This article will guide you on how to create an Online Course Student survey about Course Difficulty. With Specific, you can build such a survey in seconds using our AI survey generator.
Steps to create a survey for Online Course Student about Course Difficulty
If you want to save time, just click this link to generate a survey with Specific.
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
You honestly don’t need to read further if you just want results. The AI does the heavy lifting for you—it uses expert knowledge to create a smart, engaging survey, and it’ll even ask follow-up questions automatically to gather deep insights from your respondents.
Why a Course Difficulty survey for Online Course Students matters
If you’re not running these surveys, you’re missing out on critical signals from your students. Course difficulty directly affects engagement, satisfaction, and the likelihood that students will actually finish your course.
85% of students in online courses want more instructor feedback, showing just how important it is to open up those two-way communication channels. Without an easy way for students to share their challenges, you could miss key insights that impact retention and outcomes. [1]
70% of students got better results when they felt truly engaged in their courses—often because they had more opportunities to provide candid feedback on what felt hard or easy. [1]
By using a conversational feedback survey, you can spot issues—like unclear explanations or workload overload—before they become bigger problems. Not only do you help students feel heard, but you also gain data to actually improve both teaching and course design. The importance of Online Course Student feedback can’t be overstated—students struggling with Course Difficulty are less likely to persist, so surfacing these pain points is essential for long-term course success.
What makes a good Online Course Student survey about Course Difficulty?
Creating a strong survey is all about clarity, context, and engagement. Here’s what we focus on at Specific for these types of feedback interviews:
Clear, unbiased questions: Avoid jargon or leading language. For example, instead of “Was the content too overwhelming?” ask “How would you describe the difficulty of the course material?”
Conversational tone: Write as if you’re chatting with a friend. This encourages honesty and openness.
The way to tell if you’ve hit the mark? Look for both high quality and quantity of responses. If many students participate, and their replies are detailed, that’s the sweet spot.
Bad practices | Good practices |
|---|---|
Vague, multi-part questions | One question, one topic |
Overly complex language | Straightforward language |
Impersonal or formal | Conversational, friendly |
No room for details | Space for open comments |
What are question types with examples for Online Course Student survey about Course Difficulty
The strongest surveys mix different types of questions—it keeps users engaged and draws out deeper insights about Course Difficulty.
Open-ended questions are ideal when you want detailed, candid feedback—especially on problems you might not have anticipated. These work well at the start or end of your survey, or right after a choice-based question:
What aspect of the course do you find most challenging, and why?
Can you share a moment when you felt the course was too easy or too difficult?
Single-select multiple-choice questions shine when you want to measure or compare specific areas, or make it quick for respondents to share their opinion. For example:
How would you rate the overall difficulty of this course?
Very easy
Somewhat easy
Neither easy nor difficult
Somewhat difficult
Very difficult
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question is a gold standard for quantifying student satisfaction and willingness to recommend your course. You can generate an NPS survey for this audience and topic now. For example:
On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this course to others, considering the course difficulty?
Followup questions to uncover "the why": After any ambiguous or general answer, followups help you pin down the actual issue. This is where AI excels, probing gently for specifics. For example:
What made you feel that way?
Can you share an example that illustrates your experience?
If you want more inspiration or want to see more example questions and expert tips, check out our best questions for Online Course Student survey about Course Difficulty article.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey feels less like a checklist and more like a helpful dialogue. Instead of dumping a long form on your students, you invite them into an interactive chat—thanks to AI—where every response shapes what you ask next.
How does AI survey generation differ from traditional surveys? In a traditional setup, you laboriously craft questions, anticipate every possible answer, and still end up missing important nuances. With an AI survey generator, you simply describe what you want to learn, and the platform creates a survey that adapts in real time, probing deeper when it senses uncertainty.
Manual surveys | AI-generated surveys |
|---|---|
Time-consuming setup | Ready in seconds |
Static, non-adaptive | Dynamically adapts to responses |
One-size-fits-all questions | Personalized conversations |
Manual analysis required | AI analysis and summaries |
Why use AI for Online Course Student surveys? You get more honest, in-depth responses, effortlessly. AI survey examples gather context you never knew you missed. Specific gives both survey creators and participants a truly smooth, engaging experience—making high-quality, conversational surveys easy for everyone involved.
Curious how to set up one? Explore our how to create a survey guide for step-by-step help, or see our demo examples.
The power of follow-up questions
Smart, timely follow-ups are where conversational feedback shines. Instead of letting vague answers slip by, the survey nudges students to clarify their thoughts. Automated AI follow-up questions save you hours you’d otherwise spend emailing back and forth.
Online Course Student: "Sometimes the math lectures are hard."
AI follow-up: "Which math topic did you find the hardest, and what made it challenging for you?"
How many followups to ask? In most cases, 2 to 3 followups are enough to get rich context without fatiguing the student. It’s smart to enable a “skip to next” setting too—Specific lets you tune this for your needs.
This makes it a conversational survey: The conversation flows naturally, making students more likely to open up and share details, rather than giving short, unhelpful answers.
Easy AI analysis, even for open-ended replies: Once you have rich feedback, analyzing responses is a breeze with tools like AI survey response analysis. The AI instantly summarizes core themes, even when you have hundreds of qualitative answers. If you want a deep dive, you can also see tips in our analysis guide.
These automated followups are game changers—try generating a survey and experience the difference first hand.
See this Course Difficulty survey example now
Ready to understand how students experience your course? Create your own survey with AI-powered follow-up, get high-quality insights, and turn every response into actionable feedback in no time with Specific.