How to Effectively Collect Feedback on Online Courses | +Examples

Collecting feedback on online courses is crucial for improving course quality. Feedback will help enhance student engagement and ensure long-term success. It serves as a valuable tool for identifying what works well and what areas need improvement.  

Throughout today’s guide, we will overview the most efficient techniques for collecting feedback for your online courses. 

How effective feedback enhances engagement

Before diving further into the guide, first, let’s understand how feedback enhances engagement. 

Gives students a voice 

Collect and act upon student feedback if you want to help your students feel heard and increase retention rates. The sense of contribution encourages students to be more involved in the learning process. How? This happens because students realize that their opinions are valued. Thus, they have the power to influence course improvements. 

Besides, you get an opportunity to keep in check with the students. Especially if you host live classes, you want to make sure that your students are still there. 

“I made it a habit to constantly keep checking in with my group in those really small asks for engagement. And that could give me a thumbs up if you're ready to go to the next section. They can use the reaction buttons if we're on Zoom. They could write something in the chat. And usually, I switch this up whenever I've used something for a while. Anything that gives me some quick feedback on how things are landing”.

Jan Keck

Course Creator, Learning Experience Designer

Encourages self-reflection 

When you encourage students to provide feedback, you also encourage them to reflect upon their own learning experience. Thus, they hop on a journey of understanding what worked and did not work for them. But, most importantly, they discover the reasons why. This reflective process deepens their understanding of the course. Students can critically assess it and provide valuable feedback for further improvement. 

Enhanced engagement 

Giving feedback opens a two-way communication channel between students and you. This especially works well for live classes. When you ask for feedback after each session and improve upon the next, students notice the real change. This change from your side positively affects the learning environment. Thus, allowing you to foster more interaction and engagement. 

Improves accountability 

When students know they’ll be providing feedback, it impacts their accountability. This expectation encourages them to stay engaged. They understand the importance of the process and take more responsibility for their learning. This pushed them forward and reinforced the idea that their success is also tied to their input. 

Fosters collaborative learning environment  

Let’s not forget about the collaborative learning environment that providing feedback contributes to. When students provide irregular feedback, it creates a sense of importance. Students are able to feel like part of the collective and are great contributors to the future of the course. This collaboration increases engagement. 

For instance, a course creator, Jan Jeck, suggests using a multi-step approach to gather feedback. If it is a live session, he suggests using breakout rooms where students can share their feedback in smaller and less formal groups.

This method gathers feedback and strengthens bonds within the smaller group. It also boosts engagement.

Feedback examples for e-learning programs 

It is time to review real-life feedback examples. 

For instance, let’s take a look at the following feedback: 

As you can see, a student provided feedback on the course, which sheds light on the aspects of the course that could be improved. In this case, the aspect that needs improvement is course organization. The actionable response to this feedback would be for an instructor to implement automated reminders about an upcoming assignment. Also, the instructor can provide a visual calendar with deadlines and tasks. 

Another example is this feedback: 

Here, you can see that the student is not very satisfied with the course engagement level. This feedback highlights the importance of interaction for student motivation. An actionable response would be to thank the student for the feedback. Then, the instructor can introduce interactive quizzes or live sessions from time to time to enhance engagement. Also, overall, insurers can incorporate more participation-based activities and group discussions to enhance engagement levels. 

Choose the right methods to collect feedback. 

Well, as far as we are clear on the importance of feedback collection, let’s move on to the methods. In this section, we will overview the main methods you can use to efficiently collect student feedback. 

The eight best free online survey tools

• Google forms 

Google Forms is a simple, free tool to create surveys and collect feedback.   
Key advantage: It integrates easily with Google Sheets for quick data analysis.

• Microsoft forms 

Microsoft Forms is a survey tool integrated into Office 365 for creating quizzes, polls, and surveys.

Key advantage: Seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft tools like Excel and Teams for enhanced collaboration.

• Zapier interfaces

Zapier automates workflows by connecting apps, allowing feedback data from surveys to be integrated with other tools seamlessly.

Key advantage: Automates repetitive tasks like transferring feedback to spreadsheets or CRMs, saving time.

• Tally

Tally is a simple, no-code form builder for creating feedback forms with minimal effort.

Key advantage: Its free features allow unlimited form creation and responses without complexity.

• Jotform

Jotform is an easy-to-use form builder with customizable templates for collecting feedback.

Key advantage: Extensive integration options with apps like Google Sheets, Dropbox, and PayPal enhance data handling.

• SurveyPlanet

SurveyPlanet is a free survey tool with unlimited questions and responses, perfect for gathering detailed feedback.

Key advantage: Offers pre-written question templates to save time when creating a survey.

• Cognito forms 

Cognito Forms is a powerful form builder. It comes in handy with advanced features like conditional logic and payment collection. 

Key advantage: Offers robust capabilities, which allow for the creation of complex forms. This makes feedback collection more detailed and dynamic.

• Youform

YouForm is an intuitive form builder designed to create feedback forms quickly and easily.

Key advantage: The interface is highly user-friendly, making it accessible for those without technical expertise. 

Include clear and targeted feedback questions. 

Using the best online tools for feedback collection is not enough. The most important thing when it comes to collecting actionable feedback is asking the right questions. 

Here are a few sample questions you can ask under each category: 

Course content 

• Was the course engaging? 
• Was the information presented clearly and logically?
• Did the course cover the topics you expected?
• How could the course content be improved for better understanding?   

Teaching style & delivery 

• How well did the instructor explain difficult concepts?
• Was the instructor responsive to questions and feedback?
• How would you rate the instructor’s communication skills?

Course pace 

• Was the course pace too fast, too slow, or just right?
• Did you have enough time to absorb the material before moving on?
• Were the assignments well-timed and manageable?
• How could the pacing be adjusted to improve your experience?

Learning outcomes 

• Did the course meet your learning expectations?
• How confident do you feel about applying what you’ve learned?
• Were the course objectives clear and achievable?

Overall experience 

• How satisfied are you with the overall course experience?
• Would you recommend this course to others?
• What was the most valuable part of the course for you?
• What improvements would you suggest for future courses?

Some of these questions on the survey can be rated as a scale, some can be answered as multiple choice, and some as long-form answers. All of these, however, are designed to help you unveil the effectiveness of the course from the perspective of students. 

Without meaningful questions, you'll get only surface-level responses. These won’t help much with improvements. So, make sure to incorporate some of these questions or ask similar ones in your surveys. 

Analyze and act on feedback to improve future courses 

Gathering feedback is not enough. You need to put it into action and act upon it. 

Organize the feedback into categories 

First, you must organize and categorize the feedback received. For instance, you can group feedback into themes such as course content, teaching style, pace, and resources. This will allow you to identify patterns and areas of improvement easily. 

For instance, if 4 out of 10 students mentioned that course material was too complex, categorize these under “Content complexity.” 

You can use different note-taking software to keep track of that data. 

“I use notion as the tool where I often plan my session and then record the feedback. So it's all organized in different databases and pages, so I can always go back and look at it. Oh, the last time I ran the session was on this date with this group. And here's the feedback”.    
 

Jan Keck

Course Creator, Learning Experience Designer

Identify common pain points 

Based on the gathered feedback, identify common pain points for the students. Logically, if many students voice the same concern regarding the course, there is a clear need to address the issue. For instance, if 35% of the students mention that the pace of the course is fast, then the pacing must be adjusted. 

Also, make sure you do not only focus on negative feedback. Identify patterns in positive feedback as well to understand which components of the course are working well. 

Prioritize feedback 

Not all feedback carries the same weight. No, this is not based on the individual providing feedback but rather on how detailed the feedback is. 

Some feedback suggestions are simply not feasible, while others are critical for improving the learning experience. So, make sure to prioritize issues based on their potential impact on student learning. 

A simple example illustrating this is the following. Let’s say one of the students requested more visuals, but the majority struggled with course length. In this case, you clearly need to prioritize addressing course length. 

Create an action plan

Once you have collected the feedback from students, categorized it, and identified priority, it is time to act upon it. Start by creating an action plan for implementing the changes. Make sure the action plan includes specific steps, responsible persons, and deadlines. 

An example would be: 

• Feedback: Assignment instructions are unclear. 
• Task: Revise the assignment instructions. 
• Deadline: before the start of the next course/cohort. 

Incorporate ongoing feedback mechanisms 

Instead of waiting till the course ends, incorporate ongoing feedback mechanisms. This will help you gain feedback and improve the course contents on the go to ensure students are satisfied by the end of the course. 

Evaluate yourself 

After reviewing the feedback you get from your students, do not forget to give yourself feedback. Self-feedback and feedback from your students will help you evaluate the course and get better results. 

“I actually think that giving myself feedback is more valuable often than the feedback from participants because I sit down after every session and I have a little kind of template that I fill out that starts with, uh, what was my energy level today and what was the energy level of the group?”

 

Jan Keck

Course Creator, Learning Experience Designer

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