Learning Pathways: Studio Feature Set, Product Requirement Document (PRD)
Context
The purpose of this document is to clearly define the requirements for a feature set that will allow instructional designers and course/content authors to create and manage learning pathways in Studio.
The GOAL is to fully define the product requirements, so that we can decide how to phase the work across multiple releases (Willow in December 2026; Xylon in June 2027; Y in December 2027). This document will also inform the requirements and needs for UX/UI designs.
NOTE: The Verawood release (June 2026) will contain technical, backend-only implementations that will support this project in Willow, Xylon and beyond. That work is in progress and technical discovery is currently underway, which will need to be aligned with this PRD (as of Jan 10, 2026).
NOTE: Much of this PRD is drawn from earlier proposals and subsequent community feedback, captured here and in other stakeholder interviews.
Scope and Definitions
Definitions
Pathway: One or more learning items, or groups of learning items, that are intentionally placed together in order to guide learners toward a specific set of skills, competencies or learning outcomes.
Item: Pathways are made of these (note: not Steps).
Course: An example of a type of learning item that may comprise a pathway. Pathways reference Catalog Courses, and any Course Run version of a Catalog Course counts toward completion of the Pathway.
Group: A subset of learning items within a pathway.
Fixed Sequence: The condition added to a pathway OR to a group whereby the learning items must all be taken in a particular order.
Flexible Sequence: The condition added to a pathway OR to a group whereby the learning items do not have to be taken in a particular order, or do not all have to be completed. (eg, choose 2 of 4)
Completion Criteria: Conditions added to learning items within a pathway that, when taken as a whole, account for completion of the pathway. Items have completion criteria (e.g. pass this Course), but the Pathway as a whole also has completion criteria (e.g. “complete 3 of these 5 items”).
Credential: The attainment or accomplishment for completing certain parts or all of a pathway.
Characteristics of a Pathway:
A learning pathway is different from a traditional course in a few key ways:
A Learning Pathway consists of multiple courses that stack towatrd a credential.
In the future, we might extend Pathways to also include Library content, which means Pathways might consist of stackable courses or any stackable content from a library.
Fully modular and stackable.
ARE THERE OTHERS?
For this phase of the Learning Pathways project, we will only focus on the sequencing of courses into learning pathways. Future phases will consider more granular learning content.
Scope: The scope of this PRD covers the Studio-side experience for Authors, Instructional Designers and Content Teams, with a focus on the creation, management and delivery of Learning Pathways. The Learner experience will be covered in a separate PRD.
User Stories
As an author or instructional designer:
Creating new learning pathways and editing existing learning pathways
I need an easy, quick way to create a learning pathway by choosing from existing courses, as part of my Studio workflows.
I want to add, remove, and rearrange items in a learning path so I can shape the learning journey over time.
I want to be able to choose the order of the courses in the pathway.
I want to edit learning path details (such as the name, description, item order, and visibility) so I can keep the overall path accurate and relevant. (Note: The details of individual learning items (the course in this case) must still be edited at the source level, e.g. within the course itself.)
I want to define and configure how learners progress through a learning pathway, including controlling access to subsequent courses based on completion criteria. (See Progression Patterns listed below).
I want to define what “complete” means for each learning pathway item, so learning pathway progress and credentials are calculated correctly.
When a course is updated, I want to be notified of those updates and have the option to accept or reject the syncs for the course in its learning path, in the same way I can accept and reject updates to course-referenced content from libraries.
As an author, instructional designer, or course team member:
Managing and delivering learning pathways
I want a way to enroll one or many learners in a pathway, similar to the way I can enroll learners in a course.
I want to create Learning Path Runs so I can offer multiple versions of the same learning path over time, without disrupting progress of grades of learners already enrolled.
I want to create a new Learning Path Run when a new course run is available, so new learners can start the updated version, while existing learners continue in the original run with their progress and grades protected. (is there a more generalized way to do this?)
I want enrolled learners to have the opportunity to complete the course after enrollment is no long possible.
I want to manage learner access over time (add, remove, enable, disable) so participation stays up to date.
I want to track progress across learners and paths so I can monitor completion rates
I want to see a catalog/view of all learning paths in Studio so I can find and manage them.
I want defined behaviour when a course in a learning pathway is removed, so the system can determine whether and how the learning pathway can still be completed by affected learners.
I want to grant learners credit or unlock progression in a learning pathway based on prior learning or assessment results, so learners can skip content they have already mastered.
As an organization administrator:
I want to be able to name pathways appropriately for my organization. For example, I might want to call it Programs instead of Learning Pathways, or Journeys, or Pathways.
General Requirements for Course-based Learning Pathways
Learning pathways may be created by sequencing together two or more courses.
Pathways may contain single courses or groups of courses. Groups of courses function as independent entities with their own set of completion rules, logic and sequencing, within the larger Pathway [see below for details].
Learning paths may contain synchronous courses, self-paced courses, or a mix of both.
The courses within a learning path can be ordered and re-ordered by the instructional designer or course team.
A learning path has a configurable start/end date for open enrollment.
A learning path has a configurable start and end date for path completion. Like courses, end dates may be added but are not required.
When setting up a learning path, we would select existing courses and define how and when each course is available within the learning path (for example, dates or pacing within the pathway context), even if those courses have different dates when taken standalone. Learners who enrol directly in a standalone course continue to follow the course’s own dates. Learners who enrol via the learning path follow the path’s configured availability. Adding a course to a learning path would not change the standalone course behaviour.
Pathways have basic publishing lifecycle tooling, including draft, published and archived. This publishing lifecycle exists independently from the publishing lifecycles of the courses within it.
Completion of a learning path can lead to a certificate or a badge.
General Requirements for Learning Pathway Runs, Dates and Enrollment
Pathways do not carry the notion of runs. Rather, Pathways are containers that reference the data contained in the courses that comprise them.
Learning Pathways reference the start/end dates of the courses contained within them. They do not have separate or standalone start/end dates.
Course runs continue to manage schedules, enrollment and learner progress.
Learning Paths also support Learning Path Runs, similar to how courses have course runs. Each Learning Path run contains course keys, so it always points to the correct course run, but does not manage course content itself. When a course is updated and its course key stays the same, those updates automatically apply to the Learning Path Run. When a new course run is introduced, a new Learning Path Run should be created if instructors want to ensure that learners keep their existing completion records and grades intact.
General Requirements for progression through a Path and completion criteria
V2:
General Requirements for progression through a Path and completion criteria:
Learning pathways support different progression and completion patterns. These patterns describe how learners gain access to courses and what is required to complete a pathway. Patterns may be applied individually or, where appropriate, combined.
Not all progression patterns are intended to be combined. Supported combinations will be determined as part of phased implementation and discovery.
Pathways reference Catalog Courses, not specific course runs. Completion is contingent on completing any version of a run of a particular Catalog Course.
When a learner enrolls in a learning path, they automatically have access to all courses in the path, UNLESS gating criteria have been set (see: here)
Progression patterns include:
Completion rules
These define what counts as “done”. Only one applies at a time to a given set of courses.
All courses required
Learners must complete all courses in the set.
Subset completion required
Learners must complete a defined number of courses from a larger set (for example, 2 of 3 or 6 of 10).
Availability and ordering rules
These define when courses become available. These may be combined with completion rules.
Flexible order
All available courses are unlocked, and learners may choose the order in which they complete them.
Fixed order
Courses unlock sequentially based on completion of required courses or groups.
Progression across courses or groups.
These define how learners move from one part of a pathway to the next.
Tiered progression
Learners must satisfy the completion requirements for the current tier before the next tier becomes available. This enables patterns such as completing a subset of courses (for example, 2 of 4) before progressing.
Dependency rules
These further constrain availability and may be layered on top of other patterns.
Prerequisites
A course may require completion of another course or a prerequisite assessment before it becomes available. This may include tests for a priori knowledge that allow learners to test out of certain courses.
Co-requisites
Two or more courses must be taken simultaneously within a pathway.
Conditional rules
These define divergent progression rather than linear flow.
Conditional branching
Learner progress may diverge based on outcomes (for example, completing Course A unlocks Course B or C; failing Course A unlocks Course D as a remedial option).
Availability constraints
In cases where learners are not enrolled in all courses at once, the system must determine whether a pathway should be completed if certain courses are no longer offered.
V1
Options for progressing through a path and completion criteria can be configured. These options include (from least complex to most complex):
Fixed pathway in a flexible order: All courses must be completed, but the learner may choose which order in which to complete them. All courses are unlocked.
Fixed pathway in a set order: All courses must be completed in a certain, set order. Completion of one course triggers the unlocking of the next course.
Mixed pathway: A set number of courses from within a larger set must be completed, eg 2 out of 3; 6 out of 10. All courses are unlocked.
Mixed pathway with prerequisites: A set number of courses from within a larger set must be completed, and some courses may function as prerequisites for others. Some courses may be locked.
Fixed + Mixed pathway: A fixed set of courses must be completed in a certain, set order, followed by a mixed set such as 3 out of 6 additional courses. Some courses are locked.
Conditional branching: Once Course A is complete, then a learner can choose from Course B or Course C. This progression type may also be applied to remedial situations, if a learner fails Course A, then they be offered Course D as a remedial option.
Prerequisite criteria:
A course may be set as a prerequisite course for other courses within a pathway
A test for a priori knowledge may function as a prerequisite criteria, allowing learners to test out of certain courses within a pathway.
Co-requisite criteria:
Two or more courses must be taken simultaneously within a pathway
In cases where a learner isn’t enrolled in all courses at once, the system needs to account for whether a path is still complete-able or if certain items/courses are no longer offered.
General Requirements for tagging and competencies
General tags may be added to or removed from a learning path, in the same way tags are added to and removed from courses, and provided a taxonomy has been enabled at the organization level.
There is no automatic inheritance of course tags to path tags.
Tag Type: Competency Requirements:
Competency tags may be added to courses in a pathway
Competency tags may be added to a pathway
[Is there a relationship/inheritance between competency tags in a course and a pathway?]
NOTE: Specific requirements for tracking progress through a competency-aligned pathway will be addressed in a separate PRD.
General Requirements for permissions and roles
New permissions associated with learning paths to be added to Studio:
Can create and edit new pathways
[Can publish a pathway? TBD]
Can configure completion criteria for a pathway
Can add tags to pathways [includes general tags and competency tags]
These permissions to be added to the Author role and Admin role in Studio only [see: AuthZ PRD]
New permissions associated with learning paths to be added to the LMS(?) or Studio(?)
Can enroll a learner in a pathway
Can bulk enroll learners in a pathway
Can see learner data related to pathway progress
General Requirements for Credentials Integrations
NEEDED How are credentials awarded? Is there an expectation for an in-platform certificate creation for a path? Or are third party integrations preferred?
Open Questions:
When a learner enrolls in a pathway, does this trigger an enrollment in both the pathway AND each course within the pathway? In other words, is there a separate enrollment framework for pathways as well as courses?
Comments
Based on my initial read of the document, fwiw I would suggest not having learning path runs IF we can instead ensure course runs are contained within a course requirement in a pathway.
This should dramatically reduce the need for learning pathway runs though perhaps the need still exists for learning paths not made up of courses?
When you have a pathway only made up of a subsection + video + problem for example (which is not in the MVP but I assume a future expected state?) - what happens then if we DON’T have learning path RUNS. I’m not sure, so perhaps we do need the runs concept, but for the sake of course runs / the MVP I would suggest at least supporting that via 1 learning pathway if possible for the common case of including future runs of the same / similar content.
Do we need Learning Pathway Runs?
My understanding is that the goal of having Learning Pathway Runs is to allow us to evolve the completion criteria over time as new course runs are introduced. However, I'm concerned that having a Pathway Run with its own scheduling will cause all kinds of edge case conditions, which will spawn additional complexity over time. No single thing will seem too terrible, but these things can snowball in the long run. For instance:
We have to make sure course schedules are compatible with Learning Pathway Run schedules when the pathway is created, and prompt the author with some kind of warning if it is not.
We might want to restrict or warn course authors when they are trying to change their schedules, to make sure that they remain compatible.
What even is the right behavior when a course run ends just a few days before or after a pathway?
What do we do when a student has completed almost an entire Learning Pathway Run but just barely falls short? Do they have to start over again with the next run? Or would we want to make a way for their completions to "roll over" into the new Learning Pathway Run?
This might seem like it's an acceptable tradeoff for the added simplicity of having a Learning Pathway Run that is static, since we won't have to address the complexities of the completion criteria shifting over time. However, based on prior experience with courses, I strongly suspect that we're going to have to deal with this complexity anyway. People make mistakes, plans change, etc.
For example, imagine that a Learning Pathway Run is configured to run with five courses, but the last of those gets cancelled at the last minute. We're almost certainly going to want to remove that last course requirement rather than invalidate the entire Learning Pathway Run and cycle over into a new one. Even if that complexity is seldom used, it's still going to exist, and we're going to have to capture the state of how a student met the Learning Pathway requirements regardless.
What could we do instead?
What if we think of it this way:
Learning Pathways live forever, though we may decide to toggle when they are discoverable or enrollable. Regardless, a Learning Pathway does not have a completion deadline in the sense that it cuts off independently of the things inside of it.
We think of each Pathway Item as a requirement that can be satisfied in a number of ways. We could have several Course Runs that all satisfy the same Pathway Item requirement. It could be a Competency, or credit for a course taken on another platform, instructor/support override, or any number of other things.
In this framing, when new course runs become available, we add them to the appropriate existing Pathway Item. Our Pathway is not "a Pathway of Course Runs", it is "a Pathway of Items, each of which can be satisfied by one or more Course Runs".
Then the completion of a Pathway by a specific learner would be a frozen record of all the things they did in order to achieve that, including which specific course runs they completed and when.