Beginning your TM Career

In the previous educational program, completing a project might've looked like this:

1. Receive manuals
2. Bring manual to speech
3. Give the manual to the evaluator
4. Evaluator makes comments on the speech, gives the manual back when done

This seems like a pretty decent setup, though it does have a few weaknesses:

• If manuals are lost or stolen, untracked progress is hard to impossible to recover.
• If manuals are lost or stolen, it can take time to purchase new ones and get them to the member.
• It can take a fair amount of work to collect speech details and send them to TI.
• The manuals only incorporated text, with audio and video being impossible in a printed format.

Pathways eliminates these pain points, though does take some getting used to. This guide will help get you through your first project so you can get used to working with the system. You will need to be able to login to Toastmasters.org to get started; you should have been able to get logged on in the Getting Started lesson. You should also have taken the Assessment and selected your first Pathway.

Before Your Speech

First, login to Toastmasters.org. Next, select the Pathways link, then select Go to Base Camp.

Afterwards, you may see a screen like this (there will be fewer options if you are not a Base Camp Manager). Select Log in as a Member.

You will then have a screen with five blue boxes, and My Education Transcript beneath it. Your Pathway should appear in that box, with a link called Open Transcript next to it; select that link. (You can also select the blue box labeled My Education Transcript, though that route has a few extra clicks)

You should now be at a screen that has your Pathway name, a list of levels, and a list of projects, like this example:

Next to your Ice Breaker project you will see the Activate button. Select that; it will turn into Launch, which you should then select to kick off the interactive training. NOTE: Make sure you have pop-up blocking disabled for this site!

You'll be greeted with a tutorial on how to navigate the lesson. Select the Right Arrow when you're ready. The tutorial will show you what the Icebreaker involves. When you reach this screen, stop:

Select the Project Checklist once - depending on how your computer is configured, this either will open the PDF file in your PDF reader of choice, or open it in the main window of your browser. In either case, you will likely want to print it out to help you complete the project. Once you've done that, use the Right Arrow again to advance.

When you reach the Pre-Assessment, answer the questions. Make sure to select NEXT when moving to the next question, not the right arrow. Once you've completed all questions, use the Right Arrow to move on.

Continue through the lesson; when you run across more worksheets, stop and print those out. You especially need to print the Evaluation Resource, found on this screen:

At this point, you can close the lesson. IMPORTANT: Bring the Evaluation Resource printout to the meeting and provide it to your evaluator.

After the Meeting

Once you deliver your speech and get your completed Evaluation Resource worksheet back, you're ready to finish your Icebreaker project. Log back in to Toastmasters.org, and access your curriculum (same process as above). Launch the Icebreaker project again, and navigate to the Assess Your Skills - After section of the lesson (you can use the dropdown box at the bottom of the lesson screen to quickly move there). Take the survey (same process as the pre-assessment survey). Once you're done, close out the lesson. Back on your Education Transcript screen, you should now have a checkmark on your Icebreaker project, and your progress should be incremented, like this:

Note: After you complete, you will have an option to select Evaluate next to your Icebreaker. This opens a short survey that gives feedback to TI (not the place to post your evaluation). It is optional, but recommended.

Uploading Your Evaluation Form

While it's not strictly necessary, it's advised that you scan in your evaluation form and any notes relevant to your evaluation. Scan your evaluation in (preferably in PDF format). Assuming you are still on the Education Transcript screen, first return to the Home screen by using the Home > Home link in the top left:

Next, select the My Feedback blue box:

On the resulting screen, select E-Portfolio:

Next, select Documents.

After that, you'll get a screen for the levels you have available. Select Level 1 for this tutorial.

You will then have the file add screen. Select the Add File button. 

The Add File dialog will appear. Select the Select a file button and navigate to the folder on your computer with the scanned evaluation form, then select it. 

Once the file is uploaded, select Add.

You should be returned back to the folder, with your file in place. 

Congratulations, you've completed your first Pathways project!