Here are some of the best questions for an online course student survey about career relevance, plus tips on designing them. You can instantly generate such a survey with Specific in just seconds.
Best open-ended questions for online course student survey about career relevance
Open-ended questions are our go-to when we need honest, in-depth insights. Respondents aren’t limited by preset options; they can share unique perspectives and reveal what really matters to them. Especially for understanding career relevance, these questions surface context and experiences that help us improve courses in meaningful ways.
Students often find academic topics valuable if these skills transfer to their career path or daily life[1]. We want to learn how well our online courses fit this goal. Here are 10 top open-ended questions we recommend for online course student surveys about career relevance:
How has this course helped you with your career plans or goals?
Which specific topics or skills from the course feel most applicable to your current or future job?
Can you share an example of when you used something learned in this course in a real work situation?
What areas of the course did you find less relevant to your intended career path, and why?
Which parts of the course would you recommend expanding or updating to improve career readiness?
What additional topics do you wish had been included to better support your career development?
How did the course influence your confidence about entering or advancing in your chosen field?
Were there any gaps between what you expected the course to deliver and its impact on your career relevance?
In what ways did this course help you identify or pursue new career opportunities?
If you were advising course designers, what would you change to make the program more valuable for career outcomes?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for online course student survey about career relevance
Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you need to quantify experiences or start a conversation. Sometimes, it’s easier for a student to quickly select from a shortlist rather than type a thoughtful answer—and it helps us spot overall trends. These can also serve as a springboard for more detailed follow-ups.
When you build your survey, be aware: according to a Qualtrics study, around 70% of respondents have given false or misleading answers in surveys[2]. Structuring questions clearly and thoughtfully improves reliability and data quality.
Question: How relevant do you find the course content to your current career or intended profession?
Highly relevant
Somewhat relevant
Not very relevant
Not at all relevant
Question: Which course component was most helpful for your professional growth?
Hands-on assignments
Lectures and readings
Peer discussions or group work
Other
Question: Did this course introduce you to skills not covered in your previous education or training?
Yes, several new skills
Yes, one or two new skills
No new skills
When to followup with "why?" Follow-up with a “why?” anytime you need deeper context. For example, if a student selects “Not very relevant” in a previous question, a simple follow-up like, “Why do you feel the course wasn’t relevant to your career plans?” can uncover actionable detail and show students their unique input truly matters.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? “Other” is essential when your predefined options might miss something important. If a student selects “Other” and describes a new factor, a follow-up question (“Can you tell us more about what helped your professional growth?”) can reveal needs or insights we hadn’t anticipated.
NPS-survey-type question for online course student survey about career relevance
Net Promoter Score (NPS) asks: “How likely are you to recommend this course to a friend or colleague for career advancement?” on a 0–10 scale. NPS is intuitive—students understand it instantly, and you get a quantifiable snapshot of satisfaction and perceived relevance. With NPS, you can benchmark across cohorts or programs, tracking improvement over time.
Using NPS makes sense for career relevance surveys because it’s efficient and immediately highlights those most and least satisfied. But keep it concise: 60% of respondents feel “survey fatigue,” and nearly half stop participating altogether if surveys are too long or irrelevant[3]. A targeted NPS question, ideally followed by a single “why” or open text box, does the job well. To try it instantly, use this NPS survey template for online course students.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are game changers for survey quality. Instead of stopping with a vague response, the survey engages each student to clarify, explain, or elaborate—and this often uncovers the actionable insights we need most. If you want to see how automated follow-ups work, check out our deep dive into the feature.
AI-powered follow-ups from Specific ask the right questions, at the right time, in a conversational way. This reveals richer context, saves countless hours (no more back-and-forth via email!), and makes the feedback process feel natural—even enjoyable—for your respondents. The key is that AI generates contextual follow-ups based on previous replies, so students never feel like they’re answering generic questions.
Student: “Some topics helped, but others didn’t seem useful.”
AI follow-up: “Could you share which topics you found useful for your career, and which ones you felt were less relevant?”
How many followups to ask? Generally, two to three targeted follow-ups strike the right balance between depth and fatigue. It’s smart to let students skip to the next question if they’ve already provided enough context—Specific lets you customize these settings for the perfect flow.
This makes it a conversational survey—the survey becomes a two-way chat, not just a form. When students can clarify and expand on answers, you learn much more.
AI survey response analysis and analyzing open-ended feedback are both easy with our platform. Even with lots of unstructured text, AI can quickly highlight main themes or summarize everything, so you never get lost in the data. See more in our AI survey response analysis guide or this step-by-step tutorial.
AI-based follow-up questions aren’t just a trend—they’re the future. Try generating a survey and experience for yourself how “research-grade” your feedback can become.
How to compose prompts for ChatGPT to create great survey questions
If you prefer crafting surveys yourself or want to prototype questions via chat, writing great AI prompts is key. Here’s how you can start:
For a basic open-ended survey, try this prompt:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for online course student survey about career relevance.
If you want better results, include your context and goal. Here’s a more advanced version:
I am designing a survey for students who completed an online course to learn how relevant the content was for their current or intended careers. Please suggest 10 open-ended questions that will help us identify what worked well, what missed the mark, and how we can improve course career readiness.
Once you have a set of questions, categorize them with:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Dive deeper into categories you care about by prompting:
Generate 10 questions for the category “skills transfer” and “unmet learning needs”.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys simulate natural chats—question by question, tailored to prior answers. Unlike old-school static forms, these AI-driven surveys feel human and responsive, so students stay engaged. AI survey generators like Specific combine both structure and flexibility, letting you create and iterate questions quickly without tedious manual editing. You can even use the AI survey editor to tweak your questions by chatting, not clicking through endless menus.
Manual Survey Creation | AI Survey Generation |
|---|---|
Time-consuming to write, edit, and organize | Instant results using natural language prompts |
No dynamic follow-ups—static experience | Conversational, with real-time follow-up questions |
Difficult to analyze qualitative data | Automatic theme summaries and insights via AI |
Why use AI for online course student surveys? AI isn’t just faster—it exposes blind spots, ensures every response is understood, and makes both creation and analysis dramatically simpler. For example, AI survey examples boast a 70–80% completion rate, compared to 45–50% for traditional surveys[5]. That boost can translate directly to better data—and better courses.
With Specific, you get the best-in-class user experience for conversational surveys: smooth, engaging, and so easy that both you and your students will actually enjoy feedback. If you want actionable detail, guided by smart followups, start with our guide on how to create an online course student survey about career relevance.
See this career relevance survey example now
Jump in now to see how AI-powered, conversational surveys uncover deeper insights and transform course improvement—build a tailored, high-converting survey in minutes with Specific’s next-level question design and smart, real-time follow-ups.