Google Forms......Getting Started Finally!!!

Hello my Google forms explorers.  I will not be in school today, but Mr. Fisher will lead you through our lesson.  Please be sure to listen to him and then to read this blog post in its entirety before starting.  If you have not finished your podcasts or blogs you will not have time in this class to do so.  If you have questions about either of these assignments please be sure  to come and see me Thursday morning during homeroom.  You know where to find me (in the hallway.)

Let’s get started with today’s lesson.  You are very familiar with your Google drive.  You will be exploring another facet of this app today:  FORMS. You have already experienced othe “taking” side of surveys using Google forms.  Our assessments, the “Pop Culture Survey”, and your Student Blog Information Survey were all created using Google forms.  

Before you create the form/survey, you will need to create your questions.  This survey will wind up on your blog where the world will be able to take it.  We will play around with the results/data after vacation.  Let’s take a minute to think about surveys you may have taken.  It is important to keep surveys short and sweet.  No one wants to spend an hour taking a survey.  The ones you create will be limited to 5 questions.  There are many different types of questions you could create.

• Text — respondents provide short answers
• Paragraph text — respondents provide longer answers
• Multiple choice — respondents select one option from among several
• Checkboxes — respondents select as many options as they’d like
• Choose from a list — respondents select one option from a dropdown menu
• Scale — respondents rank something along a scale of numbers (e.g., from 1 to 5)
• Grid — respondents select a point from a two-dimensional grid

I would recommend selecting one or two types of questions for your first survey (multiple choice are a great one for starting out.)

1. Please log in to your Google accounts and go to your Drive.  
2. Once there, please “Create” a doc.  
3. Title this doc, “Survey Questions”

Now comes the hard part.....What will your survey be about?  What kind of information do you want to gather?  The possibilities are endless.  This survey does not have to be “school related”, but does have to be “school appropriate.”  Some possible suggestions for survey topics:

• songs
• music
• sports
• food
• school subjects
• “favorites”
• apps
• technology
• a combination of any of the suggestions listed above

Once you pick your topic, type a title at the top of the doc.  You will now write your 5 questions.  If you are selecting multiple choice questions, you will create the question and the choices, typing all of this on the doc.  You will then move on to the second question, and so on.  

For example:

                 What is your favorite season?

a.  spring

                       b.  summer

                       c.  fall

                       d.  winter

The example above is one question.  My survey would need to include 4 more questions like this one.  You may use only one type of question on the survey or mix up a couple different types.  

Please check your questions for spelling and grammar.  Remember, this survey will be on your blog for the world to see.  It’s your global presence, digital footprint.

Once you have finished the questions, you will go back to your Drive home and follow these steps:

1. Go to the “Create” tab
2. Select “Form” (second from the bottom)
3. Fill in the “Title” of your form in the first window which pops up.
4. You will then need to select a “theme”.
5. You will now be brought to your “form”.  Do not be confused as the theme will not show up at this point.   It will be a plain, white, boring form.
6. Scroll to the top of the page and “uncheck” the box “Requires Barnstable Public Schools login to view this form.”  You don’t want any boxes checked here.
7. A window will pop up with the statement, “This will make your form accessible outside of your domain. Are you sure you wish to proceed?”  Click “OK.”
8. You will now begin typing your questions.  You can copy and paste (using keyboard shortcuts:  ctrl + C=copy or ctrl + V=paste) from your doc in to this form if you’d like.  The question goes in the “Question Title” box.  Be sure to select the questions type from the drop down.  
9. Check the “required question” box at the bottom of the question.  
10. When you have finished the question you will need to click the “Done” tab.
11. Select “Add item” below to create a new question and follow the same steps.

             Check out the screen shot below. 
 

Please be sure to use the “Help” tab at the top of the page if you have any questions.

Once you have finished your survey, be sure to go back and check your questions and set up.  If you need to make changes, you will need to click on the pencil icon to do so.  Be sure to save those changes.

ILT #’s 10 and 11:  We will put these survey links on your blogs next class.

ILT #’s 4 and 1:   We will put these survey links on your blogs after vacation.

If you should finish this survey and have time left in class, please create a new Google doc.

Title it, “Survey Blog Post,” and type a new post which will accompany your link on your blog.   Please remember to follow the BPS Blogging and Commenting Guidelines when writing this post.

I hope you have fun with this new Google app.  It will be a lot of fun to see what responses you get to them when they are on your blogs.  

Resources for this lesson:

Create a Google Form-  Google Drive help page for “Forms”

Using Google Forms doc resource from North Canton City Schools - Eric Curts- great resource!

Google Forms Tutorial this is a video tutorial. Google forms have changed their look in the last month.  This tutorial shows the old form, but I still think it could be helpful to you.  Just know the forms you’ll be using look just a little bit differently.  The first 5 minutes of this tutorial are all you will need to watch for today’s lesson.