Put your courses in an order a new hire can follow

What the path does, and what it leaves to courses

A path stores its steps and their order. A step is a course or an assessment (a survey or form). Exams cannot be steps, which is why a closing exam is handled with access rules, described below. When a learner enrolls, they are enrolled in each course at once, and the path page lists every step in sequence with its own progress. A course step counts when the course is completed, and an assessment step when it is submitted. The path records a completion date when it reaches 100%.

Turn on the path’s in-order mode and step three stays closed until step two is done. You can also give the path a due date a set number of days after each person enrolls, a points value awarded on completion, and a path certificate designed like any other. Where order matters inside and around courses, you have three more tools. Inside a course, turn on sequential progression: the learner can open only the next lesson they have not completed, finishing a section opens the next section, and completed lessons stay open for review. Between courses, set prerequisites: a learner can still enroll, but the lessons stay locked on the web and in the app until the prerequisite courses are complete. At the end of a path, make the final exam conditional, with a “completed a course” rule for each course that has to come first. Until the rules are met, the candidate sees the exam locked along with the reason.

Lesson gates for pacing

Sequential mode handles order. Lesson gates handle time. Each lesson can open a set number of days after enrollment (drip), at a fixed date and time, after a named earlier lesson is complete, and only once the learner has spent a minimum time on that earlier lesson. Drip and sequential rules both have to pass, so a 30-day onboarding plan can release week-two material on day 8 and still insist that week one is done. For an intake that starts together, give a group start and end dates and assign it the course: drip days then count from the cohort start, or from enrollment if that comes later.

Recommendations

The recommendation engine scores published courses a learner is not yet enrolled in. Courses score higher when they sit in a category the learner has completed, match their level or the next one up (beginner to intermediate to advanced), were completed by people who finished the same courses, or are rated 4 or above. With AI enabled, an optional recommender can also suggest up to three next courses whenever someone completes one. It is off by default.

Getting people onto a path

Learners enroll themselves from the Paths page. A path can also be granted by a WooCommerce purchase (mark it as requiring purchase so the free Enroll button is not offered), by a REST API call, or by a partner LMS through LTI Deep Linking. If a subscription lapses, the store can suspend path access and restore it later without wiping progress. For a whole client or department, assign the path to their organization: current members are enrolled straight away and new members as they join, and the path’s due date counts from each person’s enrollment. Individual courses can still go to a group or organization with a due date and a mandatory flag, and email automation can chase anyone with no progress, stuck partway through a course, or close to a course or path deadline (an admin switches the deadline rules on).

Who can join each course

Every course has its own enrollment mode: admin only, open, an enrollment key of 4 to 64 characters, or a request that someone approves. Admins can approve requests in bulk, and organization managers with the approval permission handle requests from their own members. You can cap the seats (staff do not use one), let a waiting list fill automatically when the course is full, and set dates when enrollment opens and closes. Plan for this when you build a path: a learner who joins a path themselves is enrolled only in its open courses, and a course behind a key or an approval step still needs that key or approval.