Online assessment: how to create effective and engaging questionnaires?

Assessment is a fundamental pillar of any learning process. It demonstrates whether the learner has understood the teaching through theoretical questions or practical exercises. Today, whether in-person or remote, trainers increasingly use digital tools to offer online assessments. We will see that an effective assessment requires thoughtful reflection.

A good online assessment largely depends on the quality of the tool you choose.

Tools adapted to your budget
First, it is obvious that the digital assessment solution must fit your budget, whether you are an independent trainer or a training center. Providers often offer multiple versions of their applications (basic, advanced, customized).

Ergonomic and functional tools
What defines a quality online assessment tool is its ease of use, both for the trainers creating the questionnaires and for the respondents. For an online assessment to be engaging, the software must be intuitive, ergonomic, and simple to use. If too much time is spent figuring out how to answer questions rather than on the answers themselves, the assessment loses its effectiveness.

Accessible tools
Accessibility is essential for the effectiveness of your assessments, especially if these are delayed (cold) evaluations. It is crucial to opt for a solution that can be accessed remotely with personal and secure logins, and that is compatible with the tools used in your structure or training centers.

The first question when creating an online assessment is to define your pedagogical objectives by asking a simple question: what do you want to verify in terms of knowledge, skills, or attitudes? For example, to check theoretical knowledge, a multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ) is suitable. To assess argumentative ability, open-ended questions should be used. Finally, to evaluate analytical skills, case studies or situational exercises are much more appropriate.

To make an online assessment engaging, it is essential to write clear and simple questions. Avoid ambiguous phrasing with double negatives that can quickly discourage learners. MCQ questions should be easily understood on a single reading. Questions must also be precise to limit off-topic answers.

If designing a questionnaire for a long assessment, it is advisable to vary question types to avoid monotony. For MCQs, you can include multiple-choice, single-choice, or true/false questions. Also include several open-ended questions to test learners’ argumentative skills and better engage them.

Don’t hesitate to divide your questionnaires into themed sections to clearly separate parts and, if possible, integrate a feature that allows learners to know their progress to better manage their time.

If you have an online questionnaire editor with customization options, it is worthwhile to work on the aesthetics. Well-designed questionnaires are much more engaging than classic ones. Providers offer templates or features allowing you to customize questionnaires by integrating the company’s or training center’s graphic charter.

For readability, use screen-friendly fonts, avoiding serif fonts. Avoid overly fanciful designs or colors for questions; everything must remain perfectly legible. Also include images and videos to make the assessment more interactive.

This is often neglected, but corrections have as much educational value as the assessment itself. Correcting mistakes is a way to learn, which is why corrections should be detailed. Use assessment tools that allow annotations for correcting open-ended questions. Don’t just show the correct answer in MCQs but explain why it is the correct answer in one or two sentences.

Creating an effective online assessment questionnaire requires using a suitable and customizable tool. It also means reflecting as much on form as on content by clearly defining your pedagogical objectives. Remember, an assessment is not only a way for the teacher to test learners’ knowledge but also a way for learners to learn from their mistakes, so answers should be as thoughtfully designed as the questions.