Managing pre-requisite content that is not in Open edX

Let's face it - you train stakeholders in multiple ways, not just via Open edX. You may use in-person training, webinars, elearning, shared docs and books, and more. 

So what if you want to require that learners complete a training of some type - not Open edX - as a prerequisite prior to enrolling in one of your Open edX courses?

Well, the Done XBlock provides a way to do just that. 

Here's the workflow:

• Create a new course in Open edX that will serve as the prerequisite course. This course requires no content and no design. Make certain you add the Done XBlock in Advanced Settings. The Done XBlock is added as "done". Note: The Done XBlock is available by default for Tahoe customers. If you are an Enterprise customer, there is a chance the XBlock has not been deployed on your site. If you find that you can't create certificates (see the rest of the process), please email us and let us know. We'll get the XBlock enabled for you.
• Manually enroll the student(s) in the prerequisite course
• Go to the Instructor Dashboard in the LMS and navigate to the Instructor certificates tab (see image below)
• Add one or more students to the Exception Certificate list
• Click Generate Exception Certificates. This will create a certificate (in the Open edX database) for the students(s) and will allow them to take the next course.
• Create the course in Open edX that students will take after they have completed the prerequisite training activity. Again, be sure to add the Done XBlock in Advanced Settings
• Go to Settings / Schedule & Details and enable Prerequisite Open edX course. When you do, you will see a list of all the courses for which you are a course author. You must be a course author in both the current course and the prerequisite. Select the prerequisite course and click Save.

You learners will now be able to enroll in the Open edX course after successfully completing the prerequisite training.