Forcing Checkboxes on Google Forms

Ever want to require folks to make at least 2 (or 3 or ?) or more choices when using checkboxes on a Google Form?  See this post from Alice Keeler on how response validation will make it work!

Forms into Presentations

 

Looking for a way to incorporate live feedback into your presentations? While there are several polling tools, the easiest way might be to embed the question responses (from Google Forms) into your Google Slide.  CottenTechCoach has shared a brief video that will walk you through the process.

Google Forms Update

Finally, formatting has come to Google Forms.  Here’s the official update:

In addition to new options for styling fonts, rich text formatting is now available in Google Forms, enabling you to customize and add emphasis to your forms. This highly requested feature allows you to use bolding, underlining, italicizing, hyperlinks, and lists in titles, question titles, and descriptions. 

Here is a sample:

Want even more fonts? See this post from Alice Keeler.

Why there is no view in Forms

Like many Google tools ( Docs, Sheets, Slides) you can share the viewing rights.  But not in Google Forms. If you add collaborators, they will be in edit mode- and since there is no comment feature, they may change your content.  There is also no revision feature in forms.  Please read her blog post for additional information and be careful.

Reusing a Google Form

Alice Keeler shares a brief video on reusing Google forms.  This could be helpful when you are giving last year’s quiz or want to separate the data between your classes this year.  Basically, you open the form and 

1. Delete all responses (from the form)

2. Unlink the form (I liked her reference to a divorce)

3. Create a  new spreadsheet.

Her message is not to copy the form.

Forms Shortcuts

Once you have master forms basic, perhaps you would like to explore adding sections (to break up the questions) as well as moving questions within a form.  Please see this blog post from Alice Keeler for keyboard shortcuts and form suggestions.

Keyboard shortcuts in Google Forms

Please see this blog post from Alice Keeler on how to quickly move questions in your Google Form using the keyboard shortcuts!

Ever want your students to turn in multiple projects?

Sometimes with choice boards, your students might have several projects to turn in at once.  If you are looking for an easy way to keep track, you might want to consider a Google Form and have the students upload the files.  Please see the video for directions. Please remember to change the size of the file upload.

Creating a puzzle reveal in Google Forms

I saw this on Facebook last night- as you answer the quiz, pieces of the puzzle are revealed.  Basically, it is a form (with data validation so you need to get the correct answer) and each section has a question.   Here is one I created if you want to try it!

While I used the template provided, it still took me a little while to create the images (with the puzzle pieces on top and then many screenshots).    I had not used the sketch pad feature in Sketch.io.  You do not need an account to use this site.  If you use the template, just add the questions and then replace the images with your photo reveal.  The first part of the video will walk you through the process.

Here are some resources:

YouTube How To from Teaching It

Template with  12 questions from Teaching It

My Template with 4 questions

How do I allow extra time for a Google Form?

Up until this point, there has not been an easy way to permit a student to go back to a form.  Alice Keeler comes to the rescue with her code that automatically builds a spreadsheet and saves the link needed for the student to reopen their form.

            She does an excellent job explaining it here.

Restricting access to a Google form via a password

Most folks know how to turn a form on or off- but what if you only want certain students to be able to access the form?  That’s where form passwords enter the picture.

In this blog post, Alice Keeler walks you through the process.  You set up (in the first section) a password question.  You make it zero points (so it will not impact the grading).

Sections in Forms

In her blog post, Alice Keeler shares her ideas for using sections in forms.  Not only does it allow you to break up questions into pages, but it si also useful when you are changing the flow of a form.  While answers can send people to other areas, it can only send them to another Section (and not another question).  I try to clearly label my sections to make this process easier!  Please see her post here.

Pasting a long list into a Google Form

In this short video, Alice Keeler shows have to easily paste large lists (i.e. student names) into a Google Form.  If you want to sort the data, it is easier to use multiple choice or drop-down questions rather than short answer.

Everything you want to know about forms

In a recent edition focused on assessment, TeachersFirst shared their review on Forms.  Click here to learn more.

Merging cells (the easy way!)

Alice Keeler shares this short video on how to merge cells (and then copy into a Google Form).  As she demonstrates, this is great when you want to merge both first and last names. Please see the video here.

Using Google Forms for retakes

Alice Keeler has crafted several easy steps to help you use forms as retakes.  Bu building a question bank (with variations on the questions), to multiple forms (with responses going to the same sheet) to suggestions about data validation - all you need to know is here.

When you use Google Forms as a quiz

As Alice Keeler points out in this blog post, certain questions in a Google Form default to zero until manually graded.  The prime example is probably the short/paragraph response. You need to manually grade these responses to over the zero.  This is one reason I don’t have the responses sent immediately (upon submission) to the students- that grade will reflect the zero and not your scoring.

How Google Forms can improve student learning

Alice Keeler shares 5 specific steps to help student learning via Google Forms.  From quickly identifying reteaching opportunities, retakes, and branching forms- you will find all the details here.

Branching Forms

You can create your own branching forms by adding sections and then changing the location for each response.  Want an easier method? Check out Alice Keeler’s blog post complete with her coding for branching forms. 

Change the question (and answer) order

Richard Byrne (Free Technology for Teachers) recently posted a short video that demonstrates how to shuffle the answers (and questions) in a Google form (or Quiz).