Workflow: structuring a curriculum with prerequisites and paths

Overview

A great academy isn't just a pile of courses — it's a sequence. StretchCode gives you two complementary tools to structure learning across courses: prerequisites (a course requires other courses first) and learning paths (a curated, ordered bundle of courses). This workflow shows how to use both.

Prerequisites vs paths

• Prerequisites express a dependency: "complete Course A before Course B." They attach to a course and point at the courses that should come first.
• Learning paths express a journey: "here's the recommended order for this role." They bundle and order courses for a role and level.

Use prerequisites for hard dependencies (you truly can't understand B without A) and paths for guided journeys (a sensible route through many courses).

Set prerequisites on a course

1. Open the course in the builder and find its Prerequisites area.
2. Select the courses that should be completed first.
3. Order them (a sort order controls how they're listed). Each prerequisite is stored with a requirement type (defaulting to completion).
4. Save. The course now records that those courses are recommended/required beforehand.

StretchCode prevents a course from being its own prerequisite, so you can't create a self-referential loop.

Build a learning path

1. Plan the role and level the path serves (for example, New Manager, intermediate).
2. Create the path with a title, summary, role, and level.
3. Add the courses in learning order — from foundational to advanced.
4. Learners open the path and see its courses in sequence, giving them a clear route rather than a flat catalog.

Design a coherent curriculum

1. Map the outcomes for a role: what should someone be able to do at the end?
2. Slot courses into a beginner → advanced order.
3. Add prerequisites where a later course genuinely depends on an earlier one.
4. Wrap the sequence in a path so learners can follow it start to finish.
5. Cross-check the catalog: make sure every course in the path is published and public so it's reachable.

A realistic example

An ops team designs an Operations Analyst curriculum. Courses: Spreadsheets Fundamentals → Intro to SQL → Dashboards & Reporting → Operations Analytics Capstone. They set Intro to SQL as a prerequisite for Dashboards & Reporting, and the capstone requires the two before it. Then they bundle all four into an Operations Analyst Path (role: analyst, level: intermediate). A new analyst follows the path top to bottom; the prerequisites reinforce the intended order.

Tips

• Reserve prerequisites for real dependencies; over-gating frustrates self-directed learners.
• Use paths generously — they're low-risk guidance, not hard blocks.
• Order path courses foundational → advanced; the first course should assume the least.
• Keep prerequisite and path courses published and public so learners can actually reach them.

Troubleshooting

I can't add a course as its own prerequisite. That's by design — a course can't require itself.

A path course isn't reachable. Confirm each course in the path is published and public; internal or draft courses won't be browsable from the catalog.

Prerequisites aren't stopping enrollment. Prerequisites express recommended/required ordering and are surfaced to learners and authors; use paths to actively guide sequence, and communicate hard requirements in the course description.