Technology Essentials in Education Episode 1:
Crafting the Perfect Student Interest Survey

Welcome to Technology Essentials and Education, practical ideas for educators.

I'm your host Dr. Monica Burns. This week's episode is titled Crafting the Perfect Student Interest Survey and I'm excited to share the what, why, and how of creating interest surveys for students of all ages in any subject area.

It's just me today, so let's dive in.

This episode is part of a special bonus series presented by Jotform. Jform Enterprise provides an all-in-one solution to streamline administrative tasks, enhance community engagement, and foster innovation using their no-code drag and drop forms and workflows.

Your teams can securely collect and store data, automate routine tasks, and collaborate on team resources.

Educational institutions are also eligible for a 30% discount on Jform Enterprise. Head to their website to learn more at jotform.com Enterprise Education.

Today we are going to talk about student surveys. This is a solo episode of the podcast, the first in a series where we'll dive into different essential topics related to technology.

Student surveys have come up in lots of my conversations with educators who want to figure out what their students already know about a topic, which usually falls more in the formative assessment category, as well as educators who want to know what kids are interested and excited about.

Student interest surveys are an important part of engaging students in the learning process. If we're able to make connections to topics that they are naturally curious about or that might connect to something they've explored before and enjoyed, we can really boost student engagement.

When we think about connecting content to what kids are interested and excited about, a student survey is just a starting point. You might build out a form with questions, review that data on your own or collaboratively with a team.

The goal with this episode today is to unpack exactly how to craft a student interest survey so you can get some information that is actionable and take it back to the work that you do with students.

So let's start first with the big question: What is a student interest survey?

An interest survey is a tool used to gather information about students' preferences, their hobbies, the way they like to learn or engage with content, and some of their goals for inside and outside the classroom.

The purpose is really to see what motivates kids, connect with them on a more personal level, and tailor lessons and activities so they connect back to the things they already find important before they walk through the doors of a classroom.

In an elementary classroom, you might ask kids about what books they've loved to read in the past, which can help you pick out great stories or informational texts to share with them.

You might ask about their favorite hobbies or after-school activities so that when you are giving examples or creating math word problems, you are consciously connecting their interests to what you are teaching, even if on the surface it doesn't feel like it relates.

In a middle school classroom, you might ask students to share some topics they'd like to explore within your curriculum. You could do the same things as in elementary with hobbies, after-school activities, or favorite books or movies, but you might extend the questions to connect directly to the content.

You might ask which subtopics they're most interested or excited about. When students might be tempted to say they don't know what they want to learn more about, you can give questions with some choices for subtopics to explore more deeply.

In a high school classroom or as you're moving up the grades, you might ask students about their interests like hobbies or after-school activities, favorite books or movies, but also about their career interests and what they would like to do after leaving an academic setting.

This can help you pick and choose real-world examples that connect back to what kids are aspiring to or curious about when it comes to how they interact not just with content but with the larger world.

You might also ask students how they like to learn or engage with content. For example, by the time a student enters high school, they might have a better understanding of how they like to learn, maybe in short videos at their own pace or by listening to podcasts.

You can formulate questions with your interest survey that keep both your grade level bands, your content, and your goals for how you're going to use that information in mind.

Why are student surveys important? I've given a couple reasons, but if you want to strengthen your classroom culture and build strong relationships with your students, showing that you care about their interests and what's important to them can help you create a more inclusive, supportive, and welcoming environment.

Building those relationships and trust in a classroom can start with an interest survey where you express your interest in what they are interested about and purposefully use that information to inform your future instruction, even if it's something as simple as making a quick connection or sharing an anecdote that connects back to their interest and what you are teaching.

Another reason a student interest survey is important is because it can help enhance or boost engagement in the course content or subject area you are teaching.

You can incorporate student interest into lessons and projects to get kids to care more about what they are learning or teaching.

For example, a student who is a fan of basketball might engage more with a math problem involving game statistics or a science lab connected to something in the gym.

If a student loves sharks or dolphins, you might connect a lesson back to that habitat or choose informational text related to underwater creatures, even if the lesson's purpose is about main ideas or details in English language arts.

You might also use a student interest survey to support your differentiation goals or help with differentiating instruction by adapting teaching strategies based on what a student has expressed interest in or their learning preferences.

Jform Enterprise lets you build forms in minutes, including student survey forms, homework submission forms, online quizzes, and more. You can start from scratch or use their collection of free form templates designed for teachers, schools, and districts.

Imagine you already know from a survey that a student prefers hands-on activities and working in pairs and doesn't like to work independently. You can use that information to place them in the right group or activity.

A student who prefers to work independently might get a different task or a choice between activities so they can decide what to do that day.

This information can also inform how you seat or arrange students in groups, knowing that certain groups have similar interests and will engage in conversation more quickly, or assigning roles in projects based on students' preferences.

Now that we've thought about what a student interest survey is and why you might want to include it in your work, let's think about what to actually include in a student interest survey.

Start with general info like a student's name and maybe some quick favorite things like a favorite subject area or subtopic within that subject area.

Although it may be tempting to do anonymous interest surveys to gather general information about a group, knowing exactly who responded to what can help you support individual students more granularly.

After general information, you might ask about personal interests like favorite hobbies, books, movies, or extracurricular activities. These might be open-ended questions for students to fill in.

If a student struggles to tell you what they like about a topic, you might switch to multiple choice or 'choose a few' answers, but keeping personal interest questions open-ended might be the way to go.

You can also ask students about how they like to learn, such as whether they prefer to work in groups or alone, or their preferences for classroom activities like creating movies, drawing, or writing paragraphs.

These questions will vary depending on the group. For example, elementary students might not answer open-ended questions well, so you might ask if they like working with friends or alone.

Some questions might be digital forms for students to fill out, while others might be asked one-on-one, especially if students struggle with digital spaces.

In addition to learning preferences, you might ask about goals and aspirations, from future career interests to short-term goals like something they want to accomplish by the end of the year.

For example, students on sports teams might say they want to win a state championship, and you can use that language when talking to the group to make connections and let them know they've been seen and heard.

You might also include classroom-specific questions like favorite parts of the school day or week, what they would like to learn about, or what skills they hope to gain this year.

You could ask big open-ended questions like 'What's something you wish I knew about you or your teacher knew about you?'

These general questions can give you plenty of information to work with as you design or modify units and lessons.

For example, if you are about to kick off a unit on endangered species, you might ask students what part of the world they would like to visit and use their responses to decide what habitats or species to mention in your examples.

Now let's talk about sample questions for different grade levels.

For elementary students, you might ask about their day-to-day interests like favorite games to play at recess or something they're really good at.

They might enter their information into a digital form or draw a picture in response to a question.

It might be overwhelming to give first graders five or six questions, so you might have one big prompt to get to know the student and use it to gauge their interest and design future lessons.

In middle school, you might get more specific by asking about topics they want to learn about or what they would do if they had a free day at school.

This might help you learn if there's a special computer game they enjoy or a part of the building they want to visit, like the library.

At the high school level, you might ask about their top three career interests or what job they would want for a day, or what they would do if they were principal or president for a day.

Such questions can give you actionable responses to guide your group.

As you design your student interest survey, consider how you will get it in front of your group.

For elementary students who might struggle with digital spaces, you might give them a prompt and have them draw their response.

For students who interact with digital devices, you might give them a form that makes it easy to collect and analyze data, making the process more efficient for you and easier for them.

A digital form gives students a more accessible way to respond, especially if they use screen readers or need to zoom in, and allows them to complete the survey on their own time on their personal or school-issued device.

Digital tools can help you stay organized by automatically saving and sorting responses so you have them in the right place.

There are lots of options for building and reviewing surveys with digital tools to help make the process easier.

If you're ready to get started and want tips to make surveys actionable, here are a couple things to consider.

First, keep it short with just a half dozen questions to avoid overwhelming students.

Be clear and specific, use simple language for younger students, and provide examples for older students.

Combine open-ended questions with multiple choice or dropdown options, and you might include a Likert scale where students rate how interested they are in a topic.

Review the data with a spreadsheet or visual chart to see trends for the group as well as individual information.

Follow up just like formative assessment data; there's no point in collecting data if you're not going to use it.

Also, let students know they are not just filling something out that will go into a pile, but completing a form you will review.

Student interest surveys are a great way to foster engagement, build relationships, and help ensure your content is tailored and high interest for your group of students.

Let's finish today's episode with a few key points to make this edtech easy: start small with just a few questions, combine open-ended and multiple choice responses, let students know you will use the information, and make connections throughout the school year to student interests.

You can find the show notes and full list of resources from this episode by heading to classtechtips.com SLP podcast.

A big thank you to Jform, the presenter of today's episode and this special series.

To learn more about Jform and how educational institutions can get a 30% discount on Jform Enterprise, head to jotform.com Enterprise Education.