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Set up certificates for learners

Elizabeth
  • Updated

Create your own certificates for successful learners

LearnUpon’s certificate editor supports a range of fonts and layouts, and makes creating attractive certificates easy.

Availability of certificate editor: all customers
Availability of API: depends on your LearnUpon plan

Learners can download their certificates, and share them on LinkedIn. Send learners their certificates by email.

Optionally: for portals using LearnUpon's API, use Zapier to connect LearnUpon to Credly, to generate digital credentials when your learners complete courses.

Using the certificate editor: overview

Setting up course certificates is a 2-step process:

  • Upload an image and edit the layout, using variables in the certificate editor
  • Assign the certificate to a course or learning path

You can create a single generic certificate template to assign to every course, learning path or learning journey, with basic data like learner name, course name and the date. You also set the filename convention, so each certificate’s filename matches the relevant course or learning path. 

Alternately you can tailor a different certificate template for each course, learning path or learning journey.

LearnUpon stores the certificate image plus the variable layout under a certificate template name. You assign that named template to a course or learning path from their Info page.

For learning journeys, you can Award a certificate for a completed journey. 

See Learning Journeys: overview and features.

The variables use course or learning path metadata, plus any custom user data fields.

The certificate editor provides the preview of the finished certificate: you add sample text to test out the font and layout options. 

Legacy vs redesigned certificate editor

LearnUpon released a redesigned certificate editor in August 2024.

From August 2024, when you create a new certificate, you access the redesigned certificate editor.

When you edit a certificate created before August 2024, you access the legacy editing feature. These certificates are still available to assign to courses and learning paths.

Tip: LearnUpon recommends switching to the redesigned editor to update your certificates, for increased flexibility and customization options.

Prerequisite: a certificate image

LearnUpon recommends using a high-resolution image sized for regular printer paper, 3462 x 2401px @ 300dpi resolution, for certificate images. You can upload any image file format less than 5 MB. PNG image files print the best results.

Make sure the filename doesn't include any periods, except to separate the filename from the suffix. 

For example: logoimage1.png is fine, logoimage1.2.png generates an error in the editor.

Note: Make sure your image uses the RGB color spaces. Other color spaces, like CMYK, cause errors in viewing and printing the variables.

Use the certificate template attached for testing purposes.

Create and edit a certificate image

  1. From main navigation go to Certificates.
  2. From the action menu, select + Create certificate.
  3. Enter a Template name. This name appears in the Certificates page and in the list of certificates available when you assign a cert to a course, learning path or learning journey.
  4. Optionally: select variables to make up the File name. By default, course certificates use Course Title and Completion Date.
  5. Select Upload File to find a file from your device. The application opens the image in the cropping tool.
  6. In the cropping tool, add a description of the image.
  7. From Certificate values, drag and drop variables from the list, like Firstname Lastname, Course Title, Course Length, and Completion Date to appear on the certificate:
    • enter sample text for these variables, so you can preview the certificate layout. Sample text doesn’t appear in the finished certificate
    • adjust the Font family, Font size, Text alignment and the other font options available for the text variables 
  8. Save to finish.

The following screenshot shows a sample certificate template in the editor.

screenshot_certificate_editor_example.png

Assign a certificate to a course or learning path

Tip: If you assign a certificate for successful completion of a course, and you set up a completion email for the course, LearnUpon sends the certificate with the completion email to your learners, as a PDF attachment.

  1. Find the relevant course or learning path:
    • for courses: from main navigation, go to Courses > your course name
    • for learning paths: from main navigation go to Courses > Learning Paths > your learning path name
  2. Select Certs & Credits. 
  3. In Award Certificate (Pass or Completion) enter the first few letters of the certificate name to select it.
  4. Select optional certificate settings:
    • for Certificate expires, enter a number for day(s) after being awarded
    • for Auto re-enroll learner, enter a number for day(s) before certificate expires? and select Enabled 
  5. Optional: for learning paths, select Award any course-level certificates as learners complete courses on their path? as required.
  6. Save to finish.

Assign a certificate to a learning journey

When your learning journey uses courses with certificates, these certificates appear in the learning journey automatically: you don't need to add them again.

Optionally, you can Award a certificate for completing the learning journey.

See:

Download options for certificates

Learners can download their own certificates from their course content details page. See Learner view: content details and registering for sessions.

When required, admins can download learners' certificates for them through 1 of 2 paths:

  1. By using their admin permissions:
    • from main navigation go to Users > learner name
    • select Enrollments to view the learner's courses
    • for the course with the certificate, select Next (aka 3-dot menu) > Download certificate

The following screenshot shows More > Download certificate for a sample learner.

admin downloading a learner cert.png
  1. By using Log in as learner:
    • from main navigation go to Users > learner name
    • from Actions select Log in as learner
    • as learner, navigate to My Learning to find the completed course
    • download the certificate from the course content details

See Portal setup: let admins log in as learners.

Certificates and licensed courses

When you license courses to a sub-portal, those courses include whatever certificate you have assigned to the course in the top-level portal.

Learners who take the course through the sub-portal receive the same certificate as those who take the course through the top-level portal.

You can't edit the certificate from either the top-level or the sub-portal, to change the certificate variables for the licensed course only.

Tip: for licensed courses, consider the certificate layout and variables, and plan the certificate content and layout that suits all the portals where learners can access the courses.

Use Zapier to issue Credly badges for completed LearnUpon courses or learning paths

LearnUpon offers a Zap template to connect LearnUpon completions to Credly digital credentials. When your learners complete a course or learning path, they receive a Credly digital badge automatically.

See:

See:

 

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