Learning Paths

 The Learning Paths section allows a user to create educational lines in the studying process. To pass to this section, click a corresponding icon () in the top course menu.

A Learning Path represents a sequence of steps that all Students, taking part in a course, should complete. The steps of a Learning path may be of various nature: these can be different documents a Student should process, educational links a user should view, or quizzes a Student should complete. 

A learning path is a tree-like structured essence: it may contain a number of chapters, each of which may contain child elements - documents, links and quizzes. Passing to the next stage of a learning path may be conditioned by completing the previous chapters of the path. In this way, the Teacher of a course can make sure that Students process the materials of the course thoroughly, not skipping any of its stages.

A user can add learning paths in two ways:

• Create a JoomlaLMS learning path;
• Upload a SCORM and IMS compliant course content.

The Learning Paths page also gives a user a possibility to edit, publish and delete learning paths.

To manage learning paths, use the following icons:

Icon	Name	Step
	Publish	Select check boxes next to the necessary learning paths and click Publish in the bottom menu to make selected paths available for Students.
	Unpublish	Select check boxes next to the necessary learning paths and click Unpublish in the bottom menu to make selected paths unavailable for Students.
	New Learning Path	Click the New Learning Path icon to create a new path.
	Delete	Select check boxes next to the necessary learning paths and click Delete to remove selected paths.
	Edit	Select a check box next to the learning path to edit the path.
	Move Up	Click the Move Up icon next to the necessary learning path to bring an item up in the list.
	Move Down	Click the Move Down icon next to the necessary learning path to bring an item down in the list.

To make up a learning path, you should add a new learning path and configure it. The next steps should be followed:

1. Create a learning path.
2. Create path chapters.
3. Add steps to chapters.
4. Specify pre-requisites.

1. Enter the course Learning Paths section () and click the New icon on the Course Learning Paths page.
2. Click the Learning path tab of the New 'JoomlaLMS' learning path form.

    

3. Enter the description and short description for the new learning path. You may as well input a message that will be shown to student on the completion of the learning path. Use the embedded Visual Editor to format the description text.
4. When finished, click Save in the top right corner of the form to add a learning path; click Cancel to discard changes and close the form. Once the learning path is saved you can configure its prerequisites. Prerequisites are other learning paths that a student must complete before moving on to this one. The available learning paths are listed in the drop-down box. Anytime you edit a learning path you can change its prerequisites - add the new and delete the existing ones.

1. On the Course Learning paths page click the name of a newly created path.
2. Click the Add icon () to add a new chapter to the created path.

    

3. Enter the name, description and short description for the new chapter. Use the embedded Visual Editor to format the description text.
4. In the Place in field specify to which node of the learning path tree the chapter should belong.
5. When finished, click Save in the top right corner of the form to add a chapter; click Cancel to discard changes and close the form.

Every chapter of a learning path should be filled with steps for Students to pass.

1. On the Course Learning paths page click the name of the created path.
2. On the Learning path page click the Add Step () icon next to a corresponding chapter.
3. Select documents for the chapter.

   • In the Add documents to learning path section select check boxes next to the documents you would like to place to the chapter.
   • In the Place in field specify to which node of the learning path tree the documents should be placed.
   • In the Ordering field specify the position of the documents in the tree. Please note that if you select more than one document, they will be placed to a tree in the alphabetical order.
4. Select links for the chapter.

   • In the Add links to learning path section select check boxes next to the links you would like to place to the chapter.
   • In the Place in field specify to which node of the learning path tree the links should belong.
   • In the Ordering field specify the position of the links in the tree. Please note that if you select more than one link, they will be placed to a tree in the alphabetical order.
5. Select quizzes for the chapter.

   • In the Add quizzes to learning path section select check boxes next to the quizzes you would like to place to the chapter.
   • In the Place in field specify to which node of the learning path tree the quizzes should belong.
   • In the Ordering field specify the position of the quizzes in the tree. Please note that if you select more than one quiz, they will be placed to a tree in the alphabetical order.
6. Select SCORMs for the chapter. Once you've added a SCORM you don't want it to be visible on the Learning paths page, for it's assigned in order for student to open it when he passes the Learning path. To make it invisible choose a necessary option in the SCORMs tab when creating or editing a learning path.

   • In the Add SCORMs to learning path section select check boxes next to the SCORMs you would like to place to the chapter.
   • In the Place in field specify to which node of the learning path tree the SCORMs should belong.
   • In the Ordering field specify the position of the SCORMs in the tree. Please note that if you select more than one SCORM, they will be placed to a tree in the alphabetical order.
7. Add a new sub-chapter for the chapter (if necessary).

   • In the Enter name field of the Add chapter to learning path section enter the name of a new sub-chapter.
   • In the Place in field specify to which node of the learning path tree the sub-chapter should belong.
   • In the Ordering field specify the position of the sub-chapter in the tree.
8. Create a content page for the learning path chapters.

   • In the Enter name field of the Create content page in learning path section enter the name of the content page.
   • In the Place in field specify to which node of the learning path tree the content page should belong.
   • In the Ordering field specify the position of the content page in the tree.
9. In the Short description and Description fields enter the short representation and description for the new step. Use the embedded Visual Editor to format the description text.
10. When finished, click Save in the top right corner of the form to add a step; click Cancel to discard changes and close the form.

1. On the Course Learning paths page click the name of the created path.
2. On the Learning path page click the Conditions icon () next to a corresponding step (for example, Chapter II).

    

3. From the student must complete list select a step that should be completed before a Student will be able to pass to the current step (for example, Chapter I).
4. Click the Add button next to it.
5. If necessary, repeat the procedure to set a required number of conditions.
6. Click the Back button () to get back to the learning path tree.

The learning path tool allows you to upload SCORM and LMS compliant course contents.

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is a public standard followed by major e-Learning actors like NETg, Macromedia, Microsoft, Skillsoft, etc that acts at three levels:

• Economic level: Scorm allows whole courses or small content units to be reused on different Learning Management Systems (LMS) through the separation of content and context.
• Pedagogic level: Scorm integrates the notion of pre-requisite or sequencing (e.g. "You cannot go to chapter 2 before passing Quiz 1").
• Technological level: Scorm generates a table of contents as an abstraction layer situated outside the content and the LMS. It helps the content and LMS communicate with each other. Communication is performed by means of bookmarks ("Where is John in the course?"), scoring ("How did John pass the test?") and time ("How much time did John spent in chapter 1?").

To upload a SCORM package:

1. Enter the course Learning Paths section () and click the New icon () on the Course Learning Paths page.
2. Click the SCORM tab of the New 'JoomlaLMS' learning path form.

3. Fill out the form fields as described in the following table:

   Field	Step
   Enter Name	Enter the name of the newly created learning path.
   Choose a file from your computer	If a SCORM package is stored on the local computer, press the Browse button and select a necessary file.
   Choose a file uploaded into Joomla 'Media' folder via FTP	Sometimes a SCORM package file can be too large. In this case it is easier to upload a file to the server using the FTP manager instead of common web interface. Such files are placed into the Media folder located in the Joomla site root folder. To import a file from the Media folder, specify only the name of an uploaded file in the Choose a file field
   SCORM stage height	Specify the size of the SCORM module.
   SCORM navigation bar	Select Show if you want the navigation bar to be visible; otherwise select Hide.
   Show in Gradebook	Select if you want the SCORM module to be visible in the course GradeBook; otherwise select Hide.
   Hide resources in the list	You might need this option if you add SCORMs as steps to learning path's chapters. Once you've added a SCORM you don't want it to be visible on the Learning paths page, for it's assigned in order for student to open it when he passes the Learning path. To make it invisible choose the Yes radiobutton.
   Prerequisites	Once the learning path is saved you can configure its prerequisites. Prerequisites are other learning paths that a student must complete before moving on to this one. The available learning paths are listed in the drop-down box. Anytime you edit a learning path you can change its prerequisites - add the new and delete the existing ones.
   Short description	Enter the description of the uploaded SCORM module. Use the embedded Visual Editor to format the description text.

4. When finished, click Save in the top right corner of the form to upload a module; click Cancel to discard changes and close the form.

In some cases it may be necessary to modify the data of a created Learning path.

To edit an already configured learning path:

1. On the Course learning paths page select a check box next to a corresponding path.
2. Click the Edit () icon at the bottom of the page.
3. Modify learning path properties as described in the Creating JoomlaLMS Learning Paths topic.
4. When finished, click Save in the top right corner of the form to save the changes; click Cancel to discard changes and close the form.