What:
Google Forms is a comprehensive data collection tool that is free to use and easy to learn. Google Forms allows educators to create forms with a variety of uses including quick polls, sign in, out, or up sheets, lesson plans, quizzes, or create your own adventure forms (source). Google Forms can also be linked to Google Slides and Sheets and with the use of Add-ons like Autocrat can easily be used as mail merges to automatically complete tasks. Read on for a brief introduction to using Google Forms in all of these ways.
Quick Polls:
Google Forms can be used to initiate quick polls or surveys to instantly know what your students think or understand about a subject. You can create a one question form and open the response sheet that is automatically created with each Google Form and view the data as a graph. The questions can range from simple polls to determining if students understand concepts.
Sign In, Out, or Up:
Google Forms can easily be created to allow students to sign in to class (think bathroom pass) or parents to sign up for one on one conferences. You can also use Google Forms to sign out books or supplies in the classroom. These forms are easily created by adding questions like date, name, and using the attached response sheet to track.
Lesson Plans:
Google Forms can be used to track Lesson Plans. You can create a form including questions with everything you want to track – objectives, activity descriptions, essential questions, etc. Completing the form for every lesson throughout the year will create a comprehensive curriculum map located in the response sheet.
Quizzes:
Google Forms will also automatically grade responses if the quiz optioned is turned on. You can add point values to each question and decide if you want students to see their grade automatically or not. You can learn more about this by watching the video located here.
Create Your Own Adventure:
My personal favorite way of utilizing Google Forms is by creating a choose your own adventure form. You can allow students to create their own or use this method to provide extra practice to struggling learners. For example, you can add a multiple-choice question. If students choose the correct answer they move on to the next questions (new section). However, if they choose the incorrect response they are sent to a section that provides an explanation of the first question. You can learn how to create one by clicking here.
Use with Google Slides:
Google Sheets that are connected to Google Forms can be embedded in Google Slides. This is a great way to instantly see what students know. It takes a bit of setup but is well worth the instant access to information. I have used this many times in language arts classes. I create a Google Form with questions about the reading given for homework the night before. Students complete the form as a bell-ringer activity. The responses were already synced to my Google Slide for the day so I could instantly see which areas we needed to discuss and which areas were understood by students. You can learn how to connect a Google Sheet to a Google Slide by clicking here.
Use with Add-ons:
Educators can also include add-ons in the response sheet created for each form to create a mail merge. Any Google Sheet can use Add-ons to create a mail merge but when you connect it to a Google Form, you can automatically send notifications as soon as Forms are completed. I have personally done this using the Autocrat add-on to instantly email parents a confirmation for signing up for conferences and to send emails to parents regarding exam scores. Using Autocrat takes a bit of practice but is definitely useful. You can learn more about this by watching the video located here.
Next Steps
Interested in learning more? Check out the websites below for great information.
References:
All sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above.
TLDR (too long didn’t read):
Google Forms is a comprehensive data collection tool that is free to use and easy to learn. Google Forms allows educators to create forms with a variety of uses including quick polls, sign in, out, or up sheets, lesson plans, quizzes, or create your own adventure forms (source). Google Forms can also be linked to Google Slides and Sheets and with the use of Add-ons like Autocrat can easily be used as mail merges to automatically complete tasks. Read on for a brief introduction to using Google Forms in all of these ways.
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