Course Progress — Cross-Platform Completion Tracking

Course progress in Video Controls Plus tracks how far you have gotten through online courses on Udemy, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, Khan Academy, edX, Pluralsight, and YouTube playlists used as courses. The dashboard renders a visual progress bar per course, an estimated finish date based on your current pace, and a streaks view that flags abandoned courses honestly. The /course-progress page is public marketing surface; the personal course list appears after sign-in. The feature exists because every platform tracks its own progress in isolation; learners who use four platforms end up with four separate "in progress" lists and forget several courses every quarter.

Use cases

Avoiding the "started ten, finished two" anti-pattern

Most paid-course users buy more than they finish. The cross-platform dashboard makes the gap visible. Once you can see "8 courses started, 2 completed, 6 abandoned," course-buying habits change quickly.

Estimating realistic finish dates

Based on your last two weeks of pace, the dashboard projects when each course finishes at the current rate. If the projection is "March 2027," that is information you can act on.

Resuming the right course on the right day

Streak view shows which course you have not touched in the longest. Resume the most-stale one to keep momentum on every active commitment, or archive it honestly.

Reporting completion for employer reimbursement

Many employers reimburse course costs on completion. The dashboard exports a per-course completion certificate the platform alone often does not provide cleanly.

How it works

Add a course. Paste the course URL — Udemy, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, Khan Academy, edX, Pluralsight, or a YouTube playlist used as a course.
Watch normally. Each lesson watched on the source platform updates the progress bar. The extension reads completion via the platform's own DOM markers.
Open /course-progress. The dashboard lists every course with progress bar, last-touched date, projected finish date, and lesson count.
Review streaks. Streak view sorts by days-since-last-touched. Useful for catching courses about to be abandoned.
Archive or export. Archive a course you have given up on (keeps the record without nagging). Export the completion certificate when you finish.

Examples

A user sees 8 courses started, 2 completed. Decides to archive 4 stale ones, finish 2 of the remaining 4 by quarter-end. Completion rate climbs from 25% to 75% over the next quarter.
An employer-reimbursed Coursera certificate. Course finishes at 100% on the dashboard; certificate export confirms completion date and total time invested for the reimbursement claim.

Frequently asked questions

How does the extension know I completed a lesson?

It reads the platform's own completion markers (a check mark, a "completed" badge, etc.) from the DOM. When the platform marks the lesson done, the dashboard updates.

What if a platform changes its DOM and breaks tracking?

Reported via the user-feedback flow and patched in the next release. Platforms occasionally redesign; expect 1–2 weeks of partial coverage during major redesigns.

Can I track a course that is not from a supported platform?

Yes for any HTML5 video — manual completion tracking via the dashboard "Mark complete" button on each lesson. Less convenient than auto-tracked, but works for niche platforms.

Does the dashboard sync across devices?

Are course certificates official?

No — the dashboard exports a personal completion record (date, total time, lesson count). Official certificates come from the source platform itself.

What about Skillshare or MasterClass?

Skillshare basic auto-tracking is supported; MasterClass currently requires manual marking because its DOM does not expose stable completion markers.

Tips

Add courses immediately after purchase — adding three months later means three months of pre-tracked progress is lost.
Use the archive function honestly. Stale courses kept in the active list dilute the dashboard's usefulness.
For employer reimbursement, export the completion certificate the day the course completes — some platforms expire access after a few weeks.
Pair with /sessions to see which time-of-day produces the best course progress; schedule new courses into those windows.

Limitations

Auto-tracking depends on each platform's DOM markers and breaks during platform redesigns.
Skillshare basic supported; MasterClass requires manual marking.
The "certificate" the dashboard exports is a personal record, not an official platform certificate.
The /course-progress page itself is public marketing surface; the personal course list appears after sign-in.

Last updated 2026-05-06 by Ahsan Mahmood, maintainer.