5 Great Uses for Google Forms in the Classroom

I often use Microsoft Office as a point of reference when introducing people to Google Drive and its related apps. I point out that each component of Office has a comparable program in Google Apps. Then I discuss the positives and negatives of each Google App as compared to the equivalent Office program.  One common Google App that is the odd man out is Google Forms. True it is strongly linked to spreadsheets and there are ways to make something close in office, but I feel that Forms really stands out as a unique resource.

Just to make a few things clear, Google Forms is an app that allows teachers to make assessments that the users can later fill out and submit their answers via the submit button. The submitted answers automatically populate a Google Sheet.  The types of questions available include: text, paragraph text, multiple choice, list, (likert) scale, grid, date, and time. The person creating the Form also has other options to choose from. They can insert an image or video, choose a template, and have all questions on one page or separate sections. The options for ways to use Forms are plenty. Also, check out my other post 5 More Great Uses for Google Forms.

Because this resource is so unique, I wanted to give 5 of the many great uses for Google Forms. Here we go!

1. 

   Getting To Know You

   Getting to know you: Icebreakers are important for building a rapport when starting a new class. It helps set the tone for the course and helps you get to know your students. You can also use the summarize option to create a bar or pie chart so you can look at commonalities for discussion. Some simple examples of this may include looking at the number of people who have traveled internationally or how many of us love certain ice cream flavors!

    

2. 

   Oral Presentation Rubric

   Rubrics: I like to grade student presentations as the students give them. Grading after the fact can result in mistakes because we may forget things due to all the presentations presented in any given class. Forms can be used to create rubrics that you can fill out on a laptop or tablet from the back of the classroom. I will include the student’s name, email, a drop down list for each grading domain, comments section, and an overall grade drop down list. The name and email allows me to send the results to the student using a script (basically an add on that allows certain tasks to be performed in Google Sheets).

 

3. Data collection and analysis: I use Google Forms to collect and process data related to my students level of preparedness for the AP Psychology Exam. Students take the exam in May based on information covered throughout the year. There are plenty of practice exams online for all the different AP exams. Around winter break, I have the students start taking the unit practice exams online and enter their score in a Form I created for homework. They get full credit for each so there is no incentive to cheat. I time it so they are finished with all the practice exams by the time we wrap up the curriculum right before spring break. This gives us two weeks to review when we get back before exam day. I use the summary feature of their submitted results to make data based decisions about which units I really need to focus on during the review period. For example, the AP Practice Summary image above shows me that more students are having trouble with the Neuroscience unit than they are with the Research Methods unit so that gives me something to focus on.

4. Flipped Lessons: Like I said in the beginning of this post, images and videos can be inserted into a form. This allows the teacher to create a basic flipped lesson. Just insert a video and then add your questions.  I once made a flipped lesson about Darfur. After watching the video the students answer a few multiple choice content questions, complete a critical review, and then give an opinion with a supporting reason for the decision. There is no simple screenshot for this one so here is a link to the form so you can check it out: http://goo.gl/forms/IUz8glSlMm.

5. Parent Contact Form:  Part of the evaluation process in my school includes a parent contact component. It is also good to keep track of parent contact in case a parent ever says they didn’t know about a bad grade come the end of the quarter. I keep a parent contact form linked right in my Chrome Bookmark bar for quick access. I simply enter the student name, date, and reason for contact. I also have a drop down menu so I can select whether I emailed, called, or met with them face to face. Everything I submit is kept in a nice neat spreadsheet!

 

These are just 5 of the many ways that Google Forms can be used in the classroom. I will post some more in the future. Do you have any favorites not mentioned here? Please share them in the comments below.