Plan your Custom Journey

Before you begin creating a new custom journey, we recommend that you plan out the content to be included in your journey and whether your journey will be used in a learning program. In your plan, think about how you will group, categorize, label, and describe the journey, plus identify its location in the Percipio library. You might also want to consider how changes in the future impact learners. Having the details organized before you begin ensures the best design possible and an easy creation process.

NOTE: Before adding any Skillsoft content to your custom journey, check the All Content Listing report to ensure items you want to include are not retiring soon. If you add items that get retired at a later date, they are automatically removed from the journey and no longer count toward completion.

New to custom journeys start here

If you are new to creating a custom journey, ask yourself the questions in the following table. Then use the checklist at the bottom to ensure you have what you need when you go to create the journey.

Question

Reason

Is a custom journey the right solution for your business needs?

Percipio offers the option for you to create custom channels, custom journeys, or assignments. Each can serve different purposes. For more details, see Which to use: Custom Channel, Journey, Assignment, or Learning Program?

Do you have a title and description for your journey?

Learners see the title and description of the journey when viewing it in Percipio. The words you use here also become keywords for searching. Use words that are meaningful to the learner. Journey title and description are required fields.

Example for Akara, a fictitious company

Journey Title: Independent Contributor to First Line Manager
Journey Description: Akara wants to help you advance your career. If you are interested in becoming a manager, get the necessary skills by completing this journey.

Will your journey be added to a learning program?

When you add a journey to a learning program, learners go through the content together as a cohort. We recommend that you structure your journey's tracks in a way that guides users of what to accomplish and by when throughout the program.

For example: If you have a four week program, consider structuring your journey into four tracks and label each track with the week number to guide learners on what they should accomplish each week of the learning program.

Do you have an image created that represents your journey?

Learners see the journey image when browsing the library and in search results.

If you do not have a custom image, you can select a royalty-free one from the image gallery or use the default Percipio image.

Have you identified the library area and subject where the journey should reside?

The Area/Subject is where the journey lives in the library hierarchical structure. If you are using a custom area/subject, ensure it is set up before you begin creating your journey. This field is required.

Are you allowing learners who complete the journey or its track(s) to earn a Digital Badge?

You can create custom Digital Badges that you can add to journeys and tracks. Badges provide an incentive to learners to stay engaged and complete the track and journey. To use custom Digital Badges, they must be turned on and created, then added to the journey.

Are you allowing learners who complete the journey to earn a completion certificate?

If yes, you must enable the Completion Certificate setting under Site Settings > Site Configuration > Completion Settings > Completion Certificate.

In what languages will learners access your custom journey?

For each language chosen, you must provide relevant translations for titles and descriptions.

You must also identify local language content you want to include in your localized track because there may not be a one-to-one mapping of English content to another language. To help you identify courses in a local language that you can add to a journey language view, you can see Find a course in a different language or use the All content listing report and filter on the English Equivalent Title column for the English title you are using.

Do you need to create a Skillsoft Aspire Journey in another language?

Currently, Skillsoft Aspire Journeys only exist in English. To offer a Skillsoft Aspire Journey in more than one language, make a copy of it, add the languages and content you need to the copy, then hide the original. You cannot edit a Skillsoft Aspire Journey.

Have you identified all content needed and the order it should be completed?

As you select learning content for your journey, consider the following:

Are you using Skillsoft content, custom content, or Live Courses (ILT) or a combination?
- If you are using custom content, such as a welcome video, corporate policies and procedures, instructions, proprietary learning content, or self assessments, have you added it to Percipio?
- If you are using Live Courses, have you created classes for learners to register?
Is the content required or optional? If optional, place in introductory or related content sections.
Do you want to group the content into separate tracks? Your journey can have one or more tracks. Each track is a completable milestone for the learner. The learner completes the journey by completing all tracks in the journey.
For each track you identify, do you have a track title, description, and image?
If using Skillsoft content, will learners have access to the license pools where the content resides?
Have you identified localized content?

Example for Akara Journey Independent Contributor to First Line Manager:

Track 1 Title/Description: Learn the Basics/In this track, learn the basic human interaction skills needed to successfully perform as a manager.
Track 2 Title/Description: Becoming a Coach/In this track, learn how to coach your employees and elevate each individual's productivity.
Track 3 Title/Description: Learning Akara Management Systems/In this track, learn the budgeting, vacation planning, and purchasing systems to support your employees as their manager.

How do you want your journey to display to your learners?

You can present journeys to learners in one of two display styles:

With the Simple display style, learners see the journey and all its tracks on a single page and if you add a video, it plays inline. The Simple display style is great for shorter journeys with lots of video content.
With the Classic display style, learners see the journey with its list of tracks on one page, but each track opens in a separate page and all content opens in its own player. The Classic display style is great for longer journeys that don't have as many single videos. This is the style used by Skillsoft Aspire Journeys.

Classic display style

Simple display style

Do you want introductory content to ensure learners have the right foundation for success when moving through the journey?

Introductory content is where you can add optional content for your learners to review before they begin the journey. As a best practice, you might consider adding introductory content to:

Explain any prerequisite knowledge that will help the learner be successful.
Share concepts, tools, or technologies the learner should be familiar with before they begin their journey.
Offer any instructions or recommendations on how to complete the journey.
Have the learner assess their current knowledge.

Example for Akara Journey Independent Contributor to First Line Manager:

Introductory Title: Before you Begin
Content included: A video message from a company leader, instructions for completing the journey, and a self assessment

If included, introductory content does not count towards the journey completion. You can group introductory content into different sections that appear as strips before the tracks in the learner view. Each section can contain 15 items.

Do you want related content items for learners to use as a reference during or after their journey?

You can consider adding related content if you want to provide additional resources to enhance and support your learners' knowledge as they step through the custom journey. You might add such things as reference books, corporate guidelines, or job aids.

Example for Akara Journey Independent Contributor to First Line Manager:

Related Content Title: Additional Resources
Content included: Akara budgeting quick start guide, book on coaching tips, and self assessment

The content you present in the related content section is not required for learner completion of the journey. You can group related content into different sections which appear as strips after the tracks in the learner view. You can have multiple sections. Each section can contain 15 items.

Do you want your journey to only be visible to a limited number of learners?

By default, a journey is visible to all learners. If you want it to be visible to only a select number of learners, you will need to Create a New Audience for those learners.

Are your target learners entitled to all the content within the journey?

Learners only see content items in a journey to which they have access. If learners do not have access to a content item within a journey through license distribution, they do not see that content item, however learners can complete the track with only items they see.

Do you anticipate adding or removing content from the tracks or journey?

You might want to consider designing smaller tracks or journeys if you anticipate making a lot of changes to content. Once a learner completes a track or journey, it remains completed even if you add new content. See how changing a journey impacts learners.

Custom journey creation checklist

These are the details you need to create your journey. Items marked with an * are required:

	*Area/subject	The area and subject within the library hierarchy. If using a custom area/subject, ensure you create it first.
	Language	To offer a Skillsoft Aspire Journey in more than one language, make a copy of it, add the languages and content you need to the copy, then hide the original. You cannot edit a Skillsoft Aspire Journey. To help you identify courses in a local language that you can add to a journey language view, you can see Find a course in a different language or use the All content listing report and filter on the English Equivalent Title column for the English title you are using.
	*Journey title	For every language needed, enter a translated title for the journey.
	*Journey description	For every language needed, enter a translated description of what will be covered in the journey and what the learner can expect to accomplish upon completion.
	Display style	Choose how the journey displays to the learners.
	*Journey image	Add an image that will display to learners who discover the journey through search or the library.
	Custom Digital Badge	Allow learners to earn a custom Digital Badge upon completion of the track or journey.
	Introductory section	For every language needed, select any optional content needed that prepares the learner for completing the tracks.
	*Track content	For every language and track needed, select required content the learner must complete.
	*Track title	For every language and track needed, enter a title for each track.
	*Track description	For every language and track needed, enter a description of what will be covered in each track and what the user can expect to accomplish upon completion.
	*Track images	Add an image that will display to learners who open the journey to browse its tracks.
	Related content	For every language needed, select any optional content needed that supports the learner after completing the tracks.
	Target audience	If you are using an audience, ensure it is created first so you can select it from the list. Ensure the audience is associated with the license pools that contain the content within the journey.