Describe your audience and goal. Makeform creates a digital literacy survey covering access, skills, confidence, support needs, and learning preferences.
Route responses to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample builder prompts
Choose a prompt for the builder. Each example keeps access, ability, and confidence distinct.
Audience
Adults enrolling in community digital-skills classes
Format
Plain-language baseline with branching
Prompt size
350 chars
Example survey structure
Plain-language baseline with branching
Which devices can you use regularly?
How reliable is your internet access?
What can you do without help?
What support would make learning easier?
What is your most important digital goal?
Suggested planning tags
Device access gap
Foundational support
Ready for advanced training
Ask whether someone can complete a task alone, with help, or not yet. Confidence alone can hide support needs.
Step 1
Define
audience and decisions
Step 2
Measure
access, skills, and barriers
Step 3
Segment
group needs respectfully
Step 4
Plan
topics, support, and format
Better baseline data
Someone may know video calls yet lack a private device or affordable data. Plan by viewing access, independence, confidence, and barriers together.
Ask whether a device is suitable, shared, available, and reliably connected. Ownership alone does not show training access.
Measure whether people complete real tasks alone, with help, or not yet instead of using broad skill labels.
Compare skill areas and learning preferences to plan foundational, guided, and advanced sessions.
Survey design
Use familiar actions, short sections, and plain language so the survey works well on a phone.
Ask about attachments, trustworthy information, online applications, and password changes—not abstract competence.
Use conditional questions to show connectivity help or advanced training choices only when relevant.
Never ask for passwords or recovery codes. Measure password-management habits without requesting secrets.
Include language, accessibility, device-loan, transport, childcare, and scheduling needs that affect participation.
Build your survey
Start with a planning decision, generate a baseline, and review skills and access barriers before scheduling sessions.
Name the respondents and whether you are choosing levels, devices, connectivity support, topics, or formats.
Use locally relevant tasks, one independence scale, and Not applicable or Prefer not to answer options.
Preview on a phone, check branching, simplify grids, and test wording with representative learners.
Separate access barriers from ability, then compare topics, formats, and support needs to shape cohorts.
Choose a measurement style
Each method answers a question. Combine self-report with scenarios for a grounded baseline.
Field guide
Use six sections to find participation barriers and useful training. Remove questions that do not inform a decision.
Devices and connectivity
Ask about usable access, not just ownership. A shared phone with limited data differs from a personal laptop on stable broadband.
Everyday tasks
List program-relevant activities: email, search, forms, files, documents, video calls, or online services. Use one scale.
Safety and judgment
Include evaluating information and protecting accounts. Short scenarios reveal needs without creating a high-pressure test.
Support and accessibility
Ask directly about language, assistive technology, loan devices, quiet space, or guided practice. Allow multiple selections.
Goals and priorities
Ask what respondents want to accomplish. Work, family, service, or school goals make topic rankings actionable.
Training logistics
Gather timing, location, pace, and format preferences alongside skills so intended learners can attend.
Related tools
Pair the baseline with focused access, skills, learning-feedback, and training-needs tools.
Assess devices, connectivity, platforms, and learning support.
Open toolPrioritize topics and delivery needs before training.
Open toolReview online instruction and participation barriers.
Open toolFAQ
Answers for educators and NGOs building a useful baseline.
A digital literacy survey covers technology access, practical tasks, online safety, confidence, barriers, goals, and learning preferences. Educators and NGOs use responses to plan training and support for different starting points.
Cover device and internet access, named tasks, online safety, accessibility or language support, goals, and logistics. Ask only what informs a decision. Never request passwords or recovery codes.
Use concrete tasks and one scale: Can do independently, Can do with help, and Have not done yet. Add short scenarios for judgment. Confidence is context, not demonstrated ability.
Use plain language, short sections, descriptive labels, and keyboard-friendly options. Preview on a phone. Offer translation or assisted completion and ask what accessibility support training requires.
It can be anonymous for group-level planning. Put optional contact details at the end and explain their purpose. To match people to courses, collect only necessary identifying details.
Keep the baseline to one sitting. Group related tasks, show only relevant follow-ups, and remove nice-to-know questions. Test it and shorten confusing or repetitive items.
Separate access barriers from skill gaps. Group results into communication, files, services, safety, and creation. Compare these with priorities, availability, format, and support before setting cohorts and topics.
Yes. Makeform is unlimited free for generating, editing, publishing, and collecting responses. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge.
Plan training from reported needs.
