How lesson completion works
Every open lesson in the Alva Courses player ends with a completion button. For a student the player recognises it reads Complete and Continue, or Complete once every other lesson is done. A click checks the lesson's required quizzes, then asks your store to save the lesson. Only an accepted save ticks the lesson off.
The button is never greyed out. A blocked save shows a brief message and saves nothing, so a student who misses it reports that the button does nothing. Messages below are the default English wording.
Find the cause
1. Check for a required quiz the student hasn't passed
"You must pass all required quizzes to complete this lesson" means the lesson has a quiz with Required to complete lesson ticked. Alva Courses checks the latest attempt, so a student who passed and then failed a retake is blocked again.
Fix: the student passes the quiz. If it shows "No attempts left", expand the quiz's Quiz Settings in the lesson and raise Max Attempts or choose Unlimited, or untick Required to complete lesson, then save the lesson. See Quiz settings.
2. Check for quiz answers waiting for your review
If the quiz shows "Your answers are being reviewed by the instructor." and has Block lesson completion until freeform responses are reviewed ticked, the button shows the step 1 message until you grade the student's written answers.
Fix: open the course, click Actions, then Review Responses, and grade the answers. After a pass, the student reloads the lesson and completes it. See Grade quiz answers with Review Responses.
3. Check for a required quiz with no questions
If the course's page in Alva Courses shows "A required quiz has no questions" or "Some lessons can never be completed", nobody can pass that quiz, so no student can complete its lesson. Add a question or untick Required to complete lesson; see A course won't publish because a required quiz has no questions.
4. Check that the student is signed in
A button reading Continue to Next Lesson or Finish usually means the player doesn't recognise the student: it moves on but saves nothing, and at the end it shows "You've reached the end of this course! Log in to track your progress and earn your completion certificate." Signed-out visitors can read Free courses this way.
Fix: the student signs in to their customer account, or opens the course from the access link in their enrolment email (sent only when Send enrollment emails is ticked), then completes those lessons again. A student who opened that link is tracked even if the button still reads Continue to Next Lesson. See How students sign in.
5. Check whether the course is waiting for evaluation
After a student submits a course for evaluation, the player shows "Submitted for evaluation. Your instructor is reviewing your work." and a click shows "Your work has been submitted for review. You can complete this lesson once your instructor has reviewed it."
Fix: open Evaluations, open the submission and click Mark evaluation complete. See Coursework stuck awaiting evaluation.
6. Check for a change made while the lesson was open
"This lesson could not be marked complete, so your progress was not saved. Please try again, or contact the store if this keeps happening." usually means something changed after the page loaded. The lesson may have been deleted, moved, set to draft, or locked behind a release date or an earlier lesson. The student's enrolment may have been removed.
Fix: the student reloads the page and clicks again. If the lesson now shows "This lesson is locked", the line under it says how it unlocks; see Require completion before the next lesson. After a refund the message is "You no longer have access to this course, so this lesson can no longer be marked complete.", as refunds always remove access.
7. Check the student's connection
"We could not reach the store, so your progress was not saved. Check your connection and try again." means the click never reached your store. The student reconnects and clicks again.
If you're still stuck
Email courses@alvaapps.com with the student's email address, the course and lesson, what the button says, the exact message and roughly when it happened.
What learners see when it works
When a save succeeds, the lesson is ticked off in the lesson list, the progress bar moves on and the next open lesson loads. Once every lesson is complete, the student sees a congratulations message, or is invited to submit the course if it needs your evaluation.
Common questions
Why is a lesson blocked again after the student passed its quiz?
For a quiz required to complete its lesson, the course player checks the latest attempt. If the student retook the quiz and failed, they must pass it again.
What happens if a student clicks the button twice?
Nothing extra. While the first click is being saved, further clicks on that lesson are ignored.
How can I check whether a lesson was saved?
Open Members in Alva Courses, select the student and click the arrow on the course row. Lesson progress shows how many lessons they have completed and which ones.
See also
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Last updated 2026-10-12