Ten Minutes of Connecting: Day 21 – Introduction to Google Forms

By now  you have created your own Google Drive, and you have learned to create and share files of different kinds (documents, spreadsheets, presentation slides).  Google Drive allows you to collaborate on so many levels – with colleagues, students, parents and complete strangers.

Google Forms allows you to quickly gather data and store it neatly in a spreadsheet where you can organize it and sort it according to your needs.

There are two parts to this post.

First, we want to share with you the best resources we can find on how to use Google Forms (instructions).

Then, we will take you to some resources that help you think about how you might utilize Google Forms in your practice.

To begin with, go to your Google Drive.  Because Google frequently updates its interface, it is sometimes challenging to find instructional material that matches the current interface you are working on.

First, let’s look at how to switch between two styles of Google Drive.  If you click on the Create button, and it looks like this, you are in the traditional, older format of Google Drive, with Documents, Spreadsheets and Presentations.

 

 

 

You can switch between this and the new format here.

The “new Drive” uses “Docs, Sheets and Slides” , and Forms are accessed in a slightly different way.

You can return to the traditional interface here.

 

As you use the supports available online, you may need to switch between formats to follow the instructions, depending on which format the instructions were created in.

Here are some resources to help you get started with Google Forms.

Google Doc Editor Help Centre

 

Choose Forms.

Choose Create, Edit, Format.

 

Then Create a Survey Using Google Forms.

This series of links will walk you through the very simple and intuitive process of creating a Google Form.  If you have any difficulty, please ask for help in the comments to this post.

Why would you use Google Forms in your practice?

This example of how Google Forms can be used to enhance the teacher-student relationship was shared by George Couros.

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning has featured a comprehensive guide to using Google Forms in education.

 

 

 

 

 

This site contains a number of different ways to use Google Forms in education settings.  Some are clearly geared to the American system, but they will spark some ideas for integrating Google Forms into your personal professional practice.

 

Please be sure to share back with us (in the comments) how you are using Google Forms!

Resources:

Ten Ways I Use Google Forms in my Tablet Classroom

Collecting Data Using Google Forms – this resource uses an older Google Forms interface, but it is included here for the use of the tool (not the instructional piece).

OSSEMOOC Google Forms Session Resources

OSSEMOOC Google Forms Tuesday Night Session

 

Audio Feedback for Students

Earlier this week,  this tweet from  Andrew Bieronski  caught my eye. Providing appropriate and frequent feedback to students is a critical part of the learning process. I like the idea that feedback happens in different forms, and I can think of a variety of  reasons why recorded feedback is a benefit to learners.

Check out the audio feedback  “how to”  guide [here].

How would you see this working for your students? or staff?

This picture and post shared by Mark W. Carbone.

Day 28: Engaged Learners Need “Just Right” Feedback

Written and shared by  Rita Givlin

This year I have been introduced to the world of wrestling and have drawn many parallels between feedback in wrestling and my school’s focus on using ongoing, timely, descriptive and effective feedback to improve learning. Competing mid bronze medal match at CWOSSAA, this wrestler is appealing to her coach for help. Highly engaged but not yet successful,  she needs feedback!

What exactly is feedback?  Grant Wiggins says, “Feedback is useful information about the effects of an action in light of a goal.” This wrestler’s goal is to win and at the moment she is stuck and needs feedback to succeed.

What feedback will move her learning forward? Feedback needs to reflect only the most important steps needed to move towards achieving learning goals. Imagine this coach saying, “great job” or “good effort” both of which are true but not effective. Fortunately with timely, descriptive and effective feedback (“Pull your arm out. Get her shoulder on the mat.”) she persisted through this challenge and won! Susan Brookhardt in How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students  calls this the Goldilocks Principle – “Not too much, not too little, but just right.”

Like the wrestler, our students want, need and value feedback which will help them reach and exceed their goals. In the video clip,  Austin’s Butterfly,   Ron Berger  clearly demonstrates the importance of ongoing, timely, descriptive and effective feedback in accelerating and improving learning. How much learning is lost when students do not receive feedback that they need and deserve?

As a learner and beginning blogger, I too need and welcome your “just right” feedback.

Rita  is a vice principal at Wellesley Public School in the Waterloo Region District School Board.

Connect with Rita on Google + or Twitter

View Rita’s Blog

Day 24: Learning About Feedback

Written and shared by Michelle Parrish

I’m learning about feedback, and the intense process involved with it. Yes, I said “intense” – you’ll see why. 🙂

 Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Comprehension Test

 

Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Lyrics

 

Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Interview

 

Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Comic

 

Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Collage

 

Learning Goal, Success Criteria; Planner for Journal Entry

 Bulletin Board – Back Wall of Classroom

 

Bulletin Board – Student Samples

 

Bulletin Board – Student Samples

 Bulletin Board – Student Samples

 

Bulletin Board – Student Samples

 

Bulletin Board – Student Samples

 Bulletin Board – Student Samples

 

Bulletin Board – Student Samples

 

Individual Google Docs, with Hyperlinked Feedback

 Individual Google Docs, with Hyperlinked Reminders & Feedback

It’s all of 15 seconds – certainly a VERY SMALL PART of the 100 hours of video that is uploaded to youtube every hour!

But it’s a lot more than 15 seconds to the Grade 8s. To them, it’s a reminder of the steps involved in using teacher feedback. Steps? Yes, there are several steps actually. And sometimes they don’t remember them – which totally disheartens me because I know I was late getting home for a supper my hubby made last week! Late – because I was recording audio feedback to guide my students in their next day’s assignment.

So, it’s really, REALLY important to me that they use their feedback – important because I know they need the feedback to do their best job, and important because I was late for supper when my husband was cooking (a rare event indeed!). So, if I’m going to take the time to give feedback, I need to make sure they are using it for their learning.

In the flowchart (which was actually recorded on a whim for a friend, and not at all intended for its 15 second spot on youtube!), there are 7 steps.

1. Pick a book you like.
2. Read what other people did to be amazing (see bulletin board photos in slideshow).
3. Listen to the reminders for that task (audio recordings for each task were embedded in the google doc)
4. Listen to the feedback given on previous tasks (audio recordings were hyperlinked in each student’s google doc)
5. Use the planner, set goals to show what you know (see planner photos in slideshow)
6. Monitor your brain’s activity – check on what you’re doing (we talk about metacognition whenever I remember to!)
7. Hand in your best work!

The Grade 8s were advised that they needed to follow the chart as they prepared for their work. It was fabulous to see them moving around the room. Some were reading the bulletin board and some were conferencing with their peers (sometimes my feedback directs them to a peer who can provide a specific example of a particular skill). Others were listening to feedback and writing down their goals. A few were grabbing the planners and success criteria handouts. I was circulating, providing some one-to-one support where it was needed. I was able to focus my time on some key issues and struggling learners because every student already had some feedback to guide them in their next steps.

Now if only I could figure out how to remove the nasally tone from my recorded feedback – whose voice is that anyway?

Michelle Parrish is a learner and teacher in Northwestern Ontario, and she is most happy when working alongside her grade 8 students.

Follow her on Twitter – @mproom31