Milestones is a BenchPrep feature that allows you to restrict learners from engaging with  specific content in the learning application until meeting certain predetermined criteria. 

 

Milestones provide course designers an additional tool to structure their content, while still ensuring an engaging learner experience and allowing for more flexibility and control over how content is consumed as the learner progresses through their journey. The intuitive milestone drop-down interface and pop up messages after each completed step ensure a seamless end user experience.

 

Benefits of using Milestones

 

Using milestones within courses provides an enhanced learning experience and content organization by ensuring: 

 

Increased structure: Learners receive visual representation of what they need to do next.  When a milestone is unlocked, a learner receives a message that sends them to the next page of the milestone drop-down interface to see what they have unlocked and how to complete the next milestone.  When a learner tries to access locked content, they receive a message with instructions on how to make the content available. The increased level of structure gives instructional designers the power to define the order in which a learner consumes content. The feature is useful for learners overwhelmed by the self-study aspect of the platform. 
 

Positive reinforcement: The milestones tracker not only provides learners with a visual representation of their goal, but also provides positive reinforcement for achieving it! 
 

Content integrity: Milestones can be used to prevent learners from skipping crucial areas of a course. The feature proves useful for learner groups that might be tempted to “game the system'' by skimming lessons or attempting exams before reviewing instructional content. They can also be used to prevent learners from accessing instructional content before they have completed foundational material in courses where completing material in a particular order is important. 

 

Are Milestones right for your learners?

 

While milestones are a flexible feature, they might not be relevant to your courses. For example, learners working in self-paced exam prep courses are unlikely to benefit from milestones. 

 

Below are a few use cases where implementing milestones would most likely enhance user experience: 

Content Completion Use Case: Association A wants to prevent learners from taking exams without adequate preparation. Milestones are used to lock exams until learners have reviewed all of the lessons in their course. 

 

 

 

Content Mastery Use Case: Learners who complete Academy B’s continuing education course may request a certificate of completion. The certificate request form is available in the final lesson of the course. To ensure learners have truly completed the course, Academy B locks learners out of the final lesson until they have received a satisfactory score on the course’s final exam. This maintains the integrity of the continuing education certificate.

 

 

Learn how to configure milestones here!