A learning pathway is the chosen route individuals complete as they progress through a range of specific courses, academic programs, and learning experiences. It's a roadmap describing the landscape of a field, program, or specialization. Learning pathways are made up of stackable credentials.
Institutions and programs must carefully plan and map the learners' journey to establish effective pathways. Planning pathways involves strategic thinking and carefully considering the steps, resources, and support learners will require to navigate through pathways successfully. A thoughtful planning and mapping strategy can ensure learners have a clear and well-defined route. Pathways help learners stay on track and aid in the overall completion goal. Below are best practices for planning and creating learning pathways.
- Define issuers
- Badges are awarded through issuers. An issuer is an organization, department, or individual responsible for creating, publishing, and issuing badges. Determine how issuers will be defined at your institution. Consider if you will allow individuals, such as faculty, at your institution to issue badges using a personal issuer.
- Map competencies
- Mapping competencies is vital for credentialing because it helps establish clear and standardized criteria for assessing the knowledge, skills, and abilities of individuals seeking credentials. Before issuing a credential, defining the value to learners is essential.
- Decide the level at which learners can earn credentials.
- Different levels of credentials can designed to represent varying levels of knowledge, skill, and expertise. This decision will help define the badge taxonomy. Taxonomy is the classification of badges. Taxonomy determines the different types of badges awarded at your institution.
- Define assessment requirements
- Assessments can be used to evaluate learners' knowledge, skills, and competencies to determine their eligibility for a specific credential. Assessment can be approached using various criteria and processes. These assessments aim to accurately measure the individual's capabilities and assess their suitability for the desired credential. The specific approaches to assessments may vary but can include the following:
- Competency-based assignments or assessments.
- Industry embedded projects
- Traditional exams
- Consider co-curricular and third-party opportunities.
- Pathways allows users to add any Open Badge by importing the badge using the third-party feature in Pathways. This feature will enable organizations to collaborate with industry partners and other organizations.
If additional help is needed with planning or developing pathways, contact your Customer Success Manager to hear more about our consulting and training services.
