Over the past few years, online learning has become the norm for many. Some students seem to prefer remote learning to go to school, while others miss the school atmosphere.
As schools and teachers, it’s our responsibility to create surveys to get a better idea of how students feel.
Below are a number of Survey questions to ask students about online learning.
How to Structure Answers to Online Survey Questions
The majority of this remote learning questionnaire can be multiple-choice. However, some questions may require an open-ended answer for students to fill in themselves.
We will go through a few examples below, as these survey questions for students can also be used by students who wish to send out surveys.
Example 1
Question: What kind of device do you use for distance learning?
Answer: a – laptop b – tablet c – mobile phone d – other (please clarify)
Example 2
Question: Is there anything you would like to change about online learning classes?
Answer: (Students will have a space to type out their answer)
Example 3
Question: How do you feel about distance learning overall?
Answer: 1 – I love it | 2 – it’s okay | 3 – I neither like nor dislike it | 4 – I don’t like it | 5 – I really don’t like it
You may choose to have your questions answered differently. However, these options allow the data to be processed easily, which makes finding the results easier.
Why Are Student Surveys About Remote Learning Important?
A student course evaluation survey is very important for a number of reasons. These reasons include the following:
- They allow you to see how students feel about doing online learning
- They allow you to get an idea of the lesson quality that the students are receiving
- They can alert you to any students who might be struggling with their online learning
- They let you know if students have everything they need (e.g. devices) to learn online
- They make students feel heard
Since online courses are a relatively new thing to many people, we never know how everyone copes with it.
Carrying out these surveys and ensuring that everyone answers them allows school and teachers to gauge an understanding of how well students are doing in their new environment.
Online remote learning surveys should also be given out to teachers and guardians. This will help a school get the perspective of numerous people involved, which can help you give a more holistic view.
Survey Questions to Ask Students About Online Learning
- How do you feel about online learning overall? – allows you to gauge the general feeling of students about their remote learning
- Do you have access to a device that you can use for online learning? – some devices are necessary for learning, and students who don’t have them will require help in that matter
- How often do you have one on one conversations with your teachers? – allows you to find out if students and teachers are talking to one another as they should be
- What kind of device do you use for online learning? – this will allow you to find out if students will be able to complete all the work they are going to do. Those without the appropriate devices may need to borrow from the school.
- How much time do you spend doing online learning during weekdays? – answer should be in hours to understand if students are spending enough time doing their work
- How effective has online learning been for you? – allows you to find out if students feel they are doing better or worse by doing online teaching
- Has your (place of education) been helpful to you by offering resources to help you do online learning? – allows you to learn if students require extra support from their place of education or students to help them do better in school
- Have you found online learning stressful? – this allows you to gauge whether some students may need extra support while they do online course evaluation surveys
- How well do you manage your time while doing online learning? – you can find out if students are organized or may need some extra assistance
- Do you enjoy doing online learning? – allows you to learn how students feel about their online learning
- How helpful have your teachers been while doing online learning? – this allows you to see if your teachers need to be more helpful to students, or if students require extra support
- Do you prefer online learning or going to school? – you can find out if your students would rather attend online learning or go to school and act accordingly
- Where do you do your online learning? – you can ensure that students have a space in their house where they can complete their online learning
- Do you have a peaceful environment to work in while you are doing online learning? – students need to have a peaceful environment in order to learn. This can be a bedroom or dining area, as long as they will not be distracted by others
- Have you been able to keep up with the hours you commit to online learning every week? – this will help you understand if there may be other responsibilities that are getting in the way of a student committing the needed hours to their work, such as being a carer for a family member.
- How often do you speak to your classmates? – allows you to learn more about the student and whether they have school contacts that they can turn to if needed
- What is your reason for doing online learning? – some students may choose to do online learning, and it is helpful to understand those reasons
- Are there teachers you can go to for help if it were needed? – students should be able to talk to a teacher if they need help with anything. If they don’t, they may need additional help, or a designated school teacher or counselor to talk to if needed
- Are you able to talk to your guardians if you need help with your online learning? – students who are unable to go to their parents or guardians for help when they need it are more likely to struggle or fall behind. Additional help may be required to help these students stay on target
- Is your internet connection suitable for online learning? – students with a bad internet connection may struggle to access online learning work and attend lectures. They may need additional aid in order to be successful
- How sure are you that you can do well in online learning? – this will give you an idea of how confident students feel that they can be successful with online learning. Those who score low may need extra support to improve their chances
- What is the most difficult part of doing online learning? – allows you to address any areas where students might be struggling with their online learning and give necessary aid to help them overcome those difficulties
- Is online learning easier than going to school to learn? – gives a good indication of whether students prefer attending online learning compared to going to school and being in a school environment.
- How easy or difficult is it to stay focused on your work when doing online learning? – lets you gauge how easy or difficult students are able to focus on their work. Low scoring students may need additional help from teachers or parents if most results are high.
- What do your teachers do to make your class more engaging? – allows you to see what teachers are doing that students appreciate, and you can take action by rewarding those who are putting a lot of effort into keeping their students happy
- How much effort do you feel you are putting into your online learning experience? – this will allow you to gauge how students feel about their teacher’s efforts in the classes. Changes may be made, and you can help teachers if they are struggling.
- Which activities or projects do you enjoy the most? – allows you to do more of those preferred activities if possible to ensure that students enjoy their online learning as much as they can
- If you were teaching online class, what would you do to make it more engaging? – gets the opinion of students to see how they could improve distance education. Some ideas might be good enough to use!
- What is the most boring part of online learning? – allows you to identify the least student engagement part of online classes and many necessary changes if they are at all possible to make the students’ experience better
- Do you miss being in a classroom with other students? – you can find out if students miss being in a school environment or prefer doing online learning
- How frequently do you lose track of time because of how focused you are in your online class? – allows you to gauge how engaging classes are, and understand how students feel about the classes they take
- How eager are you to participate in an online class? – you can find out if students regularly participated in online classes, and if this is different to in-person classes
- Have you missed any remote education classes recently? Why? – you can learn any reasons for students missing classes and see if you can help in any way
- Are you excited to attend online learning classes? – gives you the chance to understand whether students are eager to learn, or if online classes are something they dread
- How interested are you in your online learning classes? – allows you to learn how interested students are in their current classes and what you might be able to change to engage them more
- Do you wish you could speak to your teachers more? – some students may require extra time with teachers to fully benefit from the online lessons
- Do you wish you could speak to your classmates more often? – allows you to get a sense of how students feel about not being in a traditional classroom environment
- Is there anything you would like to change about online learning classes? – you can see if there are any common answers and make necessary changes if applicable
- Do you feel your teacher does a good job of teaching you online classes? – allows you to gauge how the students feel about the way they are being taught and what is good about it
- Is there a device that you don’t have that would make online learning easier for you? – allows the school to help those students who don’t have the necessary equipment to learn by providing it to them for a time
- Is there anything you would like to be learning about in online learning? – allows you to learn if there is something that students would like to cover that is not being touched on
- What is your favorite thing about school right now? – you can get an idea of the kind of things that students like and appreciate in their online classes
- What is your least favorite thing about school right now? – student might bring up an issue that you have not been able to address
- Does your family support your online learning? – allows you to find out if the student has the support they need from those they live with and family members, or if more help is needed.
- Do you still stay in touch with your classmates outside of school? – you can get an indication if a student is struggling socially by attending online classes.
Final Thoughts
Online learning is new to many of us, and we need to ensure that students are coping well with it.
By creating instructor specific survey questions, you can make any necessary changes to make online learning a better experience.
While you will never get a class that is 100% happy and loves the same things, these changes can benefit the majority.
In some circumstances, these remote learning survey questions might alert you to students who need extra support in any way, which will allow them to do better in school.
Distance learning Survey can vary in length, and not every question mentioned on this list should be used for one single survey. Instead, pick 5-15 questions that cover different topics and create a survey with those to get the best results.