Improving your virtual classroom is easy to achieve. You just have to learn from the past so you will know the features that you need to retain, remove, add, or improve. The question is, how will you get the data that will tell you the changes that has to happen? How will you know what qualities and features has to be improved to increase the experience from your online course?
The answer to these will come from your post-evaluation questionnaire. In every elearning or training program, you need to end with a survey or questionnaire that will help you gain insight on the learner’s experience. You want to find out their opinion about the course so you can make the necessary adjustments that will take your virtual classroom to the next level.
You want your post evaluation as thorough yet short as possible. At the end of your course, you can expect your learners to be eager to end the experience so they can go on to apply what they have learned. That being said, here are 5 important questions that you may want to include in your post-evaluation survey.
Question 1: Was the content very informative, relevant, relatable and well sustained?
You can actually start with any of the questions but starting with the content seems like the most logical thing to do. Your content is the most important element of your course. People will go to your virtual classroom to get new information. Because of that, you want to know if it is informative and relatable so it can be applied in real life. Was the content current and complete? Were the stories, scenarios and examples provided appropriate? Were the tests provided able to help learners gauge how much they have learned from the course?
You also want to know if the content you provided is well sustained. This means your learners should walk away from your course with the knowledge of where they should go for more information. At least, this is information relevant to what they just learned.
Question 2: Was the content presented well so it is appealing, engaging and motivating?
The next question that will help your virtual classroom improve is still about the content. But this time, you need to ask how effective the presentation was. You want to know if the structure of the course allowed the learners to understand the content effectively and in the right sequence. You also want to know if the visual design in the course is able to complement the content. Was it able to highlight important data or was it only a distraction?
You also want them to scrutinize the language and tone of the content. Did the tone set a comfortable pace of learning for the course? Or did it make the course too long or too short? Timing is important because a course that is too short may seem irrelevant and one that is too long may become too boring. Find out if certain parts of the course are too dragging (e.g. discussions, etc).
Question 3: Was the course easily accessible at all times?
It is also important to know if your virtual classroom is technically easy to access. This does not only mean accessing the course itself. If you used multimedia elements like videos, make sure the learners found it easy to source the hardware and software requirements needed to make them work. You also want to know if the course itself is easy to navigate. Were the learners able to jump from one part of the course to the next?
Question 4: How was the social experience during the online course?
Although it may be online, your virtual classroom should also offer a social experience. Depending on the setup, this can include interactions between the learner and the instructor or with fellow learners. Was this interaction satisfactory or did it fall short? Did they find it easy to interact with the instructor or did it feel ineffective and insincere? Regarding the activities, were they successful in bringing learners together? Were the discussions enlightening and engaging? A great activity is one that will motivate and engage your learners to work together – it should not distract them from the topic that they need to learn.
Question 5: Were you able to meet the expectations of the course and its participants?
Lastly, you want to find out if you were able to meet all the expectations in the virtual classroom. Starting with the course, were you able to meet the goal and objectives that you had in the beginning? Of course, you have to know if these objectives were clearly stated in the first place. When it comes to the learners, you want to know if the course met their expectations. Ask them how the course successfully or unsuccessfully met their respective goals in life. This is a great way to gauge the overall learning experience from the virtual classroom.
These 5 questions in your post-evaluation should be able to help you get enough information that will allow you to identify areas in your course that needs improvement.
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