Ultimate Student Engagement Survey Blueprint for Educators

Think about the last time you thought about how to keep your class engaged. Perhaps you had just received your latest test results, and while some students performed well, others seemed to have thoroughly checked out. You wondered how you could reach these students and inspire them to retake an interest in their learning. Maybe you also considered how to teach essay writing in a way that would spark their curiosity and encourage participation. This is where student engagement surveys come in. This article will discuss the importance of student engagement surveys and how to create, distribute, and analyze them to boost classroom morale.
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As you will soon learn, student engagement surveys can provide valuable insights into your student’s academic interests and social dynamics. To analyze the results of these surveys quickly and efficiently, consider using EssayGrader's grading software for teachers.

What Are Student Engagement Surveys?

Student engagement surveys come in all shapes and sizes, with some including more or fewer questions than others. Still, all surveys encourage teachers to take the time to investigate the perspectives of their students. Rather than assuming you know what your students feel, a student engagement survey will give you a better idea of how your classroom operates and how it could be improved. 

Why Student Engagement Surveys Are Essential for Understanding Classroom Dynamics

Many teachers question why using student engagement surveys is even necessary. You should tell if your students are engaged in your class, but not necessarily. Only through a student engagement survey can you truly understand your students’ perspectives and reactions to the class. 

Even if you are an experienced teacher, collecting data from my students can help me know how successful my lessons are. Any teacher needs to know how his or her class is doing so changes can be made where necessary. A student engagement survey will offer insight into your student’s thoughts on the classroom and what they believe can be improved. 

When to Use Student Engagement Surveys

Student engagement surveys are helpful at any time, but I typically use them at the beginning of a unit to give me a better sense of where my students are and what they feel is achievable. I also use this tool on the last day of the unit to allow students to reflect on their learning and provide feedback before we move on to something else. 

The premise is quite simple yet profound: ask students how they: 

• Feel about the unit
• Their engagement
• What they might need or want to succeed

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How Do I Get Students Engaged Enough to Actually (And Honestly) Take a Student Engagement Survey?

Online Surveys: Strategies to Secure Student Participation

An online survey can be the most time-efficient method of collecting student feedback, particularly when getting a large audience to respond quickly. With nearly 90% of the adult population having access to the internet, you can reach many students in a shorter amount of time. Response rates can be minimal if proper actions aren’t taken to prompt students to respond.  

Addressing Bias and Barriers in Online Student Engagement Surveys

Willingness to respond honestly can be impacted by several factors, including: 

• Students’ inability to ask questions about the survey in real time
• Confusion
• Social norms that govern how they feel the college wants them to respond make online surveys potentially biased

Those who do respond may be younger, wealthier, and more tech-savvy. In contrast, those who may not be able to respond could be the older portion of students who may feel less comfortable using the internet.  

Best Techniques for Administering an Online Survey  

Short is Sweet

Students are less likely to respond to surveys that take approximately 30 minutes to complete than those that take 10 minutes or less. Make the survey short and the questions easy to understand.  

Engaging Topics Matter

There’s a lower burden on the time-use of completing a survey with an interesting subject than for one that seems “boring” or “unuseful.”  

Design the Survey Strategically 

The survey layout should be pleasing to the eyes and delivered with a purpose. This will ensure fewer people click the “I don’t know” option. Think about student fatigue as well. Many surveys ask short-answer style questions at the end of surveys (and even tests, for that matter). 

Use Familiar Platforms

Deliver the survey to students on a platform they use every day—with as few clicks as possible. The more “hoops” students must go through to get to the survey, the less chance they will complete it. 

Offer Incentives

Offering an incentive or reward for completion is a tactic used by many colleges to persuade students to participate. The chance to win or the option to provide their submission code for a piece of “swag” or both are helpful ideas.  

Provide Class Time for Completion

Give students time at the end of class to log into their devices or onto a computer lab desktop to complete the survey.  

Notify Students of the Survey

Notify students of an upcoming engagement survey when it has been released and again a few days later (through personalized invitations and messages).  

Paper Surveys: Strategies to Secure Student Participation  

Colleges and educational institutions have been delivering paper surveys for years. They’ve been effective previously and are easy to type, print, or create bubble-style questionnaires. 

Students are much more compelled to take a paper survey if class time has been scheduled to complete it and those around them are doing the same. A paper survey can only be filled out by people present when it is disbursed. 

Best Techniques for Administering a Paper Survey  

Incentives Still Apply

Incentives are still a great way to appeal to students and motivate them to take the student engagement survey.  

Spread it Out

Try spreading the survey over a few classes instead of offering it all at once. A helpful technique is to incorporate the study into your course materials, make it part of a participation mark, and hand out a one-pager at the end of each class.  

Create a Hybrid Survey

Create a hybrid survey that includes both an online and paper version so that those more accessible via their devices can complete it at their convenience.  

Adapt Techniques from Online Surveys

Many of the above techniques can also be adapted into a paper version.  

Consider Your Design: First Impressions Matter  

First impressions are everything, which applies to student surveys just as much as to any other audience group. It may sound obvious, but creating clean, well-designed surveys helps increase engagement and student response rates. When thinking about your survey design, include a short but informative introduction that helps set expectations for respondents. 

Maximizing Student Survey Completion Rates with Progress Bars and Skip Logic

For instance, consider using a progress bar so respondents can track how much they’ve done and still need to complete. Studies reveal that 87% of students are more willing to complete a survey if they do this. Generally speaking, most respondents—including students—will respond more favorably to shorter, rather than lengthier, surveys. 

Capture Student Feedback Outside of Lessons  

For times when in-lesson surveys aren't possible, you could opt for further methods to reach them outside of the classroom. In addition to the survey distribution methods we’ve already discussed, offline surveys can be an excellent option if you need to collect feedback and insights from students in locations with poor or absent WiFi access. 

As such, offline surveys are a fantastic option for off-campus events like: 

• Conferences
• Networking events
• Field studies and more

Enhancing Feedback Collection with Kiosk Surveys in High-Traffic Student Areas

Kiosk surveys are another good alternative, particularly in high-traffic areas where students are in less rush, such as a library or standard room. The kiosk survey can be administered via a freestanding touchscreen display device or a tablet with survey software such as SmartSurvey loaded onto it and the kiosk mode enabled. 

Share Your Results to Encourage Future Participation  

Unless your survey involves confidential results—like individual tutor group feedback—it’s good to be able to share your results with students throughout your campus. When you create a feedback loop, and students feel that their opinion is welcomed and valued, it helps increase their engagement and their likelihood of providing feedback to future surveys. 

Types of Questions to Ask on a Student Engagement Survey  

There are many options for choosing how to lay out questions and which ones to ask. Conducting a strategy that organizes questions based on the answers you hope to receive is essential. Sitting down and brainstorming a hundred questions without a reason can be time-consuming and lead to mixed results. 

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How to Analyze Survey Results to Better Understand Where Your Engagement Efforts Are Lacking

After collecting and processing student engagement surveys, it is time to uncover the results. 

• Write down some “key takeaways” from each survey question. If too many responses exist, narrow them down to the top three or four. 
• Make a list of the themes that you collected from your qualitative questions. 

Spotting Trends in Student Engagement Survey Data

Once you start noticing the trends in your data, focus on creating an action plan that you will use to address the biggest issues that your students are facing in your classroom. For example, let’s say that your survey shows that your students are often tired when they get to class in the morning and that it affects their performance. You may come up with an idea like “let’s start each day with a 5-minute yoga session to stretch and wake our bodies up!” 

Bringing Change to the Classroom from Student Engagement Survey Results

Just as important as the actual feedback is the willingness to make changes. It is sometimes a hard pill to swallow to know that something we may enjoy doing is completely missing the mark with our students. It requires us to think outside the box and get out of our own comfort zones. We live in a brave new world and must adapt to the times.

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