Here are some of the best questions for a vocational school student survey about online learning experience, plus tips for designing them. If you want to build a conversational survey in seconds, Specific lets you generate tailored survey questions instantly.
Best open-ended questions for vocational school student survey about online learning experience
Open-ended questions let students share their experiences in their own words, surfacing insights that multiple-choice can miss. They're best when you want to understand feelings, motivations, or context—especially important when learning is personal and nuanced.
Based on student feedback and research on online learning, here are our top 10 open-ended questions:
How would you describe your overall experience with online classes this semester?
What do you enjoy most about learning online as a vocational school student?
What are the biggest challenges you have faced during online learning?
Can you share a specific moment when you felt especially supported or unsupported by your teachers online?
How has online learning affected your ability to participate in group projects or hands-on activities?
In what ways do you think communication with your teachers has changed since classes moved online?
What technologies or tools have helped you succeed in online learning?
How has your motivation to learn changed since starting online courses?
What feedback or suggestions do you have for improving the online learning experience at your school?
Is there anything else about your online learning experience that you wish we understood?
Open-ended questions uncover the “why” behind student feelings. Notably, studies show over 60% of vocational school students appreciated the increased flexibility of online learning, while challenges with feedback and motivation remained common[1]. Collecting qualitative responses captures these complexities for actionable improvement.
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for vocational school student survey about online learning experience
Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect for quantifying opinions and kickstarting conversation. They're great as warm-ups or when you need clear, structured data points. Sometimes students find it easier to click than to compose a detailed answer, and you can always follow up with “why” to go deeper.
Question: How satisfied are you with the feedback you receive from teachers during online learning?
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Question: What has been your biggest challenge in online classes so far?
Staying motivated
Technical issues (internet, devices)
Lack of interaction with classmates
Problems accessing resources
Other
Question: How often do you participate in group activities or discussions during online courses?
Always
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
When to follow up with “why?” Use follow-up questions when a student chooses a negative or standout answer—like “rarely” participating in discussions. Asking “why?” helps uncover underlying causes, such as technical barriers or lack of motivation. This approach leads to richer feedback. For example, after “Dissatisfied” on feedback, follow up: “Can you share what would make feedback more helpful for you?”
When and why to add the “Other” choice? Always offer “Other” for questions where students might have a different answer. This opens the door for unexpected insights. With “Other,” automated follow-up can clarify what specifically they had in mind, revealing challenges or solutions you might have missed.
NPS question—does it make sense for vocational school student online learning surveys?
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a proven method for measuring loyalty and overall satisfaction by asking: “How likely are you to recommend your school’s online learning experience to a friend or classmate?” Students answer on a 0-10 scale, followed by a custom “why?” prompt based on their score. For online vocational education, this gauges whether students would advocate for your digital teaching approach and highlights immediate opportunities for improvement. If you want to try an NPS survey, check out our NPS survey builder for vocational students—it customizes follow-ups for promoters, passives, and detractors, making results easy to analyze across cohorts.
The power of follow-up questions
Asking smart, dynamic follow-ups turns a simple survey into a real conversation. With automated follow-up questions, you avoid dead ends and clarify any confusion—AI probes naturally based on context. This is especially crucial in online learning surveys, where interpretation and nuance matter.
Vocational school student: “I don’t like online group work.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share what makes online group work difficult for you?”
Vocational school student: “The classes are fine, but sometimes my internet is bad.”
AI follow-up: “How often do these connectivity issues impact your learning, and do you have access to any support?”
This targeted probing is especially important given that 25% of students in some studies struggle with technical barriers and resource access[2], and up to 5% report a lack of timely teacher feedback[1]. Without follow-ups, you’d never know if a complaint was about tech issues, unclear assignments, or social isolation.
How many follow-ups to ask? Generally, 2–3 follow-ups are enough. Set logic so students can move on when context is clear. Specific’s survey builder makes this easy—just toggle the follow-up depth per question for a balanced, engaging experience.
This makes it a conversational survey—more like a chat than a form. Students feel heard and engaged, leading to richer, more reliable input.
AI survey analysis is straightforward—even with lots of open-ended answers. With AI tools like AI survey response analysis, you can instantly group and summarize replies by theme, turning raw feedback into actionable steps for your school or program.
These automated follow-ups are new to most teams—try to generate a conversational survey and see the difference first hand.
How to prompt ChatGPT or AI to generate great questions for vocational school student online learning surveys
You can craft your own survey with AI by writing clear prompts. Start simple, then add detail for even better results.
Ask for idea generation:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for vocational school student survey about online learning experience.
For best results, provide context—the more you tell the AI about your goals and your students, the better the output:
I am surveying vocational school students, some of whom study engineering and others healthcare. I want to understand both satisfaction and the specific barriers they face in online learning. Suggest 10 open-ended questions tailored for this context and audience.
Once you have a list, organize:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Then, focus your survey by following up:
Generate 10 questions for categories “motivation and learning barriers” and “teacher support.”
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey is more than a questionnaire—it’s a guided, adaptive chat that feels natural to students. Unlike rigid forms, it adapts based on the student’s answers, drilling into context and nuance through smart follow-ups. This delivers richer insights, improves data quality, and makes the student feel genuinely heard.
Manual survey creation has limits—slow, repetitive for each new survey, and hard to design engaging conversations. The AI survey generator changes the game. You describe your needs, and AI crafts targeted, high-quality questions, with conversational logic (including smart branching and follow-ups), so you spend less time writing and more time learning from the results.
Manual Surveys | AI-Generated Surveys |
---|---|
Static forms, no follow-up | Conversational, dynamic probing |
Hard to adapt tone/context | AI adapts tone and complexity to the audience |
Analysis is manual + slow | Automatic AI analysis and summaries |
Time-consuming creation | Survey created in seconds via description or prompt |
Why use AI for vocational school student surveys? Vocational school students have unique needs—balancing hands-on skills, group collaboration, and personal motivation. AI survey example tools let you adapt each question on the fly, dig into root issues, and summarize trends at scale. With instant, data-backed insights, your team can act quickly—closing the loop on feedback without weeks of manual work. If you want to learn more about making surveys, check out our how-to guide on crafting surveys for vocational students.
Specific delivers a best-in-class user experience for conversational surveys—making feedback seamless, insightful, and even enjoyable for both students and survey creators.
See this online learning experience survey example now
Discover how conversational, AI-powered surveys reveal the full story behind vocational school students’ online learning experience—so you can drive meaningful improvements, fast. Create your survey and experience an entirely new way to collect feedback.