Questions to Ask Students During Distance Learning
Questions to ask students during distance learning, for teachers whose class meets on a screen all week or on the home days of a hybrid schedule, and who can no longer read the room. They run in the order a good check-in takes: an overall read first, then the setup at home, workload and pace, what is being understood, contact with classmates and with you, and what students would change. Most work on a form or as a quick poll, and the ones about home and friendships are for a private form or message, never for the whole call.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Overall
Overall, how is distance learning going for you so far: well, okay, or not well?
Why ask it
Three fixed choices make this quick to answer on a form and simple to count across a class. Put it first and repeat it every few weeks in the same wording, because the movement between rounds says more than any one result. Anyone who picks 'not well' gets a private follow-up, never a reply in front of the group.
What is the hardest part of learning from home for you?
Why ask it
Leave it open and expect answers you did not plan for: a noisy house, a login that fails, a subject that does not work on a screen. Read every reply before you answer any of them. The same obstacle named by eight students calls for a change to the class, and named by one it calls for a conversation with that student.
What is one thing about online class that works better for you than the classroom did?
Why ask it
Some students do better remotely: the quiet ones who type more than they ever said aloud, or the ones who replay a recorded explanation until it lands. Their replies show what is worth keeping, including once everyone is back in one room. It also stops the check-in from reading as a list of complaints.
What does a normal school day look like for you right now, from getting up to finishing your work?
Why ask it
You are after the shape of a day you can no longer see: when it starts, whether lunch happens, whether schoolwork runs into the evening. It works best aloud with one student or a small group, where you can ask 'and then what?'. A student who cannot describe a routine probably does not have one, and a suggested daily plan may help more than another reminder.
How motivated do you feel to do schoolwork at the moment, from one to five?
Why ask it
A number is easier to give than an explanation, and a class that averages two is telling you about the course as much as about itself. Follow a low score with 'what would move it up by one?' and you get something you can act on. Individual scores stay between you and the student.
Setup
What device do you use for class: a computer, a tablet, a phone, or something else?
Why ask it
A student on a phone cannot easily type an essay, watch a shared slide and the chat at once, or open a worksheet beside a video. If several answer 'phone', try each assignment on one yourself before you set it. Whether the school can lend devices, and how a family requests one, differs from place to place, so ask your office.
Do you share the device you use for class with anyone else at home?
Why ask it
Sharing explains much of what looks like absence: the laptop may only be free once a sibling's lessons or a parent's workday is over. Keep this one to a form or a private message. Where the answer is yes, recorded lessons and flexible due times do more than any reminder.
How well does your internet hold up during live lessons: fine, sometimes cuts out, or often cuts out?
Why ask it
This separates the student who leaves from the student who gets dropped. With anyone in the last group, agree ahead of time what to do when the call freezes and where the material will be afterwards. Then nobody has to write an apology every time the connection fails.
Where do you usually do your schoolwork, and how easy is it to concentrate there?
Why ask it
Say plainly that you are not asking to see the room. A kitchen table shared with three other people is a fact about the school day you have designed, and it argues for shorter live stretches and tasks that survive an interruption. Keep the replies to yourself: home is not something to compare across a class.
Is there anything that makes it hard to turn your camera or microphone on?
Why ask it
The reasons are mostly ordinary: a crowded room, a connection that fails with video running, not wanting classmates to see home, or the feeling of being watched. Offer other ways to show presence, such as the chat, a reaction or a short written reply. Camera rules vary by school, so check what yours expects before you promise anything.
Which of the apps or websites we use gives you the most trouble?
Why ask it
When half the class names the same tool, the fault lies with the tool or with how it was introduced, and five minutes of walking through it on screen costs less than a week of missing submissions. One student naming it usually needs a password reset or a quick call. Ask what goes wrong exactly, since 'it doesn't work' could be a login, a browser or a file type.
Do you have the materials you need at home, such as books, paper, a calculator or art supplies?
Why ask it
Easy to forget once everything lives on a screen. A lesson that assumes a printer, a ruler or colored pencils quietly leaves out whoever has none. Collect the gaps on a form, plan around what most students have, and ask how your school gets supplies to families.
What time of day is easiest for you to do schoolwork, and when is it hardest?
Why ask it
Use the replies to decide when live sessions happen and when work is posted, especially with older students who have jobs or look after younger children. You will not suit everyone, but if most of the class finds mornings hard, a 9 a.m. deadline is working against you. In a hybrid class, ask it about home days only.
If the technology goes wrong during a lesson, is there someone at home who can help you fix it?
Why ask it
Mostly for younger students, and better sent to the family than asked of the child. Keep it about the technology and do not ask who is in the house during the day. Where nobody can help, your instructions have to be followable alone: fewer clicks, an identical routine each day, a short clip of you doing the steps.
Do you know what to do if you can't log in or a lesson won't load?
Why ask it
Every 'no' here is yours to fix, and it takes one pinned post: who to message, what to work on meanwhile, and that no penalty follows. Students without a backup plan tend to vanish for the day and feel bad about it afterwards.
Workload
About how many hours a day are you spending on schoolwork, counting live classes?
Why ask it
Set the figure against what you intended, since a task can take far longer at home with nobody to ask. Each teacher sees only their own share of the day, so if your students report long days, take the totals to the colleagues who teach the same group. The fix is seldom inside one class.
Does the amount of work in this class feel like too little, about right, or too much?
Why ask it
Read it beside the hours question. 'Too much' from students with short days often means unclear instructions or work that feels pointless, not sheer volume. Follow 'too little' by asking what they would like more of.
Are live lessons moving too fast, too slow, or about right for you?
Why ask it
Online you lose the faces that used to tell you to slow down, so you have to ask outright. If the class splits, record the explanation so the 'too fast' group can pause and rewatch, and give the 'too slow' group something to go on with. Run the poll again after you change anything.
How long can you pay attention on a video call before your mind starts to wander?
Why ask it
Expect a figure shorter than your lesson. Treat the typical answer as the length of one stretch of talking, then switch to a poll, a breakout or two minutes off screen. It is a question about lesson design, so thank them for the number instead of hearing it as a confession.
Do you always know what is due and when?
Why ask it
A 'no' usually points to where things are posted, so the follow-up is 'where do you look first?' If the class is checking email, the learning platform and a chat thread, choose a single home for deadlines and name it at the start of every lesson for a week.
Which do you get more from: live lessons, recorded videos, or work you do on your own?
Why ask it
Preferences differ from student to student, and the count helps you decide where your preparation time should go. Ask why as well. 'Recorded, because I can pause' and 'recorded, because I can skip it' are two different findings.
Which recent assignment took you much longer than you expected, and what slowed you down?
Why ask it
Naming one task gets a better reply than a general question about difficulty. Listen for whether the time went on thinking or on mechanics: photographing a page, converting a file, hunting for the right link. Time lost to mechanics is time you can give back.
Are you managing to take breaks away from the screen during the school day?
Why ask it
With no bell and no hallway, some students sit for hours without standing up. If many say no, put the break inside your own lesson and say aloud that it is for moving around, not for opening another tab. Raise it with colleagues as well, since back-to-back live classes are a scheduling matter.
When work doesn't get handed in, what usually got in the way?
Why ask it
Ask one to one and without an edge: you are looking for the obstacle, not collecting an excuse. Common replies are no device at the right hour, not understanding the task, or being so far behind that starting felt pointless. Each needs a different response, and a blanket late penalty answers none of them.
Learning
How well do you understand what we covered this week: all of it, most of it, some of it, or very little?
Why ask it
A quick sort, best run as a private poll so nobody answers to match the group. 'Most of it' is not evidence on its own, so pair it with one short task that shows whether they can do the thing. Wherever confidence and the task disagree is where the next lesson starts.
What is one thing from this week's lessons that you are still stuck on?
Why ask it
The wording assumes everyone is stuck on something. 'Any questions?' on a video call gets silence, while this gets a list. Group the replies, reteach the most common one to the whole class, and send a note or a short clip to the students with the rarer ones.
When you get stuck working on your own, what do you do first?
Why ask it
The replies map the help students really have: rewatching the video, searching online, messaging a friend, asking a parent, giving up. If 'wait' or 'skip it' comes up often, teach an order of things to try and print it at the top of every assignment. Worth asking in the first weeks of remote teaching.
How comfortable are you asking a question during a live lesson?
Why ask it
Unmuting in front of a grid of silent squares can take more nerve than raising a hand did. Where comfort is low, open a private chat to you, a question box that stays open after class, or an anonymous form. Then answer a few of those questions at the start of the next session so students can see the route works.
What is the best way for you to ask me for help: chat, email, a short call, or something else?
Why ask it
List only the channels you can keep up with, and say how fast you reply on each. Younger students may need a parent's account to send email. Schools differ on direct messages and one to one calls between teachers and students, so find out what yours allows before you offer them.
Do the instructions for assignments make sense when you read them on your own?
Why ask it
In a classroom you would see the puzzled faces and rephrase. At home the written instruction is all a student has. If the answer is 'sometimes', ask which task caused the trouble, then rewrite that one as numbered steps with an example of finished work.
Do you read or listen to the feedback I leave on your work, and is it helping?
Why ask it
Online feedback is easy to miss because it often sits behind a click the student never makes. If many have not seen it, show the class where it lives. If they see it and it does not help, ask what would: a voice note, a worked example, or a chance to redo the task.
How do quizzes and tests feel online compared with the ones we took in class?
Why ask it
Listen for obstacles that have nothing to do with the subject: a countdown on screen, typing math on a keyboard, a connection that drops halfway through. Decide what happens when a student is cut off during a quiz, and tell the class before the next one. How much an online test may count toward a grade is often decided above you, so check before you change any weighting.
Is there a subject or kind of task that is much harder for you online than in person?
Why ask it
Labs, languages, group projects, music and anything done with the hands tend to come up. You cannot always fix it, but you can stop grading the online version as though it were the classroom one. Pass what you hear to whoever teaches those subjects.
Connection
How connected do you feel to your classmates at the moment: very, a little, or not at all?
Why ask it
Use a form, and treat 'not at all' as a reason for a quiet personal message, not for a group activity announced the next morning. Across a class, a low result argues for a few minutes of unstructured talk as people join. Look hardest at students whose one or two school friends are in a different class or a different home-day group.
What do you miss most about being at school in person?
Why ask it
Often it is not the lessons. Lunch, the bus, a club, one particular friend: the replies show which parts of school life went missing along with the building, and a few can be partly rebuilt, such as a lunchtime call with cameras optional. It is a kind question too, and one students tend to enjoy answering aloud.
Who from class have you talked to this week outside of lessons?
Why ask it
You are listening for 'nobody', which is more concrete than asking about loneliness and easier to answer truthfully. Ask on a form or one to one, since naming friends aloud leaves someone out. For anyone with no contact, a place in the next breakout room with a classmate they get along with is a small, practical step.
Is there someone in this class you could message if you missed a lesson?
Why ask it
A buddy is the cheapest safety net in remote teaching. Where students say no, set up study partners or small standing groups, using whichever channel your school approves for students to contact each other. Look in on the pairs after two weeks.
How do breakout rooms go for you: useful, awkward, or silent?
Why ask it
Students know what happens in the rooms you are not in. If 'silent' wins, the task was probably too open: give each room something to bring back, a role for each person and a time limit. While you are at it, ask privately who they would like to work with.
Do you feel like I know how you are doing?
Why ask it
The replies can be hard to read, and they are worth it. A student who says no is telling you they feel unseen, which is easy to be on a screen. A two-line personal message or a five-minute call does more than telling the whole class your door is open.
What is something you have enjoyed lately that had nothing to do with a screen?
Why ask it
A light one for the first minutes of a call or the top of a form, and a quick sign of whether any part of the day happens away from the laptop. Jot down what each student mentions. A message a month later asking how the bike repair or the baking turned out tells a student that somebody at school still knows who they are.
Is anything happening in the class chat or in group messages that makes you uncomfortable?
Why ask it
When a class moves online, unkindness moves to channels you cannot see. Ask only in private, and only if you are ready to act on what you hear. Learn your school's procedure for reporting a concern before you ask, and do not promise a student secrecy you may be unable to keep.
Apart from schoolwork, how are things for you right now? Share only what you want to.
Why ask it
This is an open door and not an interview. Take whatever comes without pressing, and say thank you. If a reply worries you, bring it to the counselor or whoever your school names for student welfare instead of trying to handle it alone over a video call.
Changes
What is one thing I could do to make learning from home easier for you?
Why ask it
Asking for one thing you could do, and not for a verdict on the class, brings requests small enough to grant: post the link the night before, type the homework into the chat, go slower through the worked examples. Grant a few within days and say which. A request that comes from half the class is no longer a favor: it is how the class should run.
What should I keep doing exactly as it is?
Why ask it
Skip this and you may solve one problem by removing the thing half the class relies on. It also brings in feedback you would never otherwise hear, because nobody writes in to say the Monday overview video is useful.
What is something another teacher does online that works well for you?
Why ask it
Students see every teacher's remote setup and you see only your own. Ask for the practice and not the name if you want candid replies. The good ideas are usually small: a weekly checklist, a countdown timer on screen, one unchanging link for every session.
What would make it easier to show up to live classes?
Why ask it
Put it to everyone, and separately and gently to the students who have stopped coming. Replies range from the hour of the day to a camera rule to not knowing anyone on the call. Attendance rules are seldom a teacher's to set, so learn how much flexibility you have before you offer any.
On the days you learn from home, what do you miss out on that the students in the room get?
Why ask it
This one is for hybrid classes. Students at home often cannot hear a classmate's question, read the board or catch your eye, and they will tell you which. Start with the cheap fixes: repeat each question into the microphone, share your screen in place of pointing a camera at the whiteboard, and check the chat at set points.
What would you tell a new student about how to do well in this class from home?
Why ask it
Advice to a stranger is easier to give than criticism of a teacher, and it carries the same information. 'Check the announcements page, not email' tells you where your messages really land. With permission, hand the best lines to your next group.
How would you like me to check in with you: a form like this, a quick call, or a message?
Why ask it
Some students write freely on a form and say nothing on a call, and others are the reverse. Offer only the formats and the frequency you can sustain. Two questions every Friday that you always read will tell you more than a long survey once a term.
Is there anything you wish I had asked?
Why ask it
Always the last item on a form, above a large empty box. Many students leave it blank, and the few who write often raise whatever matters most to them. Read this column before any of the others.
How to run a distance learning check-in
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Choosing the format
Form, poll or conversation
A form suits anything a student might not say in front of classmates, and it gives you every reply in one sheet. A live poll is right for pace and understanding, where you want the answer in the next two minutes. Keep the open questions, such as what a normal day looks like, for a one to one call or a small group, where you can follow up.
Three to five questions at a time
Nobody should be sent all of these at once. Pick one question from Overall and two or three from the group that matters this week. A short form gets finished, and a short form every week or two shows you change over time, which a long survey once a term cannot.
Decide whether replies carry a name
Anonymous forms get blunter feedback on your teaching, so use them for Workload and Changes. Anything you might need to act on for one student, such as a shared device or having nobody to message, has to come with a name. Tell students which kind they are filling in before they start.
Reword for the age you teach
Young children can answer with a thumb, an emoji or a choice of three faces, and the Setup questions go to their families instead. Older students can take the wording as it stands and will often write more than you expect. In either case, read a new form through on a phone before you send it.
In a hybrid class, say which days you mean
A student who is in the room on Tuesday and at home on Wednesday is describing two different classes. Name the home days in the question, and send the form on one of them, while the experience is fresh. If only part of the group is remote at a time, compare what the two halves say about the same lesson.
What belongs in private
Keep home out of the live session
Devices, internet, the place a student works and who else is in the house are all facts about a family. Ask about them on a form or in a private message, never aloud on a call where classmates can hear. The same goes for friendships and for the question about the class chat.
Find out your school's rules before you ask
Schools and districts set their own policies on cameras, on recording lessons, on messaging students directly and on what a teacher must pass on when a child's welfare is in doubt. Those rules decide what you may offer and what you may keep to yourself. Ask the person responsible where you work, and do it before the first survey goes out.
When a reply worries you
Thank the student, do not press for detail over video, and take it to the counselor or the colleague your school names for this. Avoid promising to keep something secret before you know what it is. A check-in is there to notice a problem, and the people trained to deal with it should be the ones who do.
Doing something with the replies
Sort before you react
Put each reply into one of three piles: yours to change, the school's to change, and outside anyone's reach. A deadline at the wrong hour is yours. A student with no device goes to whoever handles loans. A noisy home is in the third pile, though it still shapes how you design a task. Work through your own pile first.
Tell the class what you heard
Within a week, give two minutes of a live lesson to the results: what most people said, the one or two things you are changing, and anything you were asked for and cannot do. Students who see a result answer the next round with more care.
Take totals to colleagues
Hours of schoolwork, back-to-back live classes and deadlines that all fall on one day are problems no single teacher can see or solve. Share the class-level numbers, without names, with the others who teach the same students.
Ask the same thing again
Repeat the opening question from Overall, word for word, every few weeks. A class that slides from 'okay' to 'not well' between two rounds has told you something neither round could alone, and after a change you will know whether it did any good.
Where check-ins go wrong
Reading silence as 'fine'
On a call, no hands and no chat messages can mean everyone understands or that nobody wants to unmute. The students you most need to hear from are the least likely to fill in an optional form, so follow up by name with anyone who has not replied twice running.
Collecting answers and changing nothing
A survey sets up the expectation that something will happen. If you have no time to read the replies this week, wait and send it next week.
Asking about home in front of the class
'Who doesn't have a laptop?' on a live call gets the wrong number and embarrasses the students it was meant to help. Anything about what a family has or lacks goes through a private channel.
Turning the check-in into a grade
Once replies count toward a score, or get quoted back at a parent meeting as evidence against a student, the honest ones stop. Keep what students tell you about how they are coping separate from how you assess their work.