Key takeaways
- Collect course and elective selections per student.
- Turn selections into sections or option blocks before placing lessons.
- Assign learners individually, including exemptions where they apply.
- Keep pathway groups connected to limited labs, facilities, and rotations.
What data defines an individual pathway?
An individual pathway starts with the learner's course or elective selections. Those selections need to be recorded per student, not only as a cohort total.
After collection, planners form sections or option blocks. That group formation step decides which learners can be taught together and which choices must be separated.
Which fields should planners collect?
Collect enough to form groups and assign learners individually.
- Learner identifier
- Course or elective selections
- Required sections or option blocks
- Exemptions that affect attendance
- Pathway or cohort label for reporting
- Facilities or labs needed by the chosen courses
How do planners move from choices to assignments?
Use the same sequence described in the verified sources.
- Collect per-student course and elective selections.
- Group compatible selections into sections or option blocks.
- Identify exemptions that change an individual learner's attendance.
- Assign learners to the formed groups individually.
- Check whether request satisfaction is acceptable.
- Review the groups against limited labs and facility rotations.
How do option blocks relate to workshop capacity?
Option blocks do not remove the limits of specialist spaces. If several pathway groups need the same lab, bay, or workshop, rotating those facilities across cohorts and pathways becomes a soft constraint in the schedule.
That means the option pattern should be checked against workshop and lab scheduling, not treated as a separate exercise.
What causes pathway assignment problems?
Most problems come from hiding individual choices too late in the process.
- Only a cohort label is available
- Student selections are missing or late
- Sections are formed before choices are checked
- Exemptions are not attached to individual learners
- Option blocks ignore limited labs or facilities
- Request satisfaction is reviewed after groups are already fixed
Where does this guide stop?
This guide covers per-student choices, group formation, option blocks, exemptions, and request satisfaction. For cross-site course lines and students travelling between campuses, see multi-campus delivery.
Questions planners ask about individual pathways
What is the first data task?
Collect each learner's course or elective selections. A single cohort label is not enough when learners follow different pathways.
What is an option block?
It is a group of choices organised so learners can be assigned to sections without avoidable clashes.
Where do exemptions fit?
Apply exemptions at the individual assignment stage, so the learner's timetable reflects what they must and must not attend.