Online Learning Needs Better Digital Evaluation
The rapid development of educational technology has expanded the use of online learning platforms. Universities can now deliver learning materials, communicate with students, and conduct assessments through internet-based applications.
Google Forms is one of the tools frequently used for online questionnaires and evaluations. It offers a practical way to distribute questions, collect responses, and reduce the need for paper-based assessment.
However, a digital platform alone does not guarantee a high-quality evaluation. The questions themselves must be clear, relevant, and capable of measuring the intended aspect of learning. Poorly designed questions can produce responses that are less useful for understanding students’ motivation.
Basa’s study examined this issue by analyzing question discrimination, difficulty level, student motivation, and validity. The analysis was designed to identify which questionnaire items were suitable, which needed improvement, and which required further consideration.
100 Students Answered 15 Questions
The study collected primary data through a Google Form questionnaire distributed online to 100 students organized into 10 groups. The respondents were students from the 2022/2023 academic year.
The questionnaire contained 15 statements related to student engagement and motivation during project-based learning (PBL). The questions covered students’ attention to lecturers’ explanations, understanding of instructions, concentration, note-taking habits, compliance with learning rules, interest in learning materials, willingness to ask questions, enthusiasm in expressing ideas, independence, readiness to complete assignments, desire to achieve high grades, seriousness in completing tasks, and self-confidence.
These indicators provided a broad picture of how students responded to online learning activities and assignments.
Six Items Were Recommended
The analysis of question difficulty identified six recommended items: numbers 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Items 1, 4, 6, 7, and 8 were classified as relatively difficult, with difficulty indices ranging from 0.13 to 0.20. Item 5 was classified as easy, with an index of 0.40.
Basa noted that some questions were difficult because they involved personal opinions and behaviors related to responsibility, honesty, attention, and compliance with learning rules. The analysis also pointed to students’ lack of interest and difficulties in following certain rules during learning activities.
The finding demonstrates that questionnaire quality cannot be judged solely by whether students can answer a question. The difficulty and ability of each item to distinguish different levels of student responses also matter.
Nine Questions Received Very Good Motivation Responses
The motivation analysis produced a generally positive result. Nine of the 15 questions received responses classified as very good according to the respondent achievement index.
The highest score was recorded for item 14, which concerned students’ seriousness in completing PBL assignments. It achieved an index of 88.8. Item 13, concerning students’ desire to obtain the best possible grades, reached 87.2, while item 15, concerning confidence in completing PBL assignments, reached 85.
Other strong results included compliance with learning rules at 83, readiness to complete assignments at 82.4, and independence in completing assignments at 81.8.
Meanwhile, item 6, concerning students’ habit of taking notes during PBL learning, recorded the lowest index at 68.8, although it was still categorized as good.
All 15 Items Were Valid
The validity analysis produced another important finding: all 15 questionnaire items were considered valid.
The validity coefficients ranged from 0.31 to 0.92. Item 4, which asked about students’ attention to explanations, recorded the highest validity value at 0.92. Items 1, 2, and 3 each recorded 0.84. Item 15, concerning students’ confidence in completing PBL assignments, recorded the lowest coefficient at 0.31, but was still categorized as valid in the study.
The results reveal an important distinction between validity and student motivation. A question can be statistically valid while still receiving weaker engagement from respondents.
Several Questions Need Revision
Although all items were valid, Basa found that some questions needed improvement. Items 2, 3, 9, and 10 were identified as requiring revision. Items 11 through 15 were considered good from the validity perspective, but students did not show sufficient motivation toward these questions to produce the expected response levels.
The study ultimately recommends items 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The remaining items were considered valid but required revision or closer attention to students’ motivation when responding to them.
Implications for Digital Education
The findings offer practical lessons for lecturers and educational institutions increasingly relying on digital assessment.
Google Forms can make evaluation faster, more efficient, and less dependent on paper. It can also simplify the collection of responses from large groups of students. However, the platform itself does not determine the quality of the evaluation. The quality of the questions remains essential.
Basa recommends conducting periodic evaluations of questionnaire items, both for research instruments and examination questions. She also argues that the expansion of online learning should not necessarily eliminate conventional face-to-face learning. Direct interaction can help lecturers observe the impact of learning more closely.
For universities, the message is straightforward: digital assessment should be accompanied by regular evaluation of the instruments used to collect data. A convenient online questionnaire is valuable only when its questions can generate reliable and meaningful information.
The study therefore contributes to the broader discussion about improving online education. As digital learning becomes increasingly common, understanding students’ motivation requires not only technological tools but also carefully evaluated questions.
About the Author
Putie Maharani Basa is the author of the study and is affiliated with Universitas Bina Sarana Informatika. Her article focuses on areas related to educational evaluation, questionnaire item analysis, student motivation, online learning, and the use of Google Forms in education.
The article available for this report does not explicitly state Basa’s academic degree, so no degree title is added to avoid introducing unsupported information.
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