Recertification Nag

The Recertification Nag add-on for LearnDash is a specialized tool designed to create a structured and user-friendly recertification workflow. Its primary purpose is to guide students through a simple, two-step process that preserves their academic records before they retake a course. This prevents the permanent loss of valuable progress data and ensures both students and administrators have access to a comprehensive academic history. This manual provides LearnDash administrators with all the necessary information to understand, configure, and manage the Recertification Nag add-on.

The Problem Solved: Understanding LearnDash Limitations #

To fully appreciate the value of the Recertification Nag add-on, an administrator must first understand the specific limitations within the core LearnDash platform regarding course recertification and data handling. The add-on is designed to directly address these gaps.

LearnDash’s native handling of course recertification is minimal, leading to several critical challenges:

• No Native Recertification Process: LearnDash does not have a built-in “Recertification” process. Its awareness is “limited to knowing when ‘Course Access expired and nothing beyond.'” It can identify that a student’s access has ended, but it lacks any features to manage the subsequent steps of a formal recertification cycle.
• Default Data Deletion Behavior: When a course is configured with both Course Access Expiration and Data Deletion enabled, LearnDash is poised to permanently delete all of the student’s user data and statistics for that course the moment their access expires. This default behavior can lead to the unintentional and irreversible loss of academic records.
• Lack of Data Preservation Options: The core platform does not provide native tools for archiving student progress or generating transcripts in a recertification context. This creates a critical gap for organizations that require comprehensive record-keeping for compliance, accreditation, or internal auditing purposes.

These limitations create the precise functional gap that the Recertification Nag add-on is designed to fill, providing a complete workflow for data preservation and student guidance.

The Solution: Add-on Purpose and Core Functionality #

The Recertification Nag add-on serves as an essential bridge, filling the functional gaps in LearnDash to create a robust and user-friendly recertification process. It layers the necessary guidance, data preservation, and workflow management features on top of LearnDash’s basic expiration logic.

Key Functions

• Prevents Data Loss: The add-on’s most critical function is to intervene at the point of course expiration and prevent LearnDash from automatically deleting the student’s course data, including assignments, quiz results, and completion status.
• Guides the Student: It implements a simple, two-step workflow that prompts students before they can retake a course. This ensures they are aware of the recertification process and are given the opportunity to save their records.
• Enables Data Preservation: The add-on empowers students to generate and download a comprehensive “Transcript” of their previous work. This transcript is a self-contained archive, ensuring the student has a permanent, personal record of their achievement.
• Creates a Recertification Workflow: By combining data-loss prevention with a guided, student-facing process, the add-on transforms LearnDash’s simple expiration trigger into a complete and reliable recertification workflow.

To make this functionality operational, specific settings must be configured in both LearnDash and the add-on’s administrative panel.

System Requirements and Configuration #

For the Recertification Nag add-on to function as intended, specific settings within both the core LearnDash platform and the add-on’s administrative area must be correctly configured. These settings act as the triggers that initiate the recertification workflow.

Mandatory LearnDash Settings #

The following two LearnDash features must be enabled on a per-course basis for the add-on to activate.

1. LearnDash → Course Access Expiration: This setting must be enabled. It establishes the expiration date that serves as the primary trigger for the recertification workflow.
2. LearnDash → Data Deletion: This setting must also be enabled. While enabling a ‘Data Deletion’ setting may seem counterintuitive for a data preservation goal, it is this very setting that the add-on is designed to intercept. By enabling it, you allow the add-on to trigger its workflow instead of allowing LearnDash to perform the deletion.

Enabling the Add-on #

Once the LearnDash course settings are in place, the add-on itself must be activated by an administrator.

1. Navigate to the Admin Menu.
2. Select Settings.
3. Choose Portfolio of Evidence.
4. Click the Add-ons (tab).
5. Locate the Recertification Nag card and select the toggle next to its title to enable it.

With these settings correctly configured, the system is ready to automatically manage the student-facing recertification process.

The Student Recertification Workflow #

This section details the precise sequence of events and choices presented to a student when they interact with an expired course. Understanding this workflow allows administrators to effectively support the end-user experience.

Workflow Trigger Conditions #

The Recertification Nag workflow begins automatically when a student attempts to access a course page or any of its steps (e.g., a lesson or topic), and all of the following conditions are met:

• The student’s Course Access has expired.
• The LearnDash setting Data Deletion is enabled for that course.

Step 1: Transcript Generation Choice #

When the workflow is triggered, the first thing the student sees is a prompt asking them to decide whether to save a copy of their academic record for the previous course cycle.

• “YES — Generate Transcript now”: If selected, the system creates the transcript archive and proceeds to the download step. This is the recommended path for preserving academic history.
• “NO — Continue without transcript”: If selected, the student proceeds directly to the course to begin their recertification. They forfeit the ability to generate the transcript for the just-completed cycle.

Step 2: Transcript Download #

This step only appears if the student selected “YES” in the previous step. A new prompt appears confirming that the transcript is ready for download.

• “Download Transcript”: Clicking this button downloads the complete transcript as a ZIP archive to the student’s local device.
• “Dismiss”: This button hides the prompt. It should only be clicked after the student has successfully downloaded and saved the transcript file.

After the student downloads this file, they possess a complete and permanent record of their work, the contents of which are detailed in the next section.

The Transcript Archive: A Permanent Record

The Transcript Archive is the tangible output of the data preservation process. It provides students with a comprehensive and permanent record of their academic achievements for a given course cycle, which they can store and reference indefinitely.

What the Transcript Includes #

The downloaded ZIP archive contains a complete record of the student’s work and the course structure as it existed at the time of their completion. The contents include:

• The course content as it was when the student completed it
• Uploaded assignments and quiz essays
• Earned certificates

Recommendation for Students #

Administrators should communicate the following official recommendation to students. Although the user interface may display a server retention policy, students should store the ZIP archive safely on their own device for permanent safekeeping. This ensures they maintain personal control over their academic records, independent of any future changes to the learning management system.