Does completing a course independently count toward a sequence?

Yes. Individual course progress is always stored, regardless of whether the course was completed as part of a sequence or independently. If a learner has independently completed a course and is later enrolled in a sequence that includes it, their prior progress will be recognised and contribute toward their sequence completion.

This also works when a sequence is updated — if a new course is added to a sequence and the learner has already completed it independently, that progress will be counted automatically.