My Guest Speaker session - Question types and format

The blurb advertising my upcoming guest speaker session has been posted in WebCT the VLE ( Virtual  Learning Environment) and in the Edinburgh Napier University Exchange, which is also used at the University.  I never thought that I would be running a guest speaker session, although I believe that I have been able to source a lot of information over the last few weeks to provide the audience with an basic introduction to the concept of peer mentoring for online and distance learning courses and how it could be used, which is the first element of the project I am undertaking. 


In my previous post I had already discussed the topic of evaluation tools and provided some examples of tools used by other trainers, lecturers and educationalists. Whilst I was away on vacation I did not blog, but took the time to think about the questions that I would include in the post guest speaker session evaluation?  What about the number of questions and the question types?  Should the form only included the use of the  Likert Scale ?


How often should I make use of Dichotomous questions? Do simple Yes or No answers really provide you with valuable feedback?   I researched this further and looked at examples of evaluation forms that were used for online sessions, similar to the guest speaker session I am to run and it was clear that many evaluation forms include the following question with the following answer types:

•  Likert scale 
• Dichotomous questions
• Rating questions
• Open questions 

Although you many of you will have seen the following questions before I wanted to highlight some of the most pertinent questions that I would use 

• The pace of the webinar/broadcast was...
• What was the most useful information that you have learned during this webinar?
• What information will take away with you from this webinar?

If I had to pose one question, which would confirm whether my guest speaker session was a success or not, then it would be the following? 

• The webinar met my expectations based on how it was advertised? 

Whether there is a yes or no response in both cases this question would allow to ask the group to provide additional information as to how it met their expectations or not.  I found a selection of webinar evaluation forms that I would like to share with you.  Some of the questions I have chosen to share here are from the NACDA Webinar Evaluation Questions pdf, which I linked in this blog.

• NACDA Webinar Evaluation Questions
• Capita - Webinar Evaluation Form

I have chosen to share these two forms as they also highlight another consideration. What format? Online, PDF or a link to a survey product examples of which I shared with you in my last post.