To begin building your pathway, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Pathway Builder: Log into your Credential Engine account https://apps.credentialengine.org/accounts/ and navigate to the Pathway Builder https://apps.credentialengine.org/publisher.
   
2. Identify Organization Affiliation: Select the organization that your account is affiliated with.
   
3. Describe the Pathway: A modal window will automatically appear where you can provide information about your pathway. Fill in the required fields (with a red *), such as the Pathway Name and Description. Additionally, you can provide a Subject Webpage URL, specify the Industry Type, add Keywords, identify Occupation Types, Instructional Program Types, and enter relevant Subjects. You can also reference any support services published to the Credential Registry. This information will enhance the discoverability and understanding of your pathway. Select your Progression Model if you have created one for the pathway. This allows you to align your pathway components with specific points in the Progression Model.
   
   1. For more information select the ? next to each field.
   2. Select “Next” to continue.
4. Search Credential Registry: After completing the pathway information, another modal window will automatically appear. Use the keyword search and filters to search the Credential Registry for resources to use as the desired Pathway Components. You can search for components offered by your organization as well as components offered by others. To narrow your search, use the filtering options. To select resources to build your pathway, use the +. To remove them use the -.
   1. Select the components you want to include in your pathway and select “Done Adding” to save them to your board. The selected components will populate the left rail of the Pathway Builder. If you miss any components, you can always access the search again to add more.

   
   

5. Get familiar with the cards:
   

   Pathway Component	Definition	Card
   Assessment	Identifies a direct, indirect, formative, and summative evaluation or estimation of the nature, ability, or quality of a resource, performance, or outcome of an action.
   Basic	Identifies a resource not otherwise covered by the enumerated Pathway Component subclasses.
   Co-curricular	Identifies an activity, program, or informal learning experience such as a civic or service activity that supplements and complements the curriculum.
   Competency	Identifies a measurable or observable knowledge, skill, or ability necessary to successful performance of a person in a given context.
   Course	Identifies a structured sequence of one or more learning activities that aims to develop a prescribed set of knowledge, skill, or ability of learners.
   Credential	Identifies another resource that describes qualification, achievement, personal or organizational quality, or aspect of an identity typically used to indicate suitability.
   Extracurricular	Identifies an activity, program, or informal learning experience that may be offered or provided by a school, college, or other organization that is not connected to a curriculum.
   Job	Identifies a work position, employment, or occupation.
   Linked Component	Identifies a component selected from another pathway for the purpose of linking to the selected (linked) component in the pathway it originated. Note that this is an example and the component that is linked has to exist so it will have a predetermined name and come directly with the predefined information. Linked components cannot be changed.
   Work Experience	Identifies an activity or training through which a person gains job experience.
   Condition	Resource that describes what must be done to complete a Pathway Component, or part thereof, as determined by the issuer of the pathway.

6. Start with the destination: Another modal automatically appears. Select “Start With Destination.”
   
7. Left Rail: Under “Selected”, the left rail now includes all of your selected resources. Under “Components”, there’s a library of blank components for data that is not available in the Registry. You can fill in the necessary information for these blank components.
   
8. Registry Search: You can return to the search at any time to add Registry resources via the top of the left rail.
   
9. Help Resources: Utilize the help resources available via the right side of the header if you need further assistance.
   
10. Drag and Drop: Start building your pathway by dragging and dropping the components from the left rail onto the board.
    
11. Connect Cards: Use connectors via the orange circles on the left, right and bottom of cards to indicate the progression towards the destination.
    
12. Save: If you need to pause your work and come back later, make sure to save your progress before exiting the Pathway Builder.
    

By following these steps, you can start building your pathway using components from the Credential Registry and customize it according to your needs.