Training Spark

Training Spark makes WordPress plugins that extend LearnDash, the WordPress LMS, for training providers and companies. The site's title describes the range as "LearnDash WordPress LMS plugins for Training Providers", and the About page says the team specializes "in the development of WordPress plugins and LearnDash add-ons for training providers and companies". It is not an LMS in its own right: a buyer runs WordPress and LearnDash, then adds the Training Spark plugins that fit their way of teaching.

The About page says the company is based "in the heart of the beautiful Pennine hills in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England", with customers and clients "all over the globe". Training Spark is a registered trademark of Candle Learning Ltd., and its plugins "are derived from the custom developments we help our clients with at our online learning agency, Candle Digital". The company directors are Andy Jack and Mark Langdale. The About page says the team has "worked with hundreds of training providers over the years" and that its plugins "have helped thousands of course creators around the world".

Cohort Manager: cohort-based courses in LearnDash

The flagship product on the homepage is Cohort Manager for LearnDash, which "makes it easy create and manage cohort-based courses for groups of learners - all from one single screen". The homepage says it helps motivate learners and increase the impact of training through scheduled lesson release, nudge emails and comments.

A post on the company blog by Andy Jack explains the model. It defines a cohort-based course as "a program of learning that's organized into weeks/sections and is taken by a group of students (a cohort) at the same time", which it calls synchronous learning, as opposed to asynchronous self-study. To run one on WordPress, the post says you need a WordPress site, LearnDash, Cohort Manager and "a Zoom/Google Meet/Whereby account" for the live sessions, and it says many Cohort Manager customers already deliver cohort courses this way.

The post lists what this setup gives a course creator: "You keep all payments from your learners. You don't need to pay commission to any third parties." It also says you can blend live video sessions with self-study online learning, so tutor time is spent well, and "group calls can be solely focused on sharing, collaborating and diving into key concepts." For a creator who wants the energy of a live cohort but owns their WordPress site, this is the core reason to look at Training Spark.

A post by Mark Langdale on taking courses beyond content makes the same case from the learner's side: cohorts "move through the course together, creating shared momentum and accountability".

Assignments Pro

The homepage aims Assignments Pro at providers who want "to include student assignments and tutor feedback but feel limited by the options available in LearnDash". It "adds powerful submission, tutor-grading and feedback features to your LearnDash platform". For training where learners submit work and a tutor marks it, such as a professional course with written tasks, this fills the marking and feedback side of the course.

AI eLearning Powerpack

The AI eLearning Powerpack is a WordPress plugin that, according to the homepage, adds Generative AI features to any online course. The blog post by Mark Langdale explains how the company uses it. Training Spark says it believes in "authentic learning", where learners think critically and apply what they learn, and that reflection helps with this but many learners struggle to start. The post says the Powerpack helps by generating intelligent, personalized prompts based on the learner's own input. So the AI here supports learner reflection inside a course rather than writing the course for the creator.

Arlo integration

For providers that take bookings through Arlo, a training management system, Training Spark sells an integration with LearnDash. The homepage says the "easy-to-install WordPress plugin will have your customers enrolling through Arlo and studying in LearnDash in just a few minutes", and pitches it for delivering "online and blended training courses". A provider that already handles registrations and payments in Arlo can then deliver the online part in LearnDash without enrolling learners twice.

Organization Toolkit for LearnDash

The Organization Toolkit is for providers who train other organizations. The homepage says it helps you "manage your B2B, corporate, education and not-for-profit clients" and makes it easy to enroll, customize and report on online training for those clients. A provider selling training to several client companies can enroll each client's staff, adjust the training for that client and report back on progress from one LearnDash site.

Custom development and resources

Beside the plugins, Training Spark offers "Custom LearnDash Development from the LMS experts" for existing or new LearnDash sites, drawing on what the homepage calls "years of experience" customizing LearnDash. The About page adds that this is for "those times when you can't get your WordPress-based Learning Management System to do exactly what you want it to".

The blog publishes practical LearnDash guidance: videos on what changed in LearnDash 4.22 and 5.0, how to use LearnDash's OpenAPI documentation introduced in version 4.25, and how to switch automatic course progression back on after a LearnDash update changed the "Mark Complete" behavior. A quick-wins post covers video progression, importing YouTube or Vimeo playlists as courses, the free Uncanny Toolkit, selling with WooCommerce, and Astra starter templates. This is useful to a LearnDash site owner whether or not they buy a plugin.

Pricing, affiliates and support

The site publishes no prices for the plugins on these pages; each product has a "Learn more" page. The About page invites customers to "join our affiliate program to earn 25% for every referral", and a mailing list sends news, updates and special offers.

Who it suits

Training Spark suits a training provider or course business that already runs LearnDash, or has chosen it, and needs one of the specific things these plugins add: live cohort courses with scheduled lessons and nudge emails, tutor-marked assignments, reflective AI prompts, Arlo bookings feeding LearnDash, or training sold to several client organizations. It also suits a provider that wants custom LearnDash work from a team that builds plugins from client projects.

It is not a fit for anyone who wants a complete hosted course platform, since every product here assumes WordPress and LearnDash are already in place.