Creating & Managing a Course Survey

Introduction

With LEARN, you can create surveys that users will have to fill upon completing a course. Surveys are a useful tool to help you understanding what learners think about the courses they are attending. Surveys are anonymous, so that users are free to express their opinion without being tracked.

Creating a Survey

To add a survey to a course, access the Admin Menu from the cog icon in the top right corner of your platform. Then, select the Course Management option in the E-Learning section.

Find the course for which you’re interested in adding a survey from the list of courses, click on its description and move to the Training Material tab. Click on the Add Training Material button, then select Survey from the drop down menu. Add a Title and a Description for the survey. Move to the Additional Info tab to add a short description and a thumbnail for the survey. You can choose from a selection of pre-loaded thumbnails or upload your own. Once you have finished, press Save Changes.

You will then be automatically redirected to the Edit page for your survey, so you can begin adding questions. Press the Add Question button, then select which type of survey question you would like to add from the drop-down menu among the available options. Remember that the Title option allows you to divide your survey into different paragraphs, while Page Break allows you to divide the survey into pages. Let’s go through the available options.

Single Choice Question Type

A single choice option allows learners to choose one answer among the choices given. As you can see in the example below, you can create the questions and answers for your learners. Begin by typing the question into the Question text box, then press the plus button labelled Add Answer in the Answers section to add an answer.

There isn’t a correct answer to flag, and you can insert as many answers as you want. Once you have finished, click Save changes.

Multiple Choice Question Type

Using this question type, learners can select more than one answer among those suggested. You will create the question and insert the possible answers. Being a multiple-choice question, we suggest inserting at least three answers to give learners more options. The process of adding a question and answers is identical to the process of the single choice question type.

Inline Choice Question Type

Inline Choice question type can be added to courses’ surveys. Begin by typing in your question in the corresponding text box in the Question section. You can edit the text as desired, add HTML content, insert files, etc.

Then, add your answers by moving to the Answers section and pressing the plus button labelled Add Answer.

Type your answers into the corresponding text box and edit the text as desired. When finished, press Add. Repeat the process of adding answers until you’re satisfied. The answers will then appear in a list in the Answers section. You can edit them or delete them using the corresponding icons in the answer’s row.

Please note: Answers automatically appear in the list alphabetically, but you can rearrange them using the cross icon in each answer’s row to drag the answers up and down the list. When you’re finished creating the question and the answers, press Save Changes.

Text Answer Question Type

Using this question type, students can freely write their opinions on a subject in the Question box. You will just have to create the question. Then, click Save changes.

Likert Scale Question Type

Likert Scale question type can be added to courses’ surveys. Start by typing in the overall question (or instructions completing the scale) in the Question box at the top of the page. You can format the text using the buttons in the text box.

Next, add the questions you desire a response to in the Add Questions text box on the lower left part of the page. Type the question into the text box, then press the plus button to the right of the text box.

Then, the question appears in the list below. Finally, define the Likert Scale on the right side of the page by typing your scale answers in the corresponding text box. Just like for the questions, press the plus button next to the text box once you’ve finished typing in a scale answer. Answers will appear in the Scales list below. When you’re finished, press Save Changes.

Managing Questions

Once you have completed the survey, you can order each question by using the icon to the left of each question. You can also edit the questions and the answers by using the related icons on the right. Please note that is not possible to change the question type.

Analysing Survey Statistics

As the instructor of the course, you can analyse statistics related to the survey. In order to do it, press the Reports button in the action bar at the top of the page.

On this page, you can find reports and statistics related to the course. Select the Training Materials Statistics tab. Then, click the title of the survey from the list of training materials.

The statistics will tell you how students have answered the questions. As the survey is anonymous, you will know the students’ answers, but you won’t know which answers belong to each student. You are able to export results by opening the Export as drop-down menu, choosing between CSV or Excel, and then clicking the Download icon on the right of the drop-down menu.

Survey Completion

The survey is a tool that allows to collect opinions and feedback in a free and anonymous way. For this reason, questions cannot be set as mandatory. The survey is always considered completed when the user selects the Submit button.

Best Practices

Keep the following best practices in mind when creating and managing surveys:

• Use a survey in a course or learning plan to gather feedback on the learner’s experience. 
• Use a survey in a course as first element, in order to gather learner’s expectations and needs.
• Use a survey in a course after a training material, in order to collect feedback or general thoughts about it. Remember that since the survey is a training material, it is part of the course’s completion process.
• If you want a user to receive the survey once completed the course, send the link of the survey in a notification (e-learning course: Learner completed a course, classroom course: User has passed ILT session).