A custom LearnDash add-on that empowers students to set personal weekly study time targets, track their video and reading progress, and receive motivational emails upon completion — built by AR Webcrafts.
A growing online course platform was struggling with a familiar problem: students enrolled enthusiastically but drifted away within weeks. There were no personal commitments, no progress markers tied to time, and no motivational touchpoints to bring students back when they fell behind. The platform needed a self-directed goal system — one that put students in control of their own learning schedule, held them accountable to it, and celebrated them when they hit their targets.
Students had no personal study commitments — enrollment didn’t translate into consistent weekly engagement
The platform had no way to track how much time students were actually spending on lessons and videos each week
No goal-setting or accountability system existed — students had nothing to measure their effort against
Instructors had no motivational messaging tools — there were no automated encouragement emails tied to student behavior
The platform’s video content was completely untracked for time — admins couldn’t tell if students were watching videos or just scrolling past them
No widget or shortcode existed to surface goal progress on the student’s profile or dashboard page
"The drop-off after enrollment was our biggest problem. Students would sign up and then just... disappear. After launching the Goals add-on, students started coming back every week to hit their targets. The congratulations email got more replies from happy students than anything we'd ever sent before."
AR Webcrafts built a complete student goal-setting system that integrates directly into LearnDash. Students visit their profile or a designated goals page and set a personal weekly study time target — choosing from admin-configured time options (e.g., 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes per week). From that point, every minute they spend watching lesson and topic videos, or reading course content, is automatically tracked and counted toward their weekly goal. A visual progress bar updates in real time, showing students exactly how close they are to hitting their target. Admins can configure custom motivational messages that appear at four key moments: before a goal is set, when a new goal is saved, when the student needs to push to complete it, and when they finally achieve it. Automated email notifications fire at goal creation and upon goal completion — celebrating students at the exact moment they succeed. A WordPress widget and shortcode let admins place the goals display on any page — profile pages, dashboards, or sidebars.
We build custom student engagement and motivation tools for LearnDash that turn passive enrollees into committed, consistent learners.