CDLA · Module 4 — Pathway and blend architecture
Formal courses are one channel. Pathway design decides what is pushed, pulled or practised in the workflow.
About 18 min
Practice in the lesson player
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01
A new branch manager is enrolled in 23 courses on day one. By week six she has completed four, and the things she actually needed (how to approve overtime, what to do when the cash count is off) she learned by phoning a colleague. The catalogue was complete. The pathway did not exist.
02
Channel | Example | Design question
Push (assigned) | Compliance deadline, onboarding cohort | Is assignment the right fix, or is the environment broken?
Pull (on demand) | Searchable job aids, short lessons at the point of need | Can they find it in under 30 seconds, in their language?
Practice (on the job) | Coaching, stretch assignments, simulations | Does the workflow allow safe mistakes?
03
The 70-20-10 mix comes from interviews with executives about their key developmental experiences. It reminds designers that formal learning is one slice. It is not a budget formula, and it does not justify skipping designed practice for high-risk actions.
04
Blume, Ford, Baldwin and Huang's 2010 meta-analysis of training transfer found that the work environment, especially supervisor and peer support, is related to whether people use what they learned. In pathway terms: the practice channel only works if the manager knows what to look for and has time to coach it. Design the manager's part explicitly: a one-page brief, two conversation prompts and a checklist. If you cannot get the manager's time, say so in the design document, because it limits what the pathway can claim.
05
For each action on your Module 1 map, write one experience per channel: push, pull and practice. Mark the practice experiences that depend on a manager, and name the manager.