Google Apps for Education GAFE: Forms

Google apps are awesome and one of my FAVES is Google Forms!  I love the ease and versatility of forms.  You can create a form for students, parents or even yourself to complete and you will end up with a spreadsheet of information and data.  You can even use the add-on Flubaroo and make the form self-grading!  Below is a list of a few ideas for using forms:

• Back to school/Getting to know you activity
• Student assessments
• Rubrics
• Exit tickets
• Collecting parent info at Back to School Night
• Give a survey and graph the results
• Student reflections/evaluations, such as after a field trip
• Parent feedback
• Student reading records
• Create a form/checklist for you to complete while assessing a small group or student
• Documenting PD
• and SO much more!

Today I will show you the basics of how to get started with the new Google Forms.  Be prepared to be amazed at how easy it is!  There are 2 ways to start creating a new form... Go to forms.google.com and click on the + to start a blank form.  You can also begin by opening your Google Drive and choosing New, then More, then Google Forms.

Next, type a title for your form in the upper left corner.  After you do so, it will automatically name your form in your Drive and will change the Untitled form text in both places on your form.

Now it's time to start adding questions or items to your form.  It's so easy... just click and type where it says Untitled Question.  Type your answer where it says Option 1.  Choose Add option to add more answer choices.  Automatically it begins with a multiple choice type question, but you can change this if you want.  Just choose the drop down menu arrow next to Multiple choice for more options. 

When you finish with the first question, click the + to add a new question.  You can also add a title and description, an image, a YouTube video or a section.

Now comes the fun part!  Let's customize the look of the form.  In the top right area of the page, choose the paint palette to change the color or theme of your form. If you click on the picture icon, there are tons of themes to choose from.  You can even upload your own photo to use at the top of the form.  Choose the "eye" to preview your form or choose the settings wheel to see more options. 

Next you'll need to set up where you want the responses to go when someone fills out your form.  Choose Responses at the top and click on the little green symbol.  I generally choose to create a new spreadsheet and leave the default name, which will be your title and the word (Responses), but you can change the name if you'd like.

You have just created your first form and you are ready to send it out!  Click on the Send button.  You have 3 choices here.  You can email it right from the form itself.  You can copy the link to your form to add to a website, email, or even a QR code.  This link can be shortened right there, too!  Or you can grab the embed code for a webpage.

I hope this tutorial helps you get started with Google Forms.  I know once you do, you will love it and wonder how you ever managed without it.  I would love to hear how you are using forms in your classroom.  Be sure to leave comments with your ideas.  Click {HERE} to download a pdf of the tutorial images above.

Thanks for stopping by!