Describe your course, the decisions you want feedback to inform, and whether responses should be anonymous. Makeform turns that brief into a focused student survey with rating scales, open-response prompts, and optional follow-up questions you can edit before sharing.
Send responses to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a starting point, adapt the details, and send the prompt into the Makeform builder. The suggested structure is an example you can revise.
Audience
Undergraduate students completing a lecture course
Format
Anonymous survey with scales and comments
Prompt size
385 chars
Example survey structure
Anonymous survey with scales and comments
How clear were the course learning objectives?
Rate the usefulness of lectures, readings, and assignments
How manageable was the weekly workload?
Which activity helped your learning most?
What should we keep or change?
Suggested analysis tags
Keep
Change
Clarify
Ask about one course element at a time. A single question about lectures, readings, and assignments cannot show which element students want changed.
Step 1
Define
course context and decisions
Step 2
Generate
balanced scales and prompts
Step 3
Share
one link before term ends
Step 4
Review
themes to keep or change
Feedback you can act on
A useful semester survey separates course components, uses consistent scales, and leaves room for context. That makes patterns easier to interpret when planning the next class.
Rate pacing, workload, readings, assignments, and feedback separately so a low score points to a real course-design decision.
Use the same labeled scale across related items, with a not-applicable choice where students may lack enough experience to answer.
Pair ratings with targeted prompts such as what to keep, what to change, and what made a specific activity effective or difficult.
Fit the course
A lab, seminar, studio, and online course need different prompts. Start with the learning activities students actually encountered, then remove anything that will not inform a decision.
Explore clarity, discussion, readings, pacing, instructor support, and whether activities connected to stated learning goals.
Ask about demonstrations, equipment or materials, practice time, critique, safety instructions, and preparation for applied work.
Separate course navigation, media, live sessions, discussions, instructor presence, and technical barriers instead of using one online-learning score.
Use conditional questions so only students who used office hours, group work, or a particular tool evaluate that experience.
Build the survey
Give the generator enough detail to draft relevant questions, then make a short editing pass for neutrality, privacy, and timing before students respond.
Name the level, format, major learning activities, assessment types, and what you may revise. The draft can then focus on evidence you will use.
Remove double questions, label every scale point, add not applicable when needed, and avoid wording that pressures students toward praise or criticism.
Decide whether to collect names, explain how responses will be used, and route follow-up prompts only to students whose answers need context.
Send the survey link before the semester closes, state the response window, and give students a few uninterrupted minutes to complete it.
Choose a feedback method
Informal conversations can surface ideas, but a structured end-of-semester survey gives every student the same opportunity to respond and separates numerical patterns from written context.
Question field guide
Use these six areas as a review checklist. Keep only questions tied to the course students took and changes you could reasonably consider for a future semester.
Goals and organization
Ask whether learning objectives were clear, weekly topics followed a logical sequence, and instructions made expectations understandable. These are different questions and should not be combined into one rating.
Teaching and activities
List the real formats used in the course, such as lectures, demonstrations, discussions, labs, or group work. Let students mark not applicable rather than forcing a judgment about something they did not use.
Assessment and feedback
Separate fairness, alignment, instructions, and timeliness. A student may understand an assignment and still receive feedback too late to apply it to the next one.
Pace and workload
Ask about weekly time demand, pacing, deadline clustering, and balance across tasks. If the course has distinct units, a follow-up can identify where workload or pace changed sharply.
Support and participation
Ask about access to support, instructor communication, and participation conditions without assuming every student used office hours. Conditional questions keep the survey relevant to each respondent.
Keep, change, and context
Two focused comment boxes are easier to interpret than a request for any other thoughts. Invite students to name one element worth preserving and one change that would improve learning for the next group.
Related tools
Use a broader evaluation, a quick class poll, or a delivery-specific feedback form when the end-of-semester survey is not the only checkpoint you need.
Create a formal course evaluation covering instruction, materials, assessments, and the overall learning experience.
Open toolCollect student perspectives at different points in a class, program, or school experience.
Open toolFocus on course navigation, digital materials, interaction, instructor presence, and remote learning barriers.
Open toolExplore how students experience classroom climate, support, engagement, and their own learning.
Open toolRun a short pulse check on understanding, preferences, or an upcoming class decision.
Open toolCompare in-person and remote parts of a hybrid course and identify where transitions create friction.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for teachers and professors preparing a useful course feedback survey.
Cover the course goals and organization, teaching activities, materials, assessments, feedback, workload, pace, support, and participation conditions that students actually experienced. Finish with focused prompts about one element to keep and one to change. Avoid combining several topics into a single question.
Keep every item tied to a decision you may make. A focused survey with a small set of rating groups and two or three written prompts is usually more respectful than asking about every detail. Test it on a phone and remove repeated questions before sharing.
That depends on your purpose and institution's practices. Anonymous responses may make some students more comfortable sharing criticism, while identified responses allow individual follow-up. State clearly what is collected, who will review it, and how responses will be used. Avoid asking for identifying details if you promise anonymity.
Use one consistent, fully labeled scale for related statements, such as five agreement choices from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Include not applicable when a student may not have used a resource or activity. Do not switch scale direction midway through the survey.
Share it while the full course experience is still fresh and before students disengage at the end of term. Explain the response window and provide dedicated class time when possible. If grades are a concern, tell students when the instructor will see responses according to your local process.
Ask prompts anchored to a decision: which activity most supported learning, where instructions became confusing, what should remain next semester, or what single change would help. Conditional follow-ups can ask for context after a low rating without requiring every student to write a long response.
Yes. Makeform is unlimited free for generating, editing, publishing, and collecting responses. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge. You can revise the generated questions and design before sharing the survey with students.
Start with distributions rather than a single average, compare related items, and group written comments into themes such as keep, change, or clarify. Look for repeated signals and read comments alongside the relevant rating. Treat a response as one perspective, document the changes you choose, and avoid trying to identify anonymous respondents.
Make the final class reflection useful.
