How to use individual learning journeys

You've probably heard us talk about learning journeys before, but what are individual learning journeys in Knowly? For you to build pre-boarding, onboarding, or to be able to send out a learning journey on demand, we have made the ability to set a start date for the learning journey and then create a flow of mailings based on that.

What are individual learning journeys used for? 

Individual learning journeys (ILJs) are perfect for, e.g. pre- and onboarding cases, self-leadership and other situations where an individual must tackle an area on their own. The goal of ILJs is that, with minimal administration, you should be able to deliver a learning journey that, in terms of dates, is entirely tailored to individuals and their managers.

The difference between a regular learning journey aimed at a group is how scheduling is done.

  • In a regular learning journey, you, as an admin, manually schedule all mailings for specific dates and that all participants receive the mailings on the same date. It is time efficient when we have large groups that must have the same information simultaneously. When dealing with individuals, however, it becomes incredibly time-consuming because we need to reuse our schema.
  • When we use individual learning journeys, instead, we have individuals as our target group. In an individual learning journey, you create a standard, reusable schedule with relative date entries that adapt to each new employee you add.
How scheduling works in individual learning journeys

The key to the simplified administration is introducing a new activity called "anchor point". It is an anchor on which you base all your future scheduling. Like educational meetings, the reference point in a regular learning journey is often the anchor point, the reference point in an individual learning journey. Just like with a meeting, we can rename our anchor point.

When we create an ILJ, we must first create our activities. Each activity is then scheduled relative to the anchor point (e.g. 2 days before or 2 days after). The relative scheduling then forms your standard reusable schedule.

When we then share the learning journey with employees, we only fill in a single date per participant, the anchor date. The rest is taken care of automatically using the standard reusable schedule. This is in contrast to specifying specific dates for each activity and participant.

When you add new employees, you only have to enter their contact details and an anchor date. Using the anchor date and your standard reusable schedule, the employee gets a wholly customized schedule based on their conditions - regardless of whether you have 1 or 100 activities to send out to the employee and their manager.

Create and schedule first; add participants later 

When you use an individual learning journey, there are two clear sub-steps to remember. They are…

  • ...the time when you design your learning journey. You decide what your anchor point should be, design your material, and create your standard schedule with relative date markers.
  • ...the time when you add employees and run your learning journey. As new employees embark on the learning journey, you enter them into the system and enter their anchor date. Then they automatically receive mailings scheduled according to your standard reusable schedule.
    If you want to use our template for pre-boarding and onboarding, let us know!