Best questions for high school freshman student survey about technology use for learning

Here are some of the best questions for a high school freshman student survey about technology use for learning, plus tips for making each question count. You can generate a full conversational survey on Specific in just seconds.

The best open-ended questions for student surveys on technology use

We love open-ended questions—they let students give us the full story in their own words. These are perfect if we want to dig below the surface and discover real experiences, ideas, and frustrations. We find open-ended questions work best at the start of the survey, after comfortable warm-up questions (or when following up on multiple-choice answers).

Here are 10 open-ended questions we’d ask high school freshman students about their technology use for learning:

1. How do you usually use technology for your schoolwork, both inside and outside the classroom?

2. What is one digital tool or app you find most helpful for your learning, and why?

3. Can you describe a time when technology made a class or assignment easier or more interesting for you?

4. What’s the biggest challenge you face when using technology for schoolwork?

5. How do your teachers use technology during lessons, and what works (or doesn’t work) for you?

6. Have you used AI tools like ChatGPT for your homework or projects? Tell us about your experience.

7. When do you prefer learning with technology versus traditional methods (like paper, textbooks)? Why?

8. What would you change about how technology is used at your school?

9. Are there any technology tools or resources you wish your teachers would try?

10. If you could improve one thing about your learning experience with technology, what would it be?

Open-ended questions like these surface honest feedback and the kind of context-rich insights no checkbox can deliver. Plus, with 70% of teachers noting increased student engagement from digital learning tools, it’s more important than ever to hear students’ real perspectives on tech in the classroom. [3]

Best single-select multiple-choice questions to structure student feedback

Single-select multiple-choice questions are our go-to when we want measurable data or to spark the first step in a deeper conversation. They’re less demanding on students and help us spot clear trends—useful for reporting and prioritizing improvements.

Question: Which device do you use most often for your schoolwork?

• Personal laptop or desktop

• School-issued laptop or tablet

• Smartphone

• Shared family device

• Other

Question: In a typical week, how often do you use technology during class?

• Every class, every day

• Most classes, most days

• A few classes per week

• Rarely

• Never

Question: What is your main purpose for using technology at school?

• Taking notes

• Researching information

• Completing assignments or projects

• Communicating with teachers or classmates

• Other

When to follow up with "why?" Always consider a follow-up "why" when student answers lack detail or you want to understand motivations. For example, after asking, “Which device do you use most often for your schoolwork?”—we follow up with, “Why do you prefer that device over the others?” This reveals powerful stories behind the data.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Add "Other" whenever the topic has many possible answers or you aren’t certain you’ve captured the full range of student experiences. Following up on “Other” choices lets us discover new patterns or outlier needs we hadn’t predicted—critical for adapting to evolving tech habits.

Single-select questions help us see big trends fast. For example, a 2015 survey showed that 58% of high schoolers relied on their own devices for schoolwork, while 32% leaned on school-issued laptops. [1] If we only asked open-ended, we'd miss such clear stats.

NPS-style question: Would you recommend your school’s tech for learning?

What’s NPS? Net Promoter Score is a single, powerful question: "How likely are you to recommend [thing] to a friend?" Students score 0–10, so we see at a glance who's satisfied, who's neutral, and who needs more support. An NPS question is great here because it gives us a simple, tracked measure of students’ perceptions of classroom technology—and, with tailored follow-ups, we learn why they feel that way.

It helps us compare over time and spot problems early: if the NPS drops after a new tech rollout, there’s an issue. For your own NPS-style survey, try our instant NPS survey generator for high school freshman student tech use.

The power of follow-up questions

If there’s one unlock that puts AI surveys in a class of their own, it’s the power of real-time follow-up questions. With AI, we can automatically probe ambiguous or intriguing responses, making sure we always get full context.

Specific does this brilliantly: when a student’s answer is vague or raises a new angle, our AI steps in with clarifiers—just like a curious researcher would. This means:

• You don’t need to manually chase students for more detail via email

• Students feel heard, because the conversation flows naturally

• Your data is richer, so analysis is faster and more insightful

Consider this typical scenario:

• Student: "I use my phone during breaks for homework."

• AI follow-up: "What makes using your phone during breaks helpful or challenging for you?"

Without follow-ups, "I use my phone" leaves us wondering if it's for productivity, distractions, or both.

How many followups to ask? In our experience, two to three well-timed follow-ups strike the right balance—enough to clarify, not so many that students get fatigued. You can set the max number in Specific, and, when the info’s clear, skip ahead to the next question.

This makes it a conversational survey: with follow-ups, our surveys become natural, two-way conversations—not stiff forms. Students open up more when it feels like a chat, not an interrogation.

Easy AI-powered analysis: Even when responses are mostly unstructured text, analyzing feedback is a breeze thanks to AI survey response analysis. Just ask the AI to summarize themes, find trouble spots, or explain trends across classes.

Automated probing is a new concept in research—try generating your own survey and see how it transforms student voice into actionable insights.

How to compose AI prompts for great student tech surveys

The easiest way to design a strong survey is by talking directly to an AI survey builder, like the one in Specific. But if you’re using ChatGPT or a similar tool, try starting with:

Ask a simple, targeted prompt to get the ball rolling:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for High School Freshman Student survey about Technology Use For Learning.

It gets better if you give context. For deeper insights, add info about your school, goals, and what you hope to learn:

I’m creating a survey for freshmen at our high school. Our goal: understand what tech works for them, what blocks learning, and what ideas they have for improvement. Suggest 10 open-ended questions about their technology use for learning.

Once you get your draft questions, use another prompt to organize them:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

When you find the best categories (like "Classroom Devices" or "Homework Tools"), write:

Generate 10 questions for categories Classroom Devices and Homework Tools.

This helps the AI focus on what matters for your school and students.

What is a conversational survey—and why use AI?

Conversational surveys aren’t just forms—they’re dynamic, chat-like interviews that ask, listen, clarify, and adapt in real time. We use them because:

• Students stay more engaged (no one wants to fill out a boring form!)

• We capture better, real-world data through real conversations

• AI-driven follow-ups make sure every answer gets explored, not just skimmed

With traditional/manual surveys, you’d need to review every vague answer, send back-and-forth emails, and track down students for clarifications. Instead, with an AI survey maker, it all happens instantly—in a seamless, peer-to-peer style chat that everyone understands.

Why use AI for high school freshman student surveys? Because these students live digital-first lives—56% used laptops weekly for class, and 70% have turned to large language models like ChatGPT for assignments. [2] [4] We need survey tools and questions that meet them where they are: fast, digital, chat-based, and open for follow-up.

For a step-by-step on bringing these benefits to your own research, see our complete guide on creating a high school freshman tech survey.

Specific offers a best-in-class UX for conversational surveys, so every step (from survey creation to feedback analysis) is a breeze for teachers, researchers, and students alike.

See this technology use for learning survey example now

Get real insights from high school freshmen by using our conversational, AI-powered survey. It’s designed to dig deeper, adapt to student responses, and give you feedback that actually drives change—see what a modern technology use for learning survey should look like with Specific.