Google Forms make an easy task of collecting information from students for class discussion and writing activities. Just gather student responses your Google Form, and use the collected responses as the basis of class discussion and related activities.
All you need is a Google Drive login and one question, meant to gather information on the projects that students are working on or their recent reading assignments. For demonstration purposes, I’m using the question, “What is the title of your report?” I’ll suggest some other questions at the end of the post.
Once you log into Google Drive and have your question ready, it’s a matter of these three basic steps:
Step 1: Create Your Form
Set up a one-question survey that asks for no personal or identifying information. Since responses are anonymous, you avoid any FERPA complications.
- Once you log into Google Drive, create a new blank form.
- Give your survey a title, replacing the default “Untitled Form.”
- Replace the default “Untitled Question” text with the question you want students to respond to.
- Change the type of question to “Short answer” if Google does not change the type automatically. Note: Google tries to interpret your question and adapt the form, so it may make this change for you.
If desired, click the palette icon on the upper right corner of the page to change the colors and add a background image.
With your form ready to go, give students the link to your form. Click the SEND button in the upper right corner of the page to choose one of several options:
- Send via email
- Get a link to share
- Copy code to embed the form on your page
- Post to Facebook
- Send out as a Tweet
Once you send out the link, all you have to do is wait for students to respond. You can look at my Title Survey to see an example of a student-ready form.
Step 2: Check the Responses
Once students have submitted their answers, spot check the questions to prepare for discussion and to check for any problems.
- Log into Google Drive.
- Open the Form you created.
- Click “Responses,” as indicated by the red arrow in this screenshot:
The form will switch to show the responses that students have submitted. You can select the list and copy it, so that you can edit it in your word processor if you like. You can also have Google Forms show the responses in a Sheets spreadsheet.
Read the Response to determine the likely topics for class discussion and to remove anything that doesn’t belong. For example, the Responses to the Title Survey show that students would benefit from revising for length and wordiness and should review the rules for capitalizing titles. There is also a title that shows the student has chosen a topic that does not fit the assignment, so I would remove that response to avoid any embarrassment in class. I would write to that student privately before class.
Step 3: Lead Your Class Discussion
Kick off class discussion by sharing the Responses to the question. You can share a link to the responses or a link to the word processor document you created with the responses.
Give students several minutes to review the list, and then let their observations guide the discussion. Begin by asking students what they notice about the Responses. Encourage them to look for patterns and idiosyncrasies. Try sorting the answers alphabetically to group similar responses. As a class you can collaborate to revise Responses if appropriate.
Final Thoughts
I used this activity to ask students to examine and strengthen their document titles. You could use a similar Google Form to ask questions such as these:
- What is your thesis statement?
- What is your favorite sentence in the paper (or in a reading)?
- What is the biggest question you have about the assignment?
- What do you emphasis in your conclusion?
- What is the first sentence of your document?
- How would you summarize today’s reading?
In addition to asking student to respond to these questions by thinking about their own papers, you can have peer review partners respond with their observations as well.
This activity is simple but powerful. Students can quickly see how everyone has responded to a particular task, and then they can make observations about what works and what doesn’t. By asking students to add their information to the Form, you can concentrate on what you want to talk about, rather than the busy work of setting up the list of responses.
Do you use Google Drive in the classroom? Have you used Google Forms? Tell me about your experiences by leaving a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.
