BP7_1182009_Google Docs Forms

While the entire suite of Google Apps tools is useful across the curriculum, Google Docs Forms can be especially motivating for students who may otherwise be hesitant to participate in the classroom process.

Students can create quizzes, surveys, polls, and so on, and do so collaboratively (with a partner or group up to 10 members). Surveys and polls can be intimidating to students in classrooms, where teachers get to know the handwriting of the students, or where students are required to raise their hand and speak in class in order to express their opinions. Google Docs Forms allows students the safety of anonymity, while also encouraging 100% participation in the activity.

As a teacher, I have used the Google Docs Form as a formative assessment at different times during the class period: as a warm-up, as a check for understanding, and as a survey of opinion both before and after a lesson. Never has a student refused to answer a question. Sometimes, I suspect a student may not have answered truthfully, but the vast majority do, and the process allows those who don't normally contribute a chance to influence the "opinion outlook" of the group. Their votes count just as much as the most verbose student in class. Best of all, I can access their responses instantly.

Because I teach the same subject as others within my school, I have shared this document with those teachers, who can then create a new file for themselves, edit it for their own purposes, or use it as I created it. By opening the sharing with colleagues, using Google Docs (and especially, Forms), a new kind of collegiality has opened.

See also:

• Palm Breeze Cafe: Google Docs Forms Video
• Google's Instructional Video
• A Student's Perspective Video

References

[Untitled Screenshot]. Captured November 8, 2009 at http://spreadsheets.google.com/gform?key=0AjFX-xfLm_AxdENJUTd4aFJIVG1qeGM1eGJhVzdhcXc&hl=en&gridId=0#chart