Course prerequisites: guide students through your courses in the right order

Some courses only make sense once a student has finished another one first. A technical deep dive needs the fundamentals, and an advanced program assumes the basics. You can now set that order in Forento with course prerequisites.

What changed

Every course now has a Prerequisite setting under Price & availability in its course settings. Pick another course as the prerequisite, and students unlock this course only after they have completed every page of the prerequisite.

Students who haven't finished the prerequisite yet see a clear message on the course page telling them which course to complete first, with a button that takes them straight there. In the course list, the course is marked as locked so it's obvious what comes next.

Built around how students actually learn

Prerequisites are designed to guide students, not get in their way:

• Students can still buy ahead. A locked course can still be purchased, so a student can sign up for your full learning path at once and unlock each course as they go.
• Existing progress is respected. Students who had already started a course before you added a prerequisite keep their access.
• Chains work naturally. Course C can require course B, which requires course A, so you can build a full learning path step by step. Forento stops you from creating a loop where two courses require each other.
• Only published courses count. If the prerequisite course isn't published, it doesn't lock anything, so students are never blocked by a course they can't reach.

Why it helps

Until now, keeping students on the right path meant writing instructions in your course description and hoping students followed them. Now the order is built into your academy. Students start where they should, arrive at advanced material prepared, and always know what to do next.

We'd love your feedback

Prerequisites are new, and we're keen to hear how you use them. If you'd like more flexible rules, such as multiple prerequisites or unlocking after part of a course, let us know. Your feedback shapes what we build next.

Availability

Course prerequisites are available now on all Forento academies. Open any course, go to Settings, then Price & availability, to set one up.