Students click complete without doing the lesson.
Your reports say they finished. They may never have opened the video.
Danica LouweUpdated 5 min readLearnDash gives you three ways to require the work, and each lesson can use one: the full video must play, an assignment must be uploaded, or a set time must pass. Choose by lesson type, and start with the lessons that unlock something. Test with a new student, because in our tests a changed timer didn’t reach students who had already started.
By default, “complete” only means someone clicked.
A student can reach a lesson, click Mark Complete and move on. That may be fine for a casual course. It matters when completion unlocks the next step, earns a certificate, or is what you report to a client.
Nothing is required
Unless you set a requirement, the Mark Complete button is available straight away, and your report counts that click as finished.
The wrong gate for the lesson
LearnDash allows one per lesson: watch the video, upload an assignment or wait out a timer. A timer on a video lesson proves less than requiring the video to play through.
Video settings that fight each other
Auto-start plays muted in most browsers, so students may need the video controls to hear anything. Auto-start also interferes with video resume, which remembers where the student stopped.
Changes that don’t reach current students
In our tests, a changed timer only applied to students who hadn’t started that lesson. You can fix a setting and still see the old behaviour for the people complaining.
Go through your course as a brand new student.
You need a new test student for this, because your admin account and older test accounts won’t show you what a new student gets.
- Which lessons really need proof of completion, and which are fine with a click?
- What each lesson requires now: video, assignment, timer or nothing.
- Whether completing the course triggers anything: a certificate, a next course, or a report someone relies on.
- Video lessons: does it play with sound, and can the student pause and come back?
- Lessons with topics: is it clear what has to be done first?
- Timers: does the time match what the lesson really takes?
Choose one gate per lesson, based on what you need to know.
Most courses don’t need every lesson locked down. We start with the ones that matter, because too many gates annoy good students. From your side it looks like this.
- 1
Mark the lessons that matter
Start with anything that unlocks the next step or counts toward a certificate. Leave the rest alone.
- 2
Video lesson: video progression
The student has to watch the full video before completing the lesson. Show it before or after the topics, and consider auto-complete so they don’t need another click.
- 3
Practical lesson: assignment upload
The student submits their work. Add manual approval when someone should check it before the lesson counts as complete.
- 4
Written lesson: forced timer
Set a realistic minimum time. Too long and it punishes fast readers, so base it on how long the lesson really takes.
- 5
Test with a new student
Complete the course start to finish, including one lesson you leave and come back to. Then check what your reports show.
The technical version, for your developer
These settings are under each lesson or topic’s Settings tab, in Display and Content Options. They work the same on topics. We tested these on LearnDash in 2022, so confirm them on your version.
- Exclusive options. Video Progression, Assignment Uploads and Forced Timer can’t be combined on one lesson. Lesson Materials are separate.
- Video progression. Set the video URL and display timing (before or after completed sub-steps). Options include lesson auto-completion with a delay, showing the Mark Complete button, auto-start, video controls, pause on window unfocus, and resume, which uses a browser cookie. Turn off auto-start if you use resume.
- Forced timer. Enter hours, minutes and seconds. An existing student keeps the time saved when they started. In our test, removing their enrolment and course data didn’t reset it, and a new topic was needed to test a shorter time.
- Assignments. With manual approval, an admin or group leader must approve the work before the lesson completes.
How owners describe it
“A core requirement is that completing designated courses unlocks access to specific program or microgrant applications.”
Watch it done
Every video progression setting tested on a real lesson: when the video appears, auto-complete, why auto-start plays muted, and why it doesn’t mix well with video resume.
Questions owners ask
Can I use a video requirement and a timer on the same lesson?
No. LearnDash lets you use one of video progression, assignment uploads or the forced timer per lesson, and turning one on turns the others off. Lesson materials aren’t affected, so you can still add those.
Does the timer keep running if they leave the page?
Not when we tested it. The countdown stopped when the student left, and the remaining time was still there when they came back. So a one-hour lesson abandoned at 30 minutes still needs another 30. Test it on your site, because it’s the kind of thing that can change.
I changed a timer and it still shows the old time. Is it broken?
Probably not. In our tests, a new time only applied to students who hadn’t started that lesson. Anyone already in it kept the original timer, even after we removed their enrolment and tried again. Set the right time before people start, and test with a new student.
Does this prove they actually learned it?
No. A timer proves they waited, and video progression proves the video played through. If you need proof they understood, use an assignment or a quiz. You can also require manual approval of assignments, so the lesson stays incomplete until someone approves the work.
Why doesn’t the Mark Complete button show on my lesson?
If the lesson has topics, the button and the lesson’s timer wait until the topics are finished. With video progression on, the button also stays unclickable until the video ends, or it can be left out if you use auto-complete.
