Designing Assessment Using The Power of Google Forms
This article first appeared in Fractus Learning. January 21st, 2003.
Michael Schmoker talks at great length in his book “Results Now“, of how the power of a common curriculum, common assessments and teachers working together can have unprecedented results in student learning. He cites many studies wherein teachers who seemingly taught the same class had varying levels of effectiveness, mostly through lack of their planning lessons and not designing assessments together, nor collecting data on a regular basis.
Google Forms as a Tool for Designing Assessment
Before I explain how teachers can use Google Forms as an assessment
tool, I want to address their use from the standpoint of understanding
and measuring student learning because that is ultimately the focus of
all teachers. Despite many educators having been taught how to assess in
undergraduate and graduate programs, I am amazed at how infrequently
some teachers take the time to assess student learning in their
classroom. The most common excuses are “This is a work in progress” or
“This shouldn’t be graded” are points to consider, but even through
process or project-based learning can teachers regularly measure whether
lesson objectives have been met and ensure against disaster down the
road. Many think that “magically” students will show and in-depth
understanding of a topic by unit’s end, but don’t take time for those
periodic check ins as formative assessments which are so crucial. Such
information gives individuals and teams:
Translating these learning targets into questions on Google Forms may look as follows:
Knowledge-Select Response, Check boxes, Chose from a list
Reasoning-Text, Grid, Scale,
Skills-Paragraph Text
Early in this unit, I chose multiple choice questions as I wanted to focus on a knowledge and skills
target with less reasoning. What I learned from this particular exit
interview was that my students bombed the second question which gave me
some real insight into why they did so poorly and suggested some
remediation for the next lesson.
The next example is a entry interview. This is good for those of you who favor a flipped classroom model and want to know how prepared students are when they walk into class:
For this I used a short answer text response as I wanted to see whether students understood some of the deeper reasoning
from the independent assignment. There are also some great tools from
Google’s script gallery that give analytics on questions and grade them
for you. See an example of “flubaroo” here. Such data gives teams insight into some of the deeper understandings we hope to engender.
How are you designing assessment in innovative and more efficient ways? Share your ideas below in the comments!
Image courtesy of Flickr, albertogp123
Michael Schmoker talks at great length in his book “Results Now“, of how the power of a common curriculum, common assessments and teachers working together can have unprecedented results in student learning. He cites many studies wherein teachers who seemingly taught the same class had varying levels of effectiveness, mostly through lack of their planning lessons and not designing assessments together, nor collecting data on a regular basis.
Google Forms as a Tool for Designing Assessment
Before I explain how teachers can use Google Forms as an assessment
tool, I want to address their use from the standpoint of understanding
and measuring student learning because that is ultimately the focus of
all teachers. Despite many educators having been taught how to assess in
undergraduate and graduate programs, I am amazed at how infrequently
some teachers take the time to assess student learning in their
classroom. The most common excuses are “This is a work in progress” or
“This shouldn’t be graded” are points to consider, but even through
process or project-based learning can teachers regularly measure whether
lesson objectives have been met and ensure against disaster down the
road. Many think that “magically” students will show and in-depth
understanding of a topic by unit’s end, but don’t take time for those
periodic check ins as formative assessments which are so crucial. Such
information gives individuals and teams:- Insight into what lesson objectives have been met
- Data on which topics the class understood well, or poorly as a population
- Information about which teacher may have taught a benchmark more effectively and thus in turn share their strategies with team members
Adapting Google Forms to your Learning Goals
Google Forms are essentially a survey tool wherein teachers can draft questions, whose answers can be collated and analyzed. Question types are text, paragraph text, multiple choice, checkboxes, choose from a list, scale and grid. The type of question that you choose should correspond to a learning target as outlined below:
Table adapted by Rick Stiggins
Knowledge-Select Response, Check boxes, Chose from a list
Reasoning-Text, Grid, Scale,
Skills-Paragraph Text
Examples of Google Forms Data
Below is a sample of some exit interview data after a lesson on exponents:
Data as information
The next example is a entry interview. This is good for those of you who favor a flipped classroom model and want to know how prepared students are when they walk into class:
Entry interview reasoning targets
Time Efficiency
Google Forms allows teachers to collect information quickly and effectively which is what the goal should be for utilizing new technology in the classroom. Rather than illegible entry or exit slips, Google Forms allow teachers to know exactly what their students know at the beginning and end of a lesson. In an age where many educator’s goals seem to be merely “I want to use more technology in my classroom” this goal fails to link how the uses of technology will improve student learning. Google Forms have real applications if utilized well and frequently.How are you designing assessment in innovative and more efficient ways? Share your ideas below in the comments!
Image courtesy of Flickr, albertogp123
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