations, as well individual learners.

  • Assign and track Learning Path access for different users and user-groups.

3. Sub-Organization Administrator Capabilities

• Learning Path Catalog: View a list of available Learning Paths to the sub-organization.

• Search and Filter: Easily search and filter Learning Paths to find specific ones.

• Learning Path Overview (Read-only): View detailed Learning Path information (no editing rights).

• Access Control:

  • Manage users within the sub-organizations, as well individual learners.

  • Assign and track Learning Path access for different users.

Learner Experience

When logged in, Learners will have access to an Explore page, which will display all content available to them, including Learning Paths and courses. The page will include:

• Enrolled Learning Paths: Learning Paths the learner is currently enrolled in.

• Available Learning Paths: Learning Paths the learner can enroll in.In the initial release, Learners will need to be enrolled into Learning Paths by Instance administrators.

• Enrolled Courses: Courses the learner is currently enrolled in.

• Available Courses: Courses the learner can enroll in.

• Filtering and Search: Learners will be able to search using free text or filter by type (All, Course, Learning Path), Subject, and Duration.

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When a user selects a Learning Path from the Explore page they’ll be navigated to a page that includes more detail about the Learning Path. UI shown below: 

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If a Learner selects a Course on a Learning Path a drawer opens showing that specific Course’s details:

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Once a user enrolls in a Learning Path, they can navigate through each course and track their overall progress. In the initial release, there will be a suggested order for completing the courses and the courses will be listed in that order, but the learner will have the flexibility to complete them in any order:

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Each course within a Learning Path will have one of the following statuses:

• Not Started: The learner has not started the course.

• In Progress: The learner has started but not completed the course, with progress displayed in a progress bar.

• Completed: The learner has completed the course.

If a user wants to view course content, check their progress, grades, or other information related to a specific course within a Learning Path, they’ll select the course and will be taken to the Course Outline in the LMS:

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A learner can view all the individual Courses and Learning Paths they’re enrolled in by visiting the My Learning page while logged in:

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On the My Learning page, learners will have access to:

• Enrolled Learning Paths: Learning Paths the learner has Not Started, In Progress, or Completed.

• Enrolled Courses: Individual courses the learner has Not Started, In Progress, or Completed.

• Filtering and Search: Learners can search using free text or apply filters by Type (All, Course, Learning Path), Status, Subject, and Duration.

Responsive Considerations

We have designed the mobile versions of the Learner experience to ensure a seamless experience across devices, such as:

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Usability Testing

After the initial release, remote usability tests will be created and shared throughout the Community. Once enough users have completed the usability tests, the test recordings will be reviewed, feedback collated, and any necessary adjustments will be made to improve the feature.

Implementation Plan

Harvard Medical School will drive and fund the initial implementation of the scope outlined above. Any additions or extensions to the functionality described here will require additional contributors or funding. 

Long-term Ownership/Maintainership

OpenCraft will be responsible for the ownership/maintainership of the features outlined in this proposal.

Out of Scope

In the initial release, the following capabilities are not available:

1. Organizations and Sub Organizations are unable to create or manage Learning Paths or their content.

2. Instance Administrators' permissions cannot be edited to restrict access to specific Learning Paths.

3. Sections, Subsections, and Units from a course cannot be used within a Learning Path; the smallest unit of content that can be added to a Learning Path is a course.

4. Learning Paths cannot be instructor-led.

5. Administrators cannot set prerequisite courses for a Learning Path.

6. The order of courses within a Learning Path cannot be set sequentially.

7. Learners cannot enroll or unenroll from Learning Paths on their own.

8. Learners are not awarded Learning Path Grades.

9. Learners are currently unable to view their Learning Paths' certificates of completion in the LMS. For the initial release, certificates will be emailed, with plans to add functionality for viewing them directly on the platform in a future update.

FAQs

• Can a sub-organization enroll in a Learning Path if their parent organization isn't?
  Yes

• Can a learner enroll in a Learning Path if their organization or sub-organization isn't?
  No

• Can Learning Paths have due dates?
  No. Only individual courses within a Learning Path can have due dates, but Learning Path access can expire.

• Can learners view their grades for:

  • Each course in a Learning Path? Yes

  • Each Learning Path? No (no grades awarded for Learning Paths)

  • Their overall grade across all completed Learning Paths? No (no Learning Path grades awarded)

• How is Learning Path progress calculated?

  • Learner progress: Average of course completion percentages in the Learning Path.

  • Organization/Sub-organization progress: Sum of course completions across users divided by total courses.
    This differs from the "average of users' Learning Path completion % as that would average the completion percentages of each learner.

• If a learner's organization is given access to a new Learning Path, are they automatically enrolled?
  Learners can be manually or auto-enrolled in all Learning Paths. Learning Paths available to a Learner will be displayed on the Learners Explore page.

• What happens if a v1 course is replaced by a v2 course?
  Learners in v1 will stay in the v1 Learning Path, while new enrollments will be directed to v2.

• If a contract with a partner is terminated, can learners pick up where they left off?
  This is a future consideration.

• If a learner enrolls in a new Learning Path and a course they've already completed in a previous Learning Path is included, will the course be marked as "complete"?
  Yes, but the learner won't earn a badge or certificate for that course since it's already been completed.