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Online learning survey questions about platform and pace
Twenty questions covers a programme review and twelve covers a single cohort. Three can never be dropped: how easy the platform was to use, how much of the programme the learner actually finished, and where they lost momentum. The first is a technical fix, the second is the honest headline and the third names the module to rebuild.
An online course fails in two quite different places, the platform and the pace, and a single satisfaction score cannot tell you which one happened. These questions separate them and then ask the completion question most surveys carefully avoid.
The questions
How you studied
Which programme did you take?DropdownRequired
Which device did you use most?DropdownRequired
A module that works on a laptop and breaks on a phone looks like a content problem until you cut by device.
When did you usually study?Single choice
Work hours, evenings, weekends, whenever I could. It predicts completion better than motivation does.
Was your employer paying or was this your own time?Single choice
How much time a week did you expect it to take?Single choice
Compare it against the published expectation and against the next answer.
How much time a week did it actually take?Single choice
The gap between expected and actual is the most common reason people stop.
The platform
How easy was the platform to use?Single choiceRequired
A seven point scale as labelled radio options, very difficult to very easy.
Which problems did you hit?Multiple choice
Video buffering, losing your place, not finding the assessment, login trouble, downloads failing, or no problems.
How quickly was a problem sorted when you reported one?Single choice
Include an I had no problems option so the average is not diluted.
Could you always tell what to do next?Single choice
Navigation, asked in the learner own terms rather than as a usability statement.
Did the platform work on the device you actually used?Single choice
Content and pace
How long should a single video be?Single choiceRequired
Under five minutes, five to ten, ten to twenty, longer is fine. A preference, since nobody can report their own attention span.
There was enough to do, not just to watchRating gridRequired
Row one of a five point agreement grid.
I could get a question answered when I had oneRating gridRequired
Row two. The row that separates a course from a video library.
The assessments tested what the modules taughtRating gridRequired
Row three.
I knew how far through I was at any pointRating gridRequired
Row four.
How much contact did you have with other learners?Single choice
None, a little, regular, constant. Isolation ends more online enrolments than difficulty does.
Finishing it
Did you finish the programme?Single choiceRequired
Five honest bands from all of it to stopped almost immediately. A yes or no question invites a small lie.
Where did you lose momentum, and what was happening then?Long text
The module or week plus the circumstances. This is the rebuild instruction.
What would you change about the programme?Long text
Which questions to make required
Six things are required. The programme and device are required because almost every platform finding is only visible once the results are cut by them. The platform ease scale is required because it is the headline technical measure. Every agreement row is required so the grid can be averaged. The video length preference is required because it is the cheapest design decision the results can settle. The completion question is required because a course survey that does not ask it is measuring the people who finished and calling it the cohort.
- Which programme did you take?
- Which device did you use most?
- How easy was the platform to use?
- How long should a single video be?
- There was enough to do, not just to watch
- I could get a question answered when I had one
- The assessments tested what the modules taught
- I knew how far through I was at any point
- Did you finish the programme?
The form built from these questions
A static copy of a form built from part of the bank, exactly as it renders.
How to change this for a different delivery model
A live online cohort. Self paced questions about losing momentum do not apply when the timetable is fixed, so replace them with questions about session times, whether recordings were available, and whether the person could speak in a live session or only type. Add a question about how many sessions they attended live, which is the live equivalent of the completion question and just as uncomfortable. A blended programme. Ask about the two halves separately and then about the join between them, because that join is where blended courses fail. One question is worth adding above all others: whether the online work was expected to be finished before the face to face day, and whether it actually was. A short compliance module. Nobody chose to be there, so drop the satisfaction framing entirely. Ask three things: how long it took, whether anything in it was new, and whether the person now knows what to do differently. A five minute module that teaches nothing is a cost with a completion certificate attached, and only the second question will ever reveal it.
Questions people ask
Should an online course survey ask about completion?
Yes, and it should offer honest bands. Five options from all of it to stopped almost immediately collect an answer that a yes or no question turns into a small lie. Without it you are surveying the people who finished and reporting the result as though it described the cohort.
Why ask which device was used?
Because a module that works on a laptop and breaks on a phone produces complaints that read as content criticism until the results are cut by device. Mobile learners also study in shorter blocks, so the video length preference usually splits along the same line.
Is a seven point scale too long?
For ease of use it is defensible, because the middle leaves room either side and the construct is genuinely continuous. For satisfaction, five labelled points are easier to answer and easier to report. Whichever you choose, label at least the ends and keep the direction consistent across the survey.
How do you reach learners who dropped out?
Send the survey to everyone enrolled rather than to everyone who completed, and say on the first screen that unfinished is a normal answer. Expect a lower rate from that group and treat what you do get as the most valuable data in the round, because it is the only place the failures are described.
What does the momentum question actually give you?
A module name and a circumstance. Analytics can tell you where people stopped, but only the learner can tell you that it coincided with end of financial year or with a module that assumed software they did not have. That pairing is what turns a drop off chart into a rebuild plan.
Should the survey ask about the instructor?
In a self paced programme there often is not one in any meaningful sense, and asking creates a ghost to rate. Ask instead whether questions could be answered, which is the real service being bought. Reserve instructor questions for live cohorts where somebody was actually in the room.
When should it be sent?
At the point of completion for finishers, and at the end of the enrolment window for everyone else, so the two groups both get asked. Sending only on completion is the most common design error in online course surveys and it guarantees a flattering result every time.
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