Starting with OpenOlat version 15.0, there are two types of OpenOlat courses: conventional courses and learning path courses.
The course type Learning Path helps learners to keep track of their course activities. The visualization of the learning path shows at a glance what they have already completed, where the learners are in the course at the moment and which modules they are still allowed or required to complete.
Authors and tutors also benefit from the new course type. The learning path report provides tutors with improved participant tracking. This enables them to react to the individual learning progress of participants and offer targeted support.
If nothing else is mentioned in the online help, the term "course" refers to conventional courses. If it concerns learning path courses, this is explicitly mentioned.
Both course types can be created in the author area "My entries" or "Favorites" -> Create -> Course. Then you can select the desired course type.
Learning path courses are primarily intended for linear course structuring, but can also be structured entirely or in part by hypertext. Learning path courses are particularly suitable for developing self-study courses and online tutorials. With the help of learning paths, learners can be given a certain structure which they have to go through.
At the same time, the progress status of a user is displayed transparently. Reminders can also be sent when a certain percentage of a course has been completed. The progress status can be based on the course elements called up or on a time-based reference. The user will be shown in percent how far he/she has already worked on a course. Once a user has completed all course elements defined by the coach he/she will see 100%. If new course elements are added or deleted in an ongoing course this will be taken into account in the overall total and the previous percentage of learners will be adjusted accordingly.
Existing conventional courses can be converted into learning path courses. During the conversion a copy of the course is created. However, courses that contain a portfolio task or an old questionnaire cannot be converted at the moment. In this case, you must first remove these modules and then start the conversion.
A link for the conversion into a learning path course can also be found in the "Administration" menu of a conventional course.
It is not possible to convert a learning path course into a conventional course.
If the course is of type "Learning path" you can configure at this point how the learning progress should be calculated.
Typical elements of a learning path course:
- Progress bar (learning path) in the course
- Link to a complete overview of the progress status of all course elements with further feedback information such as progress, status, obligation, estimated learning time as well as possible dates. This overview can be accessed by clicking on the button "Learning path" in your course's toolbar.
- Display of the percentage progress. If all defined course elements have been edited or clicked on according to configuration 100 % will be displayed.
- Arrow buttons for navigation through the entire course. With these arrows the user can navigate to the next course element. If certain requirements have to be met for the following course element that have not yet been met, e.g. a confirmation by the user is missing or a test has not yet been taken, the message "This course element is not accessible." will be displayed.
Sequential or No sequence
Learning Path courses can be configured to be taken sequentially or in any order by learners.
The basic setting is set on the top course element, which is automatically created when a course is created. This setting then initially applies to the entire course. If certain areas of the course are to be given a different setting, this can be done by adding and configuring the course element "Structure". The selected setting will then apply to all course elements subordinate to this course element "Structure".
For example, a course can be configured by default as a course to be run through sequentially via the top course element, but a specific area containing general information that is to be permanently accessible in any order can be set up with the help of a course element "Structure" and the setting "No sequence".
Learning path courses cannot be unlocked for guests.
