What is Microsoft Learning Pathways?

What is Learning Pathways? 

Microsoft 365 Learning Pathways is a customisable, on-demand training solution that focuses on Microsoft solution skills. This means it’s great for getting your workforce up-to-speed and productive using the Microsoft 365 applications you’ve licenced for your organisation*.   

Examples of Learning Pathways include: 

• Microsoft First Days – Get started with Microsoft 365 in six simple steps. 
• Microsoft Security – Cybersecurity fundamentals. 
• Microsoft OneDrive – Learn about OneDrive, OneDrive basics, and set up OneDrive. 
• Microsoft Forms – Build a form in minutes.  

Is Learning Pathways Free? 

Yes, Microsoft 365 Learning Pathways is free. Bear in mind that it is an open source service and as such, not supported by Microsoft.  Training content is kept up to date centrally by Microsoft community members.  This is a link to their learning content updates.

The community strives to update training on a quarterly basis, however sometimes training content is reported as out-of-date or as having broken links – but that’s essentially the price you pay for it being free! 

How do I Access Learning Pathways?  

Learning Pathways content is accessed via a modern SharePoint communication site that uses a series of iFrames to display Learning Pathways content. This content is hosted online using a combination of content from docs.microsoft.com or support.microsoft.com, and imagery etc., from a content delivery network.

Installing Learning Pathways manually: If you’re confident in getting ‘under the hood’, you can implement Learning Pathways manually by installing the customlearning.sppkg file into your SharePoint Tenant App Catalog, provisioning a modern communication site to house your training, and executing some PowerShell to configure everything, and so on. 

Installing Learning Pathways the easy way: A simpler approach is to install Learning Pathways along with the Microsoft Pathways lookbook template. More than just a training template, it provisions a site along with the latest Learning Pathways training videos and articles. 

By default, the videos and articles (assets) are grouped into Playlists that take learners through the available training content in a logical, step-by-step order. 

A Learning Pathways web part can be installed onto other sites within your tenant, allowing the relevant learning to be exposed on your pages using filters. 

You can now also surface Learning Pathways content via Viva Learning or via an LMS such as Learn 365.

How do I Customise Learning Pathways?  

Once installed, you can customise Learning Pathways to better suit your training needs. For example:  

• You can hide training on products you are not using via the Learning Pathways admin centre 

• You can copy existing training playlists and update them to ‘weave’ Microsoft’s training with your own training elements such as PDFs and videos.  A good example of this might be adding a ‘Where to find our enterprise templates’ information sheet at a relevant point in the Microsoft Word training playlist. 

• You can use then use the Learning Pathways web part to expose relevant training in other of your SharePoint sites, for example, an onboarding playlist on your HR page. 

This is a great starting page to discover more on customising Learning Pathways> https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/customlearning/custom_plancontent 

Is Learning Pathways a Learning Management System (LMS)? 

No.  Getting your workforce to find, engage and successfully complete the training that is relevant to their role can be prompted or guided to some extent.  For example, you can: 

• Include links to the relevant training in a series of emails scheduled to go to new starts as part of an onboarding program. 
• Create playlists of training that map onto the specific roles within your organisation. 
• Expose training on specific SharePoint pages. 

You cannot, however, ensure the consistent and standardised approach to training and development that an LMS offers.  This includes: 

• Specifically allocating selected training to users (i.e., enrolling them).  
• Tracking learners’ progress on each of their courses and overall learning journeys. 
• Sending reminders where training has not been completed within a specified time limit. 
• Using quizzes at the end of training elements to check that the learner has understood the content. 
• Issuing certificates of completion and/or Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points or Continuing Education Units (CEUs).
• Reporting on progress against goals to all relevant stakeholders.
• Automatically ensuring skills are renewed on a periodic basis – e.g. to meet industry regulations and, for example, maintain safety certifications.

Can I Integrate Microsoft Learning Pathways content into my Learning Management System? 

Yes.   For example, Learn365, the LMS built for Microsoft 365, lets you harness the Microsoft Learning Pathways content and build it into your own structured and managed learning journeys. 

This means you get all the benefits of training generated by the Microsoft community – along with everything that the Learn365 LMS offers in terms of targeting trainins, using quizzes to test comprehension, creating tailored learning journeys and tracking and reporting on progress (for both line managers and L&D teams).

You can also use Learn365 to surface Learning Pathways training in Microsoft Teams and mobile devices, as well as SharePoint. This means you can deliver a consistent and collaborative learning experience that blends into people’s default working environment, regardless of where and how they work.

Another great benefit of combining what’s available in Learning Pathways with your LMS is that you get to see exactly how well your workforce is adopting Microsoft skills. This is especially important if Microsoft licences represent a large chunk of your IT investment.

Conclusion

The Microsoft ecosystem now offers a wealth of exciting online learning opportunities – I don’t know about you but my head is spinning with them.

From free resources like Learning Pathways to premium offerings like LinkedIn Learning, there’s something for everyone—whether you’re looking to build product skills or focus on professional development. Plus, there’s a wide range of learning content providers and Microsoft partners delivering specialised training tailored to specific lines of business. Not forgetting, of course, learning content from your own gurus.

We’ll be looking at these various options – and helping you compare and contrast them and make the most of them – in upcoming articles.

_{*At the time of writing Learning Pathways did not include Copilot training, although this is now available through other training sources like LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn}