Canvas Credentials Pathways Just Got Smarter: Introducing Manual Experiences

[DoraJekkel]

 

Dear Canvas Credentials Community!

Badges have long been central to Canvas Credentials. But how do we recognize learning that doesn’t neatly fit into a digital badge?

A student leads a community project. An employee presents at a conference. A learner completes a reflective essay after a semester-long leadership course. These are powerful, formative experiences, but until now, issuers had to either leave them out entirely or create low-value, filler badges just to make them work within the pathway structure.

The result? Credentials that sometimes felt less authentic, and a badge ecosystem that became diluted.

That’s about to change. Starting July 14, 2025, in beta and July 28, 2025, in production, you’ll be able to define Manual Experiences directly within Canvas Credentials Pathways. It’s a bold new way to design flexible, experiential learning journeys - without forcing everything into a badge-shaped box.

What’s Changing

Today, pathway steps can only be fulfilled by earning a badge.

With the upcoming release, you’ll have a new, powerful option: Manual Experiences - custom-defined learning activities that you evaluate manually (or in bulk) based on your own criteria.

This update gives you the power to design pathways that reflect what learners actually do,  not just what they click through.

What’s New

Here’s what you’ll be able to do with Manual Experiences once this launches:

✅ Add Manual Experiences to Any Step

When configuring a pathway step, you can add a Manual Experience - giving it a name and optional description. These show up just like badge requirements, but they reflect flexible, real-world activities instead of digital achievements.

✅ Evaluate Experiences in 3 Ways

• Individually: Evaluate one learner at a time - mark as Completed or Criteria Unmet.
  
  
• Group Evaluation: Apply a result to all learners in a group simultaneously.

• Bulk via CSV Upload or Manual Entry: Upload a file with learner identifiers and their results for fast evaluation or manually enter those.
  
  

Note: Once a learner is marked Completed, that status is locked in. Learners marked Criteria Unmet can later be updated to Completed if they meet the criteria.

✅ New Visual Feedback & Progress Indicators

Manual Experiences appear in step cards with dedicated icons. Group and individual progress tracking reflect manual evaluation data, and progress bars + pie charts update accordingly.

Understanding Progress:

With Manual Experiences now part of the mix, we’re updating how progress is calculated and displayed in Canvas Credentials. This logic is changing in both the group view and individual learner view, and we know it can be subtle - so here’s a clear breakdown of what’s different and how to interpret it.

For extra clarity, we’ve added this information directly inside the pathway interface as well - so users can reference it right where they’re working.

🟩 For Individual Learners

A step is marked as Completed only when:

• All required badges, manual experiences, or (in the future) Canvas LMS activities are marked as Completed
  
  
• All prerequisite and indirect prerequisite steps are also completed

Note: If any requirement is marked Criteria Unmet, the step stays In Progress until that requirement is reevaluated and updated to Completed.

📊 For Group Progress

Each step now displays a visual breakdown of learners by progress status:

• Not Started (gray) – No activity or evaluation yet
  
  
• In Progress (blue) – At least one learner has started a requirement, or some learners are still working
  
  
• Completed (green) – All learners have fulfilled all requirements and prerequisites for that step
  
  

You’ll see this information in two places:

• The progress bar directly on the step card
• The pie chart inside the step tray
  
  

⚠️ Important Reminders

• Learners marked Criteria Unmet do not count toward step or pathway completion if the given requirement was mandatory to continue
  
  
• Completed is a locked status - it cannot be changed back to Criteria Unmet
  
  
• Progress updates may take a few minutes to reflect after manual evaluations
  
  
• If a step has prerequisites, it won’t show as Completed until all dependent steps are completed

🏁 Pathway Completion Logic

• Individual View: A pathway is marked Completed once a learner has completed every required step and all required prerequisites
  
  
• Group View: A pathway is marked Completed when every learner has completed every required step in the pathway
  
  

Why This Matters

Not everything worth credentialing can (or should) be badged.

Manual Experiences bring flexibility and depth to your credentialing strategy - whether you’re guiding students, training employees, or developing leaders.

They allow you to:

• Capture offline, real-world learning
  
  
• Avoid low-value “filler badges”
  
  
• Provide richer data and outcomes to learners and stakeholders
  
  
• Build more authentic, aligned pathways
  
  

This is credentialing that respects how people actually grow.

Real-Life Use Cases: How You Might Use It

🎓 University Leadership Program

Students attend a leadership summit and submit a final reflection. Faculty review attendance and reflections, then evaluate each learner manually.

💼 Workforce Development Org

Learners participate in a 3-day design sprint. Managers upload a CSV to mark completion based on participation and presentation scores.

🏫 Career Readiness Pathway (High School)

Students complete a job shadowing day. Educators use group evaluation to mark attendance-based experiences.

Timeline: Beta & Launch

• July 14, 2025 – Available in beta for early adopters
  
  
• July 28, 2025 – Released to all Canvas Credentials customers in production
  

What’s Coming Next

Soon after this release, we’ll expand pathway support even further - allowing issuers to define Canvas Courses, Modules, and Assignments as requirements.

This will allow your pathways to reflect learning that happens inside Canvas LMS, not just externally-earned badges or manually defined tasks,  making your credentialing strategy even more powerful and data-connected.

Thank You

Manual Experiences were built in response to what you told us: “We need more flexibility. We want to recognize real learning, not just what’s easy to badge.” 

Thank you for being part of the Canvas Credentials community. We can’t wait to see what you create with this next chapter in pathways.

That’s it for now. But your pathways? They’re just getting started.

See you at the next step.

The Canvas Credentials Team