`Course & Membership Apps`

In this lesson, you will learn how to build a complete course and membership app where students can enroll in courses, track their progress, download certificates, and pay through subscriptions. By the end, you will have the structure of a real online school running inside a mobile app.

1. Defining User Roles :

A professional learning platform needs different levels of access:
• Students: can browse courses, enroll, watch lessons, take quizzes, and download certificates.
• Instructors: can create and manage courses, lessons, quizzes, and see student analytics.
• Admins: can manage all users, payments, and global settings.
In your database, add fields like:
• `role` → student / instructor / admin
• `subscription_status` → active / expired
• `courses_enrolled` → list of course IDs
This will let you show different screens and options depending on who is logged in.

2. Designing the Courses Home Screen :

Create a Courses Home screen that gives a clear overview of what is available.
At the top, add a featured courses carousel with 3–5 of your best courses, for example:
• “Digital Marketing Essentials – 25 lessons”
• “Build Mobile Apps with AI – 20 lessons”
• “WordPress LMS Mastery – 22 lessons”
Each featured card should show a course image, title, star rating, and a button like “Enroll Now” or “Continue Learning”.
Below the carousel, add a category grid with icons:
• Digital Marketing
• Web Development
• Mobile Apps
• Business Skills
• Design
• Live Classes
This makes it easy for students to find the type of content they want.

3. Course Detail Page :

When a user taps on a course, open a Course Detail screen with:

• When a user taps on a course, open a Course Detail screen with:

• Course title, rating (for example ⭐4.9), and number of students.

Price or a label like “Included in Membership”.

A list of bullet points under “What you will learn”, such as:

• Build your first mobile app without coding

• Integrate AI chatbots using ChatGPT

• Publish apps to the App Store and Google Play

Add a big Enroll button. When the user is already enrolled, change this to “Continue Course”. The button should check if the student has an active membership or if they need to purchase access.

4. Lessons and Progress Tracking :

Inside each course, create a Lessons screen:

• At the top, show a progress bar, for example “8 of 20 lessons completed (40%)”.
• Under it, show a vertical list of lessons:
• Lesson 1 – Introduction to No-Code
• Lesson 2 – Build Your First App in Adalo
• Lesson 3 – AI Chatbot App with ChatGPT
• Lesson 4 – E-commerce Mobile App

• Lesson 4 – E-commerce Mobile AppWhen the student finishes a lesson, they tap “Mark as complete”. This should:

  1. Save the completion status in the database.

  2. Update the progress bar.

  3. Unlock the next lesson if you want sequential learning.

  If the course has a quiz at the end of a section, you can show a “Take Quiz” button under the last lesson of that section.

  5. Student Dashboard :

  Create a dedicated Student Dashboard screen to give learners a clear view of their journey.

  Show key metrics at the top:

  • Active Courses – for example: “3 active courses”.

  • Overall Progress – “65% average completion”.

  • Certificates Earned – “2 certificates”.

  Under that, show a “Continue Learning” area with the next lessons the student should watch, like:

  • “Continue: Lesson 4 – E-commerce App (Digital Marketing course)”

  • “Next: Lesson 2 – Adalo App (AI Apps course)”

  Also add quick links:

  • “My Courses”

  • “My Certificates”

  • “Billing & Membership”

  • “Help & Support”

  6. Certificates and Achievements :

  Certificates are important for motivation and for your students’ portfolios.

  Create a Certificates screen that lists all earned certificates:

  • Course name (for example “Digital Marketing Essentials”)

  • Issue date

  • A “Download PDF” button

  • Optional: “Share on LinkedIn” or “Share on email”

  Certificates can be generated automatically when:

  • All lessons are marked complete

  • All required quizzes are passed

  The certificate should include the student’s name, the course title, completion date, a unique certificate ID, and your academy’s branding.

  7. Membership and Subscription Management :

  To turn your app into a business, add membership plans.

  On a Membership screen show:

• Current plan, for example:
• “Pro Membership – $29/month – Active”
• Next billing date
• Payment method (card ending ****4242)
• Offer upgrade buttons:
  • Basic – Access to 1 course
  • Pro – Access to all courses + certificates
  • Business – Multiple users / team accounts
  When the user taps “Upgrade Plan”, open a Stripe checkout screen to handle the subscription payment and then:
  1. Update `subscription_status` to `active`.
  2. Unlock all courses included in that plan.
  3. Show a confirmation message and send a welcome email.

8. Instructor Dashboard (Optional but Powerful)

If your platform allows other teachers to publish courses, create an Instructor Dashboard:
• Total students
• Total revenue
• Average course rating
• Completion rates per course
Add actions:
• “Create new course”
• “Add lesson to existing course”
• “View student list”
• “Request payout”
This turns your app into a real marketplace where multiple instructors can teach.

9. Engagement and Retention :

To keep students active:

Enable push notifications:

• “You stopped at Lesson 3 – continue now.”

• “New course added to your membership.”

• “Your certificate is ready to download.”

• Add gamification elements like badges for:

• Completing first course

• Learning 3 days in a row

• Achieving 100% completion in 3 courses

These small touches significantly increase engagement and membership renewals.

10. What You Achieve with This Lesson:

After implementing this lesson in your app, you will have:
• A full course structure (courses → lessons → quizzes → certificates).
• A student dashboard with progress tracking.
• A membership system that controls access based on subscription.
• A foundation to charge monthly or yearly for access to your content.