Strengthening data capacities worldwide with learning resources for advanced form building: The official KoboToolbox XLSForm Fundamentals Course

We are thrilled to share the launch of Kobo Academy’s newest online course, the KoboToolbox XLSForm Fundamentals Course! This online self-paced course provides a comprehensive overview of foundational and advanced techniques for building complex survey forms with XLSForm and deploying them for data collection with KoboToolbox.

To deliver targeted, impactful programming and responsive aid, frontline organizations and local nonprofits need to collect complex and detailed data, and this requires creating forms that will work effectively to capture that data. By combining the precision of form building with XLSForm and KoboToolbox’s user-friendly platform, adaptable features, and comprehensive data ecosystem, data practitioners worldwide can collect the data they need to generate accurate and actionable insights.

After releasing the KoboToolbox Essentials Course, we received numerous requests from our global user community for an advanced form building course that would equip them with the skills to take their data collection to the next level. In response to these requests and the growing need for efficient and effective data tools for the nonprofit sector, our dedicated Learning and Partner Services Teams brought together their collective expertise to develop the KoboToolbox XLSForm Fundamentals Course.

“XLSForm enables users to do so much more with their forms—from adding translations and calculations to building advanced form logic and improving form structure. Developing long, complex forms and collaborating across teams is much easier using XLSForm. But getting started can be challenging, which is why we developed this course to make XLSForm clear, practical, and approachable. With hands-on examples and real-world scenarios, it helps users build smarter forms that improve data quality and save time throughout the data management process.” - Salomé Garnier, Form Building Specialist, Kobo Partner Services Team

The XLSForm Fundamentals Course is designed for anyone interested in learning advanced form building techniques using XLSForm. From creating an XLSForm from scratch to adding translations and using advanced form logic, this certificate course was specifically developed by the Kobo team to help KoboToolbox users and data practitioners gain foundational skills in XLSForm.

The course covers a range of skills for using XLSForm with KoboToolbox including:

• Building an XLSForm from scratch and adding different question types
• Adding question options and appearances
• Adding groups and repeat groups
• Adding translations and media
• Using relevance logic, validations, and choice filters
• Adding calculations
• Validating, testing, and deploying an XLSForm using KoboToolbox

With 10 modules of learning content, hands-on exercises, and videos for each lesson, new and experienced data collection practitioners will benefit from this comprehensive introduction to XLSForm.

The Kobo team is proud to provide this new learning resource for our community and the broader nonprofit sector. Our goal is to empower users and organizations to leverage high quality data to maximize their impact. With this new Kobo Academy course, we are helping to improve access to critical data capacity building resources and supporting more organizations to use advanced survey development to collect even better data. And that means more targeted programming, more responsive aid, and better outcomes for the communities we serve.

Learn more about our newest course and get started today: academy.kobotoolbox.org/courses/xlsform-fundamentals

For information about pricing packages for organizations and groups, please get in touch with our team at: www.kobotoolbox.org/contact/