Automate Student Certificates: Using VBA to Generate Certificates from Microsoft Forms Quiz Results

If you want to get ahead in the fast paced Education industry today you have to be efficient. Automating repetitive tasks allows will allow you as an educator, designer or administrator to focus more on teaching and less on mundane repetitive admin duties. Student certificate creation is one of those tasks that can become overwhelming when you have a large cohort of learners on a course.
However, you can leverage some simple technologies like Microsoft Forms, Excel, and a VBA macros, to automate the generation of personalized certificates, saving you both time and potential errors.

Why Automate Certificate Generation?

Manually creating certificates for each student can be time-consuming, especially for large classes. If the summative assessment for a student award is to complete a quiz in Microsoft Forms, then their responses, including names, scores, and email addresses are recorded and downloadable in Excel format. We can use this data for automatic certificate generation and this give us offers several benefits:

• Time-Saving: Quickly generate certificates for all students without manual entry.
• Consistency: Ensure uniformity in certificate formatting and information.
• Scalability: Easily handle certificate generation for large groups.
• Cost-Effective: Utilize existing Microsoft Office tools without the need for additional software.

What You’ll Need

1. Microsoft Forms: Create a quiz that collects student names and email addresses, and records their scores.
2. Microsoft Excel: Download the quiz results into an Excel file.
3. Microsoft Word: Design a certificate template with placeholders for dynamic content.
4. A VBA Macro Script: Implement a script to automate the certificate generation process.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1. Design the Certificate Template

• Open Microsoft Word and create a certificate layout.
• Insert placeholders for dynamic content:
  • For the student’s name: <<Name>>
  • For the date: <<Date>>
• Save the template as CertificateTemplate.docx in a dedicated folder. *

*Do not save it in OneDrive?

Saving the template on OneDrive can introduce issues when working with VBA scripts due to syncing delays or inconsistent file paths. By saving it in a local folder, you ensure the script has a stable, accessible file path to work with.

Step 2: Create a Quiz in Microsoft Forms

1. Go to Microsoft Forms and sign in with your account.
2. Create a new quiz by clicking “New Quiz”.
3. Add a question field titled “Name” (ensure it is specifically named “Name” because the VBA script uses this exact title to match the column in Excel). *
4. Add additional quiz questions as needed.
5. Enable scoring for each question to record total points.
6. Share the quiz link with your students.

* Why does the field need to be called “Name”? The VBA macro looks for a column named “Name” in the Excel results to populate the student’s name on the certificate. If the field is named differently, the script will not work unless adjusted.

Step 3: Collect the Quiz Results

1. Once your students have completed the quiz, navigate to the Responses tab in Microsoft Forms.
2. Click “Open in Excel” to download the responses.
3. Save the downloaded Excel file in the same folder as your Word certificate template.

Step 4: Implement the VBA Macro

1. Open the Excel file containing the quiz results.
2. Enable Developer Mode (if not already enabled):
   • Go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon.
   • Check the box for Developer in the right panel and click OK.
3. Press Alt + F11 to open the VBA editor.
4. Insert a new module:
   • Click on Insert > Module in the VBA editor.
5. Copy and paste the following VBA script into the module:

6. Save the Excel file as a macro-enabled workbook (.xlsm).

Step 5: Run the Macro

1. Open the macro-enabled Excel workbook.
2. Press Alt + F8 to open the Macro Selector.
3. Select GenerateCertificates and click Run.
4. The macro will:
   • Open the certificate template.
   • Replace placeholders with student data.
   • Save the certificates in .docx format in the same folder as the template and Excel file with the student’s name as the filename.

Tips for Success

• Ensure Data Accuracy by verifying that student names and scores are correctly entered in the Excel file.
• Test your Certificate Template: Run the macro with a small set of sample data to ensure the formatting works as expected.
• Customize the Script: Adjust the script to include additional fields or formatting as needed.

Conclusion

With just a few tools and some setup, you can automate the process of generating certificates for your students. This method is not only efficient but also ensures consistency and scalability, making it a perfect solution for educators managing large classes or events.

Have questions or need help setting this up? Let us know in the comments below!