Course Prerequisite Adjacency Map
Show course dependencies (and scheduling conflicts) on one slide. Export to PowerPoint for the curriculum committee.
Curriculum designers and academic advisors regularly need to communicate two things about a course program: which courses require others as prerequisites, and which courses shouldn't be scheduled in the same semester because they'll overload students. A course prerequisite adjacency map captures both in a single slide: each course appears once, primary adjacency marks a direct prerequisite, secondary marks a softer dependency, and undesired marks pairs that should be kept on different semesters because of workload conflicts. It's a more compact alternative to a directed acyclic graph (DAG) and forces a deliberate decision for every course pair instead of letting unintended scheduling conflicts slip through.
This tool gives curriculum designers a fast way to build that map for a department review, an accreditation submission, or a student-advising guide. Start with the Course Prerequisites template — pre-loaded with a representative CS undergraduate sequence (Intro to Programming → Data Structures → Algorithms → OS → Databases → Networks → Software Engineering → ML) and realistic prerequisite + scheduling relationships — and adapt it to your department's course list. Click cells to cycle through the three states. The matrix updates live as you add or remove courses, and your work auto-saves between sessions.
The Pro editable PowerPoint export is the differentiator for department-level documentation: every cell becomes a real selectable shape in your slide deck, so the curriculum lives as an editable artifact instead of a flattened image. Recolor a row when a new prerequisite is added; drag a label when a course is renamed; copy the matrix to a side-by-side comparison slide when proposing a curriculum revision. Free users get a watermark-free PNG plus a JSON state-file backup. For broader strategic-planning use cases, browse the full Adjacency Matrix Diagram tool catalogue.
Frequently asked questions
How does this differ from a course prerequisite DAG?
A directed acyclic graph (DAG) shows prerequisites as one-way arrows, which is precise but can be hard to read once you exceed 8-10 courses. A prerequisite adjacency matrix is bidirectional — each cell encodes the relationship between two courses regardless of direction — and it adds the second dimension of scheduling conflicts (which pairs to *avoid* in the same semester). The two formats complement each other; we recommend using the DAG for student-advising guides and the matrix for departmental program reviews.
Can I include both required prerequisites and recommended ones?
Yes. Use primary adjacency for hard prerequisites (must be completed before enrolling), secondary for recommended-but-not-required prerequisites (e.g. 'Discrete Math is helpful but not required for Data Structures'), and undesired for course pairs that should be kept on separate semesters because of workload — Algorithms + OS in the same semester, for example, is a common overload pattern.
How many courses can I include in a single prerequisite map?
The tool supports up to 50 items at the Pro tier, but a single program typically maps best as 12-20 courses. Larger curricula (a full computer-science major across all four years, for instance) are usually clearer when split into one matrix per year or per concentration area. Use multiple matrices in the same deck rather than overloading a single one.
Can I export the prerequisite map for an accreditation submission?
Yes. The free PNG download is suitable for most accreditation document templates. For higher-fidelity exhibits (large posters, archival prints), the Pro SVG export scales to any resolution without quality loss. The editable PowerPoint export is the right choice if reviewers expect to be able to drill into individual prerequisites during the review meeting.
Will this work for K-12 curricula or only higher education?
Both. The matrix structure is identical — each subject or unit is one item, and each cell marks the prerequisite or scheduling relationship between two of them. K-12 curriculum specialists have used the technique for years to plan the math-and-science sequence across grade levels and to identify cross-disciplinary opportunities. The Course Prerequisites starter template uses CS examples but adapts cleanly to any discipline.