Add Prerequisites & Requirements to Modules

Last updated on October 28, 2022

As an instructor, you may find it useful to populate your course with all necessary materials and create modules prior to beginning the course. This will allow for a more streamlined course and less work for you later on, but it also has the potential to allow students to work ahead, or out of order.
To remedy this, you may want to add prerequisites and requirements that students must meet before moving from one module to the next.

For example, you could set requirements that students must view a reading and respond to a discussion in Module 1. Then you could set a prerequisite in Module 2 so that it only unlocks after those two requirements have been fulfilled.

Directions:

1. Go to MSU Denver’s Faculty and Staff Hub.
2. Click Canvas in the Teaching & Learning section.
3. Log in to your Canvas account.
4. Select the course you’d like to work in.
5. Click Modules from the course navigation menu on the left side.
   • Note: If you are adding prerequisites or requirements to an existing module, skip to step 9.
6. Click the +Module button on the upper-right side.
7. Type a Title your new module.
8. Click Add Module. 
   • Note: The module must be populated with items (pages, quizzes, discussions) in order for you to be able to add requirements for completion. For more information, see Add Content to Modules tutorial. 
9. Click the Options icon (3 vertical dots) next to your module.
10. Click Edit.
11. (optional) Click the Lock Until checkbox to have the module become available on a specific date.
    • Enter the Date on which you would like this module to open to students.
12. Click + Add Requirement.
    • Note: The “requirements” section will set the parameters used by the “prerequisite” section to determine if the items contained within a prerequisite module have been completed. There are several ways of marking an item as complete.
13. Click one of the following:
    • Students must complete all of these requirements.
      • Note: If you choose this option, you may also require that students complete the tasks in sequential order as you have them appear in the module.
    • Students must complete one of these requirements.
14. Click the first dropdown menu and select the item (assignment/page/quiz/discussion) you would like to add as a requirement.
15. Click the second drop down menu immediately to the right to set the parameters for completion. There are several ways to mark a task as complete:
    • Select view the item to require students to open the item before moving on.
    • Select mark as done to require students to mark the item as complete before moving on.
    • Select submit the assignment to require a submission for that assignment before moving on.
    • Select score at least to input a minimum score required on an assignment or quiz before moving on.
    • Select contribute to the page to require students to submit a discussion post or reply before moving on.
16. Click +Add Requirement for each item you would like to set as a requirement.
    • Repeat steps 12 and 15 for each item.
17. Click Add Prerequisite.
18. Click the dropdown menu.
19. Select the module students will need to complete before accessing the module you are creating.
    • Note: You may require students to complete multiple modules before moving to the current module. In this case, repeat steps 17-18 for each module you wish to add as a prerequisite. If the module you’re working in is the first module of a course, the prerequisite option will not be accessible.
20. Click Add Module.