From academic preferences and study habits to extracurricular interests and classroom issues, teachers need to know what their students are thinking. This is where student surveys come in handy.
The right survey at the right time can reveal valuable information about what students need. This guide will explore the different survey topics you can use to understand your students better. The best part is that you can create all of them for free in Google Forms. Let’s get started!
The value of student surveys in the classroom
Student surveys are invaluable tools for improving the learning environment and supporting student success. They provide direct insights into students' experiences, preferences, and challenges, offering teachers a deeper understanding of their needs and perspectives.
One key benefit of student surveys is that they can help you identify areas where your students may be struggling. Surveys can highlight issues that might go unnoticed, whether it's difficulty with specific subjects, dissatisfaction with teaching methods, or social and emotional challenges.
Also, surveys can foster a sense of agency among students. When students know their opinions matter, they feel more engaged and motivated to participate in their education. Teachers can also use surveys to evaluate their effectiveness, experiment with new approaches, and improve their teaching methods.
7 Google Forms student survey topics you can use
Below, you’ll find seven topics for creating surveys. If you’re new to Google Forms, it’s a free, accessible, and simple platform for creating customized surveys for various purposes. Learn how to create surveys in Google Forms easily. H
Syllabus survey
The better students grasp the syllabus, the greater their chances of success in a particular course. A syllabus survey is an excellent tool for gathering feedback from students about the course syllabus at the beginning of a term or semester.
You can include questions to gauge whether students clearly understand the course goals and objectives and how relevant and interesting they find the topics listed. You can also include some open-ended questions to obtain students' subjective opinions on the syllabus, assessment methods, and preferred learning styles.
A syllabus survey ensures that the students are well-versed with the syllabus while you can address their learning needs and preferences.
Back to school survey
A "Back to School" survey is an excellent way to start the academic year. It lets you discover your students' thoughts and feelings about the upcoming year and enables you to address their expectations, experiences, and needs.
In the survey, you can ask about their academic preparedness, such as, "How confident do you feel about your academic skills this year?" To understand their classroom preferences, include questions like, "What type of classroom activities do you enjoy the most?".
You can even inquire about their social and emotional well-being with questions like, "Do you feel you have a support system at school?" Remember to use different survey question types to keep your students engaged.
Student satisfaction survey
A student satisfaction survey is an essential tool for understanding the student’s experience and improving educational quality. This survey can include questions about the quality of teaching, availability of resources, and satisfaction with course content.
Explore some of the best examples of student survey questions. While some subjective questions are essential for all surveys, it’s important to mainly have closed-ended questions on this survey to achieve measurable scores.
Tangible student satisfaction scores enable you to make informed, data-driven decisions, fostering a more supportive and engaging learning environment.
Food preference survey
This survey is crucial for schools trying to understand students' dietary needs and preferences. This survey can include questions about favorite foods, dietary restrictions, and meal satisfaction.
With this information, the school cafeteria can strive to arrange diverse and nutritious meal options that cater to all students. Another benefit of this survey is that it enables you to find out and cater to students with food allergies or specific dietary requirements.
For this survey, you can use Google Forms’ ranked choice polls, asking the students to rate the meal options in order of their preference to identify the most preferred meal choices for the school cafeteria menu.
Student engagement survey
A student engagement survey measures how involved and invested students are in their learning experiences. It differs from the student satisfaction survey in that it gauges students' participation levels and enthusiasm, while the satisfaction survey focuses on overall contentment.
This survey can include questions about participation in class activities, interest in the subjects being taught, and involvement in extracurricular activities. Don’t use the same old Google Forms format, though. Match your student’s vibe by using Google Forms themes to make your survey pop!
When you understand your student’s engagement levels, you are better equipped to identify factors that motivate them and areas that may require more attention or newer approaches.
Teacher evaluation survey
There’s no better way to help students than by directly improving the quality of teaching. A teacher evaluation survey is a tool for assessing the efficacy of educators from the student's perspective.
This survey typically includes questions about teaching methods, clarity of instruction, responsiveness to student needs, and overall classroom environment. Schools can use the insights gathered to enhance teacher training or provide better educational aids for the classroom.
You can create this survey in Google Forms, and with the help of a simple add-on called Form Publisher, you can convert the responses to a document. You can even divert them to the administration staff for further action instantly.
Course evaluation survey
A course evaluation survey gathers student feedback on a specific course that they may have just finished. The questions in this survey typically cover aspects such as course content, organization, instructional methods, relevance, and quality of the associated resources like assignments and quizzes.
In effect, it allows the course creators or the teachers teaching it to improve it for the next batch. However, that’s only possible when your form responses are documented in a manner that allows instant retrieval and access.
This is where Form Publisher can again help. With Form Publisher, your form response instantly gets saved to your Drive with a naming convention of your preference. This way, you can easily retrieve and use these documents to improve subsequent courses.
Form Publisher supports your student survey process
Whether you’re a teacher or a part of the school admin department, Form Publisher enables your student survey process by automatically creating personalized documents from your survey responses.
When you can quickly analyze and act on the insights gathered while saving time and reducing your school's administrative burden, you can make better data-driven decisions for your students.
Form Publisher is committed to supporting your student surveys so that you can better support your students. Learn more about Form Publisher.