How-to
Add a reflection box
Reflection Box adds a personal writing area inside a lesson. Each student gets their own saved entry for that block, hidden from the other students on the course, so they can journal, answer a prompt, or track progress over time, and you can reply to what they write.
Before you start
Reflection entries are tied to a student account or access-code identity. A logged-out visitor can read the lesson, but they cannot save an entry until Alva Courses can identify them.
Add the block
- Open Shopify admin, then open Alva Courses.
- Select the course and lesson where the prompt belongs.
- Click Add block and choose Reflection Box.
- Enter a short title, such as "What changed for you in this lesson?"
- Save the lesson.
What students see
In the storefront course player, students see the title and a textarea. Their writing autosaves after they pause typing, and the same text loads again when they refresh, leave the lesson, or come back in a later session.
Who can read an entry
A reflection entry is private between the student who wrote it and you. Other students never see it, and each student can only load and save their own entry. Paid-course entries also require the student to be enrolled in the course.
Read and reply to entries
Open the course in Alva Courses and choose Reflections to read everything students have written, filtered by lesson or by student. Write a reply on any entry and the student sees your response next to their own writing the next time they open that lesson.
Good prompt examples
- What is one idea from this lesson you want to apply this week?
- What felt easy, and what still feels unclear?
- Write a before-and-after note about how your thinking changed.
- What will you do before the next lesson?
See also
Pair reflection prompts with sequential completion, quizzes, or rich lesson content.
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Last updated 2026-08-25