A Short Guide to Listing your Course Prerequisites (+ course prerequisites worksheet!)
Before publishing your course, you should identify and list any prerequisite skills or knowledge your audience might need before taking the course. Establishing your course prerequisites will make sure that the right audience is taking your course. Your audience will also feel more confident and comfortable taking the course because they are aware of what they need to know before taking it! If you don’t establish your course prerequisites, a beginner-level graphic designer taking your Advanced Graphic Design Techniques course may feel frustrated and quit. We want to avoid that!!
Prerequisites can be based on:
Skill level
Knowledge
Courses taken
Experience
Job title/level
Once you’ve established your prerequisites, make sure to list them on your course description page and syllabus! Letting your audience know upfront what skills and knowledge they should have before taking your course will ensure the right people are taking your course.
How to Create a List of Course Prerequisites
To get started thinking about prerequisites, consider the following questions:
Who is my audience for the course?
What level of skills do I want my audience to have before taking this course?
What level of knowledge do I want my audience to have before taking this course?
Do they need to have taken any previous courses before taking this course?
Should they have a certain type of experience (e.g. projects built)?
Do they need a specific job title or career level before taking your course?
Here are a few examples of how you can list your course prerequisites.
Example #1: Before taking this course, you should be familiar with basic graphic design terms, have Adobe Illustrator downloaded + an account set up, and be able to use Adobe Illustrator to create simple shapes.
Example #2: Before taking this course, you should meet the following prerequisites:
• You have familiarity with basic graphic design terms
• You have Adobe Illustrator downloaded + account set up
• You can use Adobe Illustrator to create simple shapes
Course prerequisite worksheet!
Now that you’ve learned how to list your course prerequisites, take a look at the FREE downloadable worksheet below to organize your thoughts!
Keywords: Course building, prerequisites, instructional design, instructional designer, learning designer, course builder
