Alva · For online educators & teachers

Lessons · Quizzes drip scheduling · completion certificates

Alva Courses for online educators

Online educators and teachers on Shopify want to turn lessons and curricula into structured paid courses with quizzes and completion certificates — not a folder of files. Alva Courses is a Shopify app that organizes your teaching into sections and sequenced lessons , adds quizzes inside lessons , drips content week by week, awards a custom certificate on completion, and tracks every student's progress — all delivered natively inside your Shopify store.

Install on Shopify A teacher's workflow →

★★★★★ 5.0 ·

· 13 App Store reviews · 14-day free trial · By Tom Rushmore, Founder

Course builder

Sections

Drag-and-drop lessons

Quizzes

In-lesson

Test what students learned

Certificates

Automatic

Emailed on completion

Progress

Per student

Tracked & reportable

A day in the life

How a teacher's Shopify and Alva Courses workflow actually runs.

08:00 · CURRICULUM

Map the syllabus into sections.

Open Alva's course builder. Create a section per module — "Week 1: Foundations", "Week 2: Practice" — then drop lessons inside and drag to reorder. The curriculum you already teach becomes a structured course outline in minutes, not a flat list of downloads.

08:40 · LESSON

Build a lesson, then add a quiz.

Inside a lesson, add a recorded video, a written explainer with the rich-text editor, a PDF worksheet, then a quiz block to check understanding. Turn on "Require completion before next lesson" so students can't skip ahead until they finish.

13:15 · ENROLMENT

A student enrols. Week 1 unlocks.

The order is paid and the student is enrolled instantly. Drip scheduling releases Week 1 today and queues Week 2 for seven days out. The student gets a branded enrolment email and starts learning in the Shopify course player — no second login, no external platform.

18:30 · COMPLETION

A cohort finishes. Certificates fire.

Open the Members Overview: completion rate, progress bars, who's stalled. As each student hits 100%, Alva auto-awards your custom certificate and emails it. Reply to a student's lesson comment, and they get notified — the course stays a conversation, not a one-way upload.

What educators actually use

Alva Courses, re-angled for teaching a real curriculum.

01 / 06Structure

A real course outline — sections, then lessons.

A curriculum is not a pile of files. Alva's drag-and-drop builder organizes a course into sections and lessons that you reorder by dragging. Duplicate a module, rename a unit, move a lesson, or use "Create Multiple" to add a batch of lessons at once. The result is a navigable course outline students follow from week one.

Each lesson is built from content blocks — rich text with tables and formatting, video, image, PDF, audio, ePub, MS Office docs, and a Zoom link for live sessions — so a hybrid course mixing recordings, readings, and live calls all lives in one place.

02 / 06Assessment

Quizzes and sequential gating that test learning.

Teaching without checking is broadcasting. Build a quiz block directly inside any lesson to test knowledge as students progress. Turn on "Require completion before next lesson" and the curriculum stays sequenced — a student must finish the current lesson, and its quiz, before the next one unlocks. That keeps a course pedagogically ordered rather than a skip-around playlist.

03 / 06Certificates

Completion certificates students can show off.

When a student completes a course, Alva automatically awards a custom-designed certificate and emails it to them. You edit the certificate template to match your subject and school branding. A certificate turns a finished course into proof of study a learner can add to a CV, LinkedIn, or portfolio — and gives professional or CPD courses real credibility.

04 / 06Pacing

Drip content so a course unfolds over a term.

Dumping a full curriculum on day one overwhelms students. Drip scheduling releases lessons or whole sections a set number of days after enrolment, so a course paces like a real term. Schedule a lesson to publish on a fixed date, or hold it as Draft until it's ready. Students arrive each week to fresh material instead of an intimidating wall of content.

05 / 06Progress

Track every student and the whole cohort.

A per-course Members Overview shows total members, active enrolments, completions, the overall completion rate, and a progress bar per student with enrolment date and status. A global Members view spans every course. Bulk import a class roster via CSV, export for grading or reporting, manually add members, and search or filter to find the students who've stalled.

06 / 06Native

Students learn inside your Shopify store.

No second platform, no separate subdomain, no extra login. Students access "My Courses" from their Shopify customer account and play lessons in a branded storefront course player with a sidebar lesson list, progress bar, and completion ticks. Per-lesson discussions let them ask questions and you reply with email notifications — the course stays a community, not a one-way upload.

Inside the app

From a blank section to a finished course, in the Shopify admin.

The drag-and-drop builder: sections, lessons, and Drip / Scheduled / Draft badges that control when each part of the curriculum unlocks.

The lesson editor — rich text, video, and the "Require completion before next lesson" toggle that keeps a sequence intact.

The Members Overview — completion rate, per-student progress, and enrolment status across the whole cohort.

The storefront course player students use — sidebar lesson list, completion ticks, and a progress bar, with no second login.

Pricing, teacher-sized

What plan does a teaching catalogue need?

Alva Courses has two paid plans, each with a 14-day free trial. The deciding factor for most educators is video: written lessons, PDFs, quizzes, and certificates cost nothing extra, but heavy recorded-video courses can hit Shopify's native file limits. That's where Alva Video Hosting on the Pro plan comes in.

PLANPRICEFITS

Unlimited$9.99/moA teacher running text, PDF, quiz and certificate courses, or video courses that fit Shopify's 1 GB / 10-min-per-video limit. Unlimited courses, members and comments, progress tracking, custom certificates, drip and limited-time access.

Unlimited Pro$14.99/moAn educator with a video-heavy curriculum — long recorded lectures or multi-module video courses. Everything in Unlimited plus Alva Video Hosting: 50 GB with no per-video size or length limits.

Both plans include unlimited courses, unlimited members and comments, quizzes, progress tracking, custom completion certificates, drip scheduling, limited-time access, and branded email delivery. See the full pricing page for the current breakdown.

Get started

From a syllabus to a sellable course in four steps.

If you already have lesson material — slides, videos, worksheets, a reading list — turning it into a structured paid course on Shopify is mostly assembly. Here's the path.

01
Outline the course as sections.
In Alva's builder, create a course and add a section per module or week. Drag to reorder until the outline matches your teaching sequence. Use "Create Multiple" to add a batch of empty lessons quickly, then fill them in.
02
Build each lesson and add a quiz.
Add content blocks per lesson — upload a video (Alva-hosted, or embed YouTube, Vimeo, Loom or VdoCipher), write notes, attach a PDF worksheet, drop in a quiz. Toggle "Require completion before next lesson" where the order matters.
03
Set drip, certificate, and price.
Configure drip scheduling so weeks release over time, design the completion certificate, and bind the course to a Shopify product with your price. Use limited-time access if you want a fixed enrolment window for a cohort.
04
Enrol students and watch progress.
Students buy through your normal Shopify checkout and are enrolled instantly, with a branded email. Add an existing class via CSV import. Open the Members Overview to watch completion rates, follow up with students who've stalled, and reply to lesson comments.

Shopify App Store reviews

What merchants say

“So easy to use, and the support is unmatched.”
— Edge Elements, Kuwait · Shopify App Store review

“I hit a couple of snags and Tom helped right away over live chat — a real person, not annoying AI. Many thanks.”
— Early Childhood Education Courses, Canada · Shopify App Store review

“A fantastic solution for getting started on our new Shopify site. Our video workshops were simple to put behind a paywall and sell as Shopify products, and the team answered our questions fast.”
— Izzie, United States · Shopify App Store review

FAQ for educators

Questions teachers actually ask.

How do I turn my existing lessons into a structured course?

Alva Courses uses a drag-and-drop builder: a course holds sections, and sections hold lessons. Create a section per module, drop lessons inside, then drag to reorder. Each lesson is built from content blocks — text, video, PDF, audio, ePub, MS Office, images, and quizzes — so a syllabus you already teach maps straight onto a structured online course inside Shopify.

Can I add quizzes to test what students learned?

Yes. Alva Courses lets you build a quiz block directly inside any lesson to check knowledge as students move through the curriculum. Pair it with the 'Require completion before next lesson' setting so students must finish a lesson — and its quiz — before the next one unlocks, which keeps a teaching sequence intact rather than letting students skip ahead.

Do students get a certificate when they finish?

Yes. Alva Courses automatically awards a custom-designed completion certificate the moment a student finishes a course, and emails it to them. You edit the certificate template to match your school or subject branding. For accredited or professional courses, a completion certificate gives students proof of study they can share or add to a portfolio.

Can I release lessons on a schedule instead of all at once?

Yes. Drip scheduling releases lessons or whole sections a set number of days after a student enrols, so a term-length course unfolds week by week. You can also schedule a lesson to publish on a fixed date, or keep lessons as Draft until they are ready. This paces learners and mirrors how a classroom curriculum is delivered over time.

How do I track each student's progress?

Each course has a Members Overview showing total members, active enrolments, completions, overall completion rate, and a per-student progress bar with enrolment date and status. A global Members view spans every course. You can search, filter, manually add members, and bulk import students via CSV or export the list for grading or reporting.

Do students need a separate login to access my courses?

No. Alva Courses runs natively inside Shopify, so students access 'My Courses' from their Shopify customer account and watch lessons in a branded storefront course player with a sidebar lesson list, progress bar, and completion ticks. There is no second platform, no separate subdomain, and no extra login — one Shopify account covers buying and learning.

Guides for educators selling courses on Shopify.

Guide

How to Sell Online Courses on Shopify (2026 Guide)

A step-by-step walkthrough for building and launching a structured paid course on Shopify with Alva Courses.

Feature spotlight

Add Course Completion Certificates on Shopify

How to design and auto-award completion certificates that students can share and add to a portfolio.

Guide

Drip-Feeding Course Content: When and How

When to release lessons over time versus all at once, and how to pace a curriculum so students finish.

Install in 90 seconds

Turn your lessons into a real course this week.

Install Alva Courses from the Shopify App Store. Outline your syllabus as sections, build lessons with video and quizzes, set drip scheduling and a completion certificate, then bind the course to a Shopify product. Students enrol through your normal checkout and learn inside your store — no second platform. The 14-day free trial starts when you do.

✓ Quizzes and sequential gating in every lesson ✓ Auto-awarded completion certificates ✓ Per-student progress tracking, no extra login

Install on Shopify Book a 15-min onboarding

courses@alvaapps.com
replies in < 4h, Mon–Fri