Add a survey in Xello
userEducator & administrator Xello productXello 6-12 Time8 minutes

Surveys in Xello help educators track student progress towards their goals, and can help educators to provide personalized support and guidance for their students based on survey responses.

Build your survey with a variety of different types of questions, choose between making the questions required or optional, include a due date, and even add images and videos.

Admin can create a survey and assign it to groups at the district or school level. Educators can create and publish a survey in Xello for student groups at the school.

In this article

Create the survey

Build your survey by adding title details, sections, instructions, and questions. Customize each response type and apply rules as needed before saving or testing your draft.

To create a new survey:

  1. From your educator account, click Features and select Surveys.
    Left menu in Xello's educator tools with Features open. Cursor is hovering over Surveys
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    Left menu in Xello's educator tools with Features open. Cursor is hovering over Surveys
  2. Click Add survey.
    Surveys page in Xello. Cursor is hovering over link called Add survey
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    Surveys page in Xello. Cursor is hovering over link called Add survey
  3. Fill out the Create survey details. This includes a title, and a brief description of the survey.
  4. In the Questions section, you can break your survey into sections, each with their own set of questions, a title, and a description. This is optional.
    Creating a survey, the cursor hovering over the title of the section
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    Creating a survey, the cursor hovering over the title of the section
  5. To begin adding questions, write out your question, and use the dropdown to select a different type of question. Check out Types of questions below to learn about the different questions you can include, and rules you can create.
    Creating a survey, the cursor has opened the questions dropdown to reveal the full list of questions that can be added, including multiple choice, checkbox, file upload.
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    Creating a survey, the cursor has opened the questions dropdown to reveal the full list of questions that can be added, including multiple choice, checkbox, file upload.
    noteNote: No need to worry about adding standard student data (name, ID, grade, and school). These are automatically included in the survey results for you.
  6. Click Add question or content to continue adding questions.
  7. Use the six dots to drag and drop to change the order of your questions.
    Creating a survey, the cursor is clicking the grid of 6 dots to drag and drop the question to in another order.
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    Creating a survey, the cursor is clicking the grid of 6 dots to drag and drop the question to in another order.
  8. Click Save as draft at any time to save your progress without publishing.

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Types of questions

There are several different kinds of questions and content you can add.

Question type Action required of the student

Multiple choice

Students choose one from a selection of choices. You can Add rules to skip sections or guide students to different questions based on their answer.

Rating

Students give a rating. You can add ratings with a minimum of 2 and maximum of 20.

Checkbox

Students select up to multiple options.

Dropdown

Students click the dropdown to choose an option. You can add "Other (please specify)" as an option, which opens a textbox for them to type their answer. You can also Add rules to skip sections or guide students to different questions based on their answer.

File upload

Students are required to upload a file as their response. They can upload a file from their local drive, OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox.

Short answer

Students type out an answer with a maximum of 250 characters.

Long answer

Students type out an answer with a maximum of 10,000 characters.

Single-choice grid

Students choose one answer for each statement from a grid of rows and columns.

Content

A place for you to add text, links, or images to share instructions or resources.

Add rules

When adding a multiple choice or dropdown question, you can Add rules to the question. This allows you to further customize the survey for your students. Adding rules works similarly to a "choose your own adventure" book, where the survey adapts based on how the student answers a multiple choice or dropdown question.

The Create survey page in Xello. A multiple choice question is open and the cursor is clicking on Add rules.
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The Create survey page in Xello. A multiple choice question is open and the cursor is clicking on Add rules.

Adding rules will mean students can skip irrelevant questions and be guided to topics specific to their interests or needs.

For example, if you were to ask a student "Are you planning to go to college or university?"

  • Rule A: If the student answers Yes, the rule sends them to section 2 which includes questions about college or university applications.
  • Rule B: If the student answers No, the rule skips section 2 entirely and sends them to section 3 which includes questions about apprenticeships or entering the workforce.
TipTip: It's generally easiest to create all of your survey sections and questions first, and then go back and add your rules to connect them together.

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Preview the survey

Test the survey to experience it exactly as a student will see and complete it. Submit test responses to verify your question flow, branching logic, and final thank-you message.

  1. While in your drafted survey, click the Preview tab.
    Creating a survey, the cursor is clicking the Preview tab.
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    Creating a survey, the cursor is clicking the Preview tab.
  2. Answer your questions and click Submit to test it out.
    • Your answers are purely test responses. They won't be saved or recorded anywhere.
    • Once you submit your answers, you'll also see a thank-you message. You can customize this in the Publish tab. Learn more below in Publish the survey.
  3. Click Reset preview to clear your entries and run another test if needed.
    Creating a survey, the cursor is clicking Reset preview.
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    Creating a survey, the cursor is clicking Reset preview.

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Publish the survey

Set who receives the survey, configure an optional due date, and customize the submission confirmation message. Once published, the survey becomes active and visible to your selected audience.

  1. While in your drafted survey, click the Publish tab.
    Creating a survey, the cursor is clicking the Publish tab.
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    Creating a survey, the cursor is clicking the Publish tab.
  2. Add the Recipients. Select an existing group of students, or create a new group.
    noteFYI: Clicking Create a group in the survey will redirect you to Student groups in Xello where you can create a new group. Don't worry, all your work will be saved and you can return to the survey to add the group you've just created.
  3. Add a due date, if applicable.
  4. Edit the Thank you message, if you want. You can change the title and short message.
    Creating a survey, a short thank you message is being typed out.
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    Creating a survey, a short thank you message is being typed out.
  5. When you're ready, click Publish. It will immediately be available in the Surveys section for your students.
TipTip: Need to make changes later? You can edit surveys that haven't received any submissions from students. Learn how to manage surveys, including how to copy, edit, close, or archive surveys in Manage surveys.
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