Put your courses in an order a new hire can follow
Learning paths bundle courses into a sequence with shared progress, while lesson gates, sequential progression and exam access rules decide what opens when.
At a glance
- Ordered paths
- One-click enrollment
- Sequential progression
- Lesson gates
- Next-course recommendations
A catalog of forty courses is not a plan. New starters open it, pick whatever looks shortest, and three weeks later their manager asks why they skipped the safety basics.
A learning path in LMS Advisor is an ordered list of published courses with its own title, description and cover image. Learners find paths on their Paths page, enroll once, and are enrolled in every course in the path at the same moment. Progress is counted in completed courses, and the path marks itself complete when the last one is done. Order inside a course comes from sequential progression and lesson gates, and a closing exam can stay locked until the path’s courses are finished. Recommendations then point each person to what comes next.
Why training drifts off course
A catalog with no starting point
Learners do not know which of forty courses comes first, so they start with whatever looks quickest.
Advanced content before the basics
People jump to the interesting module and hit ideas that were covered in a course they never opened.
Enrolling people course by course
Six courses for every new starter means six enrollments per person, and one of them always gets missed.
Silence after the last course
Someone finishes the program, the platform has nothing more to say, and they stop signing in.
What a path is made of
The path holds the sequence. Course settings and exam rules hold the locks. Recommendations and automated emails keep people moving between the two.
Ordered paths
Choose published courses, set their order, and publish the path when it is ready. Drafts stay hidden from learners.
One-click enrollment
Enrolling in a path enrolls the learner in every course in it, so nobody ends up missing course four.
Sequential progression
Switch a course to sequential mode and each lesson opens only when the one before it is complete.
Lesson gates
Release lessons a set number of days after enrollment, from a fixed date, after a named lesson, or after a minimum time spent on it.
Next-course recommendations
Suggestions based on the categories and levels a learner has finished, what similar learners took next, and course ratings.
Paths you can sell or share
List paths as WooCommerce products, launch them from another LMS over LTI, or enroll learners through the REST API.
How ordering and gating work
What the path does, and what it leaves to courses
A path stores courses and their order. When a learner enrolls, they are enrolled in each course at once, and the path page lists every course in sequence with its own progress bar. Path progress is the share of courses completed, and the path records a completion date when it reaches 100%.
The path itself does not lock course three until course two is finished. Where order is non-negotiable, you enforce it in two other places. 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. 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.
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 mandatory training with a deadline, assign the underlying courses to a group or organization. Organization assignments carry 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 deadline.
See Learning Paths in a live demo
We will show it with your own scenario, answer the security questions and send a written quote after the call.
Building your first path
Write down the outcome
Decide what someone should be able to do at the end, then pick the published courses that get them there.
Create and order the path
Add a title, description and cover image, choose the courses, set their order, and keep it as a draft while you check it.
Set the locks
Turn on sequential progression where order matters, add drip or date gates for pacing, and make the closing exam conditional.
Publish and open access
Publish the path so it appears on learners’ Paths page, or connect it to your store, the API or an LTI platform.
Watch and nudge
Use course and group reports to spot people who have stalled, and set automation rules to email anyone with no progress.
Paths people actually build
New-hire onboarding
Company basics, systems training and a role module in order, with week-two lessons dripped from day 8 and a knowledge check at the end.
Certification tracks
Three preparation courses followed by a proctored exam that opens only once all three are complete, with a certificate issued on a pass.
Customer academies
Beginner, intermediate and advanced product courses in one path, with recommendations pointing finishers toward the next level.
Paid programs
A training company sells a path through its WooCommerce store, and the buyer gets every course in it as soon as the order goes through.
What changes for learners
- New starters know exactly where to begin
- One enrollment instead of six
- Order enforced where it matters and relaxed where it does not
- Finishers always have a suggested next step
- Progress reported across a whole program, not one course at a time