Training is increasingly evolving from single events to complex processes. How can learning developers structure these learning processes for themselves and the learners? Quite simply: with a learning path! Here you will learn exactly what a learning path is and how you create digital learning paths for the participants of your online courses.
From "Learning Event" to "Learning Process"
Further education in companies is rapidly developing: Learning methods are becoming more digital and diverse. The learning itself is increasingly self-directed and interactive in one way or another. The classic "training day" is evolving more and more into “self-learning” over a longer period. In short: A learning event is increasingly becoming a learning process.
This brings a new challenge for learning developers: How can you structure this learning process and guide your employees through it? The solution to this question is the learning path.
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What is a learning path?
In short: A learning path is the learning journey of your employees or the participants in your digital training through the entire learning process.
The learning path describes the individual stages that a learner goes through until they achieve the learning objective. This includes different phases: from the preparation for the training measure to the long-term transfer into professional everyday life. The focus is on the employee or course participant who later goes through the learning process.
The learning path describes the employees' journey through all stations of the learning process
Create your own learning path
A learning path helps you keep the learning process in view. Your employees also know exactly from the start about the progression, know the necessary steps, and understand what and why they are learning.
To create such a learning path, you need to clarify two questions in advance:
1. Who is your target group?
When you design a learning path, the learner is at the center. You build the process, necessary content, and methods around the learner. For this, you need a good understanding of who your target group actually is: a learner persona. In the blog of Shiftlearning, you will find a short but very helpful guide for developing learner personas.
2. What is the learning objective?
For every learning path, you should define a concrete goal that is also communicated to the learners. You can define this goal through three questions:
What do my employees need to learn?
What knowledge do they currently have?
What knowledge do I still need to convey to them?
An example: (1) The employees of your sales team should learn to explain a new product to customers. (2) They generally know how the product works, but they are not familiar with all the technical features. (3) What they need is detailed knowledge about the features of the product.
The three phases of a learning path
With a target group and the learning objectives, you can now start planning your employees' learning path. Each learners journey generally has three phases, which can include several steps: Preparation, learning phase, and transfer phase. Of course, you can include additional phases for your own learners journey tailored to your needs.
1. Preparation Phase: The first station in the learning path includes all steps from the point at which your employee learns that they need to learn something, until the point when the actual learning process begins.
Possible steps:
Your employees are informed about the upcoming training, the progression, and the goals, for example, via email or in person by a manager.
You emotionally prepare your employees for the learning path, for example, through a video from the trainer explaining why the training is important.
You check the current learning status of your employees, for example, through a short online questionnaire.
2. Learning Phase: The second phase includes all steps in the learning path from the first actual learning content to the last. How this phase unfolds varies from topic to topic or from learner to learner.
Possible steps:
Decide which contents should be conveyed in the learning phase.
Choose the methods that best match the content. Should there be an in-person event or an online training? Should various digital learning methods be combined? Tip: Get an overview of the most common digital learning methods!
If you want to offer blended learning, establish the sequence of in-person and online phases. Choose one of the models in blended learning:
The 3 phases of a learning path
With a target group and the learning objectives, you can now start planning the learning path for your employees. Each learning path generally consists of three phases, each of which can include several steps: Preparation, learning phase, and transfer phase. For your own learning path, of course, you can also include individually tailored additional phases.
1. The Preparation Phase
The first station in the learning path includes all steps from the point at which your employees learn that they need to learn something, until the point when the actual learning process begins.
Possible steps:
Your employees are informed about the upcoming training, the progression, and the goals, for example, via email or in person by a manager.
You emotionally prepare your employees for the learning path, for example, through a video from the trainer explaining why the training is important.
You check the current learning status of your employees, for example, through a short online questionnaire.
2. The Learning Phase
The second phase includes all steps in the learning path from the first learning content to the last. How this phase unfolds varies from topic to topic or from learner to learner.
Possible steps:
Decide which contents should be conveyed in the learning phase.
Choose the methods that best fit the content. Should there be an in-person event or an online training? Should various digital learning methods be combined? Tip: Get an overview of the most common digital learning methods!
If you want to offer blended learning, establish the sequence of in-person and online phases. You can download a summary of the most popular models in blended learning for free in the box below.
Overview
The most popular models in blended learning
Do you want to start with online impulses or prefer a personal meeting? Here you will learn about the various models.
3. The Transfer Phase
The third phase encompasses all steps from the end of the actual learning to the long-term application in everyday work.
Possible steps:
Think about how your employees are supposed to apply the new knowledge in everyday life.
Create transfer tasks that help transfer the new knowledge into your employees' everyday life.
Develop options for measuring learning progress, such as knowledge tests or a final exam.
Arrange these three phases and the important steps for you in a chronological order or combine them suitably for your employees – that will be your completed learning path!
2 Learning Path Examples
If you are unsure what your finished learning path might look like, we have two examples for you here:
Example 1: Process
In this example, you can see that even a simple representation is sufficient to capture the process. This learning path shows the process for a training session based on the blended learning concept with alternating in-person and online phases, as well as a longer transfer support.
Learning path for blended learning
Example 2: Timeline
This learning path from the Business Performance Academy is not clearly divided into phases. Instead, the representation shows the timeline over 200 days. The learning and transfer phases are not separated but planned alternately.
Learning path of the Business Performance Academy
Both shown learning paths follow the blended learning principle by combining in-person events with online courses.
Do you want to integrate blended learning into your employees' learning journey? Then download the overview of the most popular models in blended learning now and choose the right model for you.
We hope that this article has provided you with some useful information and wish you much success in creating your learning paths!
