Best questions for online course student survey about project feedback quality

Here are some of the best questions for an online course student survey about project feedback quality, along with tips on creating them. If you're ready to dig deeper, you can generate or build your survey in seconds with Specific.

The best open-ended questions for online course student project feedback quality surveys

Open-ended survey questions let students express their honest thoughts, giving us nuanced, actionable insights that we could never get from checkboxes alone. They’re the best way to hear the “why” behind feedback—crucial when you want quality, not just numbers. Even though nonresponse rates tend to run higher with open-enders (18% on average, versus 1–2% for closed-ended questions) [1], their value is often unparalleled. In fact, one study showed over 76% of respondents added freeform comments, with 80.7% of their managers reporting these comments as “Very useful” or “Useful” for quality improvement [2]. That’s why we always advise using them strategically and not overloading the survey.
Here are the 10 best open-ended questions for online course students about project feedback quality:

1. What aspect of your most recent project did you find most engaging or rewarding?

2. Can you describe any challenges you faced while completing this project?

3. What specific feedback, if any, did you find most helpful during the project process?

4. How could the project guidelines or requirements have been clearer?

5. Were there any resources or tools you wish you’d had access to during the project?

6. In what ways did peer or instructor feedback influence your final project outcome?

7. What would you change about the project to improve your learning experience?

8. How comfortable did you feel sharing constructive feedback with your peers?

9. Is there anything about the feedback process that you found confusing or unhelpful?

10. Please share any additional thoughts about how project feedback could be improved for future students.

The best single-select multiple-choice questions for online course student project feedback quality

Single-select multiple-choice questions work best when you want to quantify results or lower the mental load for respondents. They’re effective for quickly spotting trends, especially when followed up by open questions for richer context. Sometimes people feel more confident checking an option before giving you a more detailed answer in a followup. Here are three examples tailored for project feedback quality:

Question: How would you rate the quality of feedback you received on your project?

• Excellent

• Good

• Fair

• Poor

Question: Did the feedback help you improve your project outcome?

• Yes, significantly

• Yes, somewhat

• No, not much

• No, not at all

Question: Who provided the most useful feedback during your project?

• Instructor

• Peer(s)

• Automated tool

• Other

When to followup with "why?" If a student selects “Fair” for “quality of feedback,” ask “Why was it only fair?” or “What could have made it better?” This gets you actionable details and avoids assuming the reason. Why-questions turn vague feedback into insights you can use. When researchers paired ratings with open-ended responses, the ability to predict future student outcomes improved by 27% compared to scores alone [3].

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Adding “Other” lets students surface unexpected sources or types of feedback. Following up on an “Other” answer (“Can you specify what you mean by ‘Other’?”) can uncover trends or needs you hadn’t thought of yourself.

Should you use NPS in online course student project feedback surveys?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a simple, powerful question that measures how likely students are to recommend your course or its project components to others. It’s great for benchmarking satisfaction and loyalty over time. But it isn’t just a number: with smart followups for promoters, passives, and detractors, you’ll quickly see which factors drive positive (or negative) feedback quality, letting you act where it matters most. If you want to try a survey with NPS logic out of the box, check our NPS survey builder for project feedback quality.

The power of follow-up questions

Automated follow-up questions are where conversational surveys like Specific shine. They let you dig deeper right as a response is given, capturing details that traditional forms miss. According to recent research, surveys with dynamic followups yield longer, richer and more thematically diverse answers than those relying on static designs [4]. If you want to learn more, see our detailed guide on automatic AI-powered follow-up questions.

• Online course student: "I found the feedback okay, but not super helpful."

• AI follow-up: "Could you share a specific example of what made the feedback less helpful for you?"

How many followups to ask? Usually, 2–3 targeted followups are enough. You don’t want to exhaust your respondent. With Specific, you can set when to move to the next question and keep the conversation feeling natural, never forced.

This makes it a conversational survey: It’s not a form—it’s a chat, and participants feel heard and understood as they go.

AI survey response analysis is easy: After collecting a wide range of unstructured text replies, AI can automatically categorize, summarize, and help you chat with your data. Learn how to analyze responses from online course student surveys without drowning in data chaos.

These followup questions aren’t just time-savers—try generating a survey with Specific and see what a truly interactive feedback flow feels like.

How to prompt ChatGPT to create good questions for project feedback surveys

If you want to use AI to help you brainstorm more questions, here’s where to start. General prompts work, but the more context you give, the stronger your outcomes. Try writing:

Start simple:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for online course student survey about project feedback quality.

Give more background/context, and AI will deliver richer, tailored results—like this:

I'm designing a survey for students in my online course who have just finished a major project. My goal is to understand their experience with feedback quality, which parts of the process helped or hindered them, and what resources or improvements could make feedback more actionable in the future. Suggest 10 open-ended survey questions.

Want to organize things further?

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

Choose the categories you care about most and drill down:

Generate 10 questions for categories "Clarity of Feedback" and "Peer Review Process".

What is a conversational survey?

Traditional surveys are static, impersonal forms—think long lists of questions, zero real-time adaptation, and often lower engagement. A conversational survey works like a chat: each respondent’s answers shape the next follow-up, keeping the process relevant in the moment. With tools like Specific’s AI survey generator, you can launch tailored, branching surveys in just a few minutes—no more hand-creating logic or struggling to adapt on the fly.

Why use AI for online course student surveys? Because AI survey examples like Specific’s go well beyond simple feedback—they engage your students conversationally, ask only what’s relevant, and help you understand both big trends and the subtle “why” behind student answers. If you want the smoothest experience (for both survey creators and respondents), check out our guide to creating surveys for online course feedback.

Specific offers a best-in-class conversational experience, making feedback gathering and analysis far more engaging—and actionable—than legacy forms or spreadsheets.

See this project feedback quality survey example now

Create your own survey with expert-level questions and AI-powered follow-ups to unlock rich, actionable insights. Get started for a truly conversational, stress-free feedback flow—your students and your course quality will thank you!