Overview
There are many many different assessment tools that claim to be designed for educators. Some are free, some are expensive, some are excellent and some are appalling. Google Forms does not claim to be an all singing all dancing assessment engine but that is exactly what makes it so neat. Simply a tool to ‘collect information quickly‘, Google Forms is an extremely versatile application that is now being used by many educators to simplify and streamline class assessment.
Name: Google Forms – Google DrivePricing: Free – Google Apps for Education
Compatibility: Desktop/Tablet/Mobile
Access: Google account
Privacy: Customizable (Privacy and policies)
A Quick Look
The first thing you will need to begin creating assessments in Google Forms is a Google account. If you already have a Google account, you can log straight into Google Drive and create your first form from there. Your students or anyone else you plan on sending the assessment, do not require Google accounts.
Each new form/assessment that you create can be themed using pre-made form templates. This can help visually identify different assessments as well as encourage engagement and adapt forms for different environments.
Assessments can contain media such as video and images (useful for a flipped or just-in-time teaching model) and questions can take the form of written response or multiple choice options.
Once an assessment has been created it can be shared using a unique URL that can be sent to students via email, social networks, or linked or embedded on a class website or blog. Results can then be viewed and collated using the summary view in Google Forms or in a table using Google Sheets.
In Practice
1. Class Quiz or Test
This is probably the most obvious and common use of Google Forms in the classroom. Set your class a series of questions using Google Forms and either send on the link or embed the form in a location that students can access. On completion of the assessment, results will be collated and accessible within the form. This can be particularly useful if you plan on re-delivering the test so that results can be compared over time. And, with forms being so simple to share, it can be a very useful way of reusing resources within your school or PLN.
2. Peer Assessment
One very engaging way to use Google Forms is to have students use them to assess each other. By creating a standard assessment form, students can review each other’s work and submit their own thoughts, feedback and even grades. This could take the form of assessing student presentations or swapping class work. Depending on how you want to set up the form, this could be as transparent or anonymous as you like.
3. Flipped Classroom
With the ability to add multimedia material as well as link out to third-party resources, Google Forms can be used to both deliver information as well as gather it. Try creating a full lesson within the form so that students can complete the work in their own time. You can then use the responses and data to guide in-class discussion and select appropriate further learning material.
4. Gathering Feedback
Of course Google Forms do not need to be all about grades and marking. As a tool to ‘collect information quickly‘, forms can be a very useful way to gather the thoughts and opinions of your class, students or even the broader school community. It might be something as trivial as choosing a new class poster, something as exciting as voting in a school competition or something as important as the direction of the district going forward; whatever it might be, Google Forms makes it extremely easy to securely collect and collate all kinds of information for any further use.
5. Switch the Role
Flip the assessment concept on its head completely and ask your students to create their own questionnaire or survey using Google Forms. Not only is the skill of creating forms an excellent exercise, but the sharing and circulation of the finished form, as well as the analysis of results is a hugely rewarding project.
Links and Next Steps
- Template Gallery – Collection of student and teacher form templates
- Google Forms Slideshow – 71 Interesting Ways to Use Forms in the Classroom
- Using Google Forms – Detailed guide for educators
- Excellent How-to Video – How to use YouTube and Google Forms as a Formative Assessment
- Peer Assessment – Peer Assessment with Google Forms and Filters
- Using Forms with Tablets – 10 ways I use Google Forms in my tablet classroom
- Flubaroo – Plugin to Google Forms for grading and reporting
- Google Forms for Self Assessment – Video from Lenny Dutton showing how she uses Google Forms
- Flipped and JITT – Just-in-Time Teaching: Harnessing the Power of Google Forms
How have you been using Google Forms? Let us know your ideas in the comments below.
Feature image courtesy of Flickr, Daniel Kulinski.