Category: Google Docs

Using Google Forms in the classroom

Google, Google DocsPublished on20 Comments on Using Google Forms in the classroom

sharepane form step1I use Google Docs just about every day, as much of what I need on a regular basis is there and I often flit between computers. I was pleased to discover (or at least what I assumed to be a discovery!) the Forms tool as part of the sharing feature in a Google Spreadsheet. For a fleeting moment I thought I had made a first ascent, seen a new island, found a new species, stumbled upon a hidden civilisation! But, alas, my RSS feeds told me otherwise (of course what was I thinking?!) so I got down off of the table and began to think about ways to use it in the classroom.

sharepane form step2We are soon to be delving into some data handling work from the new Primary Framework for Maths. One of the aspects is to plan, carry out and present a data handling investigation. There is a possible link with the Google Forms tool.

Creating an online form is not particularly ground breaking for data handling, so why the excitement? Google Docs is such a straight forward set of applications, there are very few bells and whistles (yet). The apps are being developed all of the time and personally I appreciate the simplicity it currently has, the slow approach to new features and the gradual emergence of those features. I feel like I know the app very well and I am not overwhelmed by a cacophony of whistling and ringing.

The Forms tool inherits that straightforward template – making it ideal for children to use. Compared to many other online survey tools Google Forms is raw and almost rudimentary in it’s functionality. But I like that. Short learning curve for all. Just the sort of tool we need for the classroom.

Here is a couple of screenshots showing how to create a form and what happens with the data. Click on any of them to get a closer look.

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One of the most important aspects of using G Forms in the classroom is that the data remains dynamic once it is collected. It is not a static graph, automatically created – the data is as raw as the tool. It is conveniently added to your spreadsheet ready for you to manipulate and analyse accordingly. As a teacher this is ideal – for there is much to learn about what you should and could do with data in it’s raw state.

As I mentioned before, after I stopped congratulating myself for finding this tool I began exploring ways it could enhance what is going on in the classroom. I began a Google Form of my own, as a simple example and asked people on my Twitter network to take a look. One of the questions I added was about what classroom uses they could envisage for such a tool. I have summarised some of the responses I received below. (Thankyou to all of you who have contributed your thoughts)

  • How about using Forms to get students to rank the factors that they think make a good piece of work, e.g. in English or using it for short multiple choice (objective) assessment? The automated entry into a spreadsheet would make marking easier!
  • I’m thinking that it would be a non-patronising way of collecting traffic light information from pupils.
  • Site technology survey
  • I use informal surveys and such all the time… might be a simpler way to do it than my current method….
  • This will be invaluable for any research project, the data goes with you.
  • Surveys
  • Sports lists
  • Staff responses
  • Multiple Choice answers – test, revision, quiz
  • I set one up today to poll the staff about professional development needs. I can see amazing possibilities with students.Imagine you could check for prior knowledge and have everyone’s “starting point” be pushed to a spreadsheet. What a great way to use data to shape instruction.
  • I need to survey a whole year group. I was going to try and use Kaleidos, but I still can’t access it from my laptop. Love the idea of using this instead!
  • Evaluation of their work.
  • My “class” is actually made up of teachers. This will be a great “feedback” tool!
  • Feedback on learning
  • Beginning/end of term surveys, data collection for grad school, immediate feedback when I finally have a laptop in each child’s hand…
  • You could use it at the beginning of the year to get a snapshot of their profiles (likes, dislikes, multiple intelligence questions, other views … so that you have a group profile and individual profiles to start lesson planning. Note: of course for schools that have computer facilities.

The release of this tool is timely for me due to the nature of our maths work we will be doing very soon. But the tool does have to be the most appropriate for the data investigation. I will introduce this as a way for children to collect data but I will also expect children to choose it carefully. Is it the best data collection tool for the investigation?

This sort of awareness of whether a tech tool is the most appropriate is central to what I am doing in my classroom.

I am looking forward to including this tool as part of our data handling work over the next few weeks. Hand in hand with making the most of Google forms is an understanding of the use of Google Spreadsheets too, so that will need to be thought about. It is appealing to know it is all in one place.

2254623393 4fa82257a6One of the ways I have been tracking the responses to my demo survey is to add the Google Forms gadget to my iGoogle page.

It is a simple no fuss way (if you use iGoogle) to keep tabs on what is happening – you can even create a form from the direct link.

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Here are some of my offerings to the melting pot of ideas for the uses of the Google Forms tool in the classroom.

  • Book review database of your library area – invite the children to complete a standard form for a book they have read. Questions could be on genre, a rating etc.
  • Peer or self review of writing success criteria for a completed piece of work.
  • Creating databases is something that many UK primary teachers are doing in ICT- this would be a great data entry method. It could work for all sorts of topic areas – Egyptians settlements, world rivers, habitats, minibeasts, musical instruments, rocks and minerals…
  • School/parent questionnaires or even feedback on reports.
  • Question by question analysis on test papers. We have just completed some progress tests and the most time consuming aspects is always (if you choose to do it) the analysis of questions. A form could be created with each question from the paper as a separate question. The children could have time to go through their own paper recording their correct/incorrect/omitted responses.
  • Website reviews – similar to the book reviews above- could be linked to the class del.icio.us links.
  • As yet there is no way to embed the form in another site – but with Google presentations going down that path I am sure it will not be long before you can drop a Google Form into your website or class blog.

The release of this tool does offer an interesting twist to how Google Apps can be organised in the classroom. I have been working with my children on pooling data in a spreadsheet for some time in various ways – using a single user login, everyone editing the same spreadsheet. This is clearly a very open approach and requires multiple logins on multiple machines. Or it requires you to share the s’sheet with many recipients via email.

However if you were to use the Forms tool to collect data instead of using the spreadsheet itself then you would retain the pooling of data to one place but restrict access to the data once it has been submitted. Children could view the responses but not alter, delete or overwrite anyone else’s.

Google spreadsheets refreshes approx every 30 seconds so many machines doing so does chew the bandwidth – especially if working on wireless machines. Now with numerical and text data that is not massive but I can vouch for it slowing down access to other websites that are usually rock solid. A Google Form for data entry would not create such a problem. There is no such live updating and the only time data would be moving about is when the “Submit” is hit. It would also produce the scenario that allows a teacher to login to the Google account for the spreadsheet that is pooling the results on a main PC with projector and the other machines just following a link. This would dramatically reduce the setup time as there is no need to login everyone through a Google account, in turn cutting the chances of having problems logging in.

I hope you get an opportunity to use the tool – please let me know how you get on and how you have used it to support learning in your classroom. Perhaps leave a comment with your thoughts or better still complete this form.

One idea, one slide, one image

Google Docs, IWB, SMARTboardsPublished on9 Comments on One idea, one slide, one image

142455033 49ce50a89b mSharing is good. I have started a simple Google presentation to allow IWB users to share a simple idea that has proved successful in the classroom. I would like this presentation to grow and grow as more and more people contribute their ideas. We can then all use this resource to help provide professional development for colleagues in our schools, districts, local authorities…

The premise is simple – you have one slide to explain one idea, in addition you have one image to help illustrate (if you wish). Let your ideas be for any group of teachers or children, from beginners to advanced users of the IWB – don’t be constricted by the IWB type, just as long as it’s a useful idea – I am sure we will all find a way to do it! Write about a simple tip or a longer project – you choose. Contribute one or contribute ten! I have made a start – the process is easy.

  1. Go to the presentation and take a look at was has been contributed. If you would like to be added as a collaborator send me an email (thomasgeorgebarrett [at] googlemail [dot] com – or use the contact tab at the top of this page) I will invite you in as a collaborator.
  2. Add your one slide, one idea and one image.
  3. Change the presentation title slide to match the number of ideas.

It will have a humble beginning – currently the presentation is called:

“One Interesting Way to use your Interactive Whiteboard”

Please help me change the title and create a supportive document that provides valuable, road tested ideas and tips for IWB users, new and old. I am sure we will all learn something.

Image: ‘Sharing‘ www.flickr.com/photos/33128961@N00/142455033

You win some you lose some

Google Docs, My class, SciencePublished on4 Comments on You win some you lose some

A short while back I was buoyed by the use of Google Spreadsheets in our science lessons. The children enjoyed the fact that we were sharing data and it added an edge to their motivation. They questioned the data that popped up as the sheet updated, they enquired about it’s ownership and accuracy. However this week sharing a Google presentation did not run so well!

I assumed we would have a similar experience and the sharing feature would work just as well. Groups were created in each class they were assigned a planet (we are looking at the solar system) and after a short intro, asked to explore our del.icio.us links and create one slide (or more if needed) in a ready made presentation. 3 children were working on a wireless laptop. It just never really got off the ground and I found my self firefighting access, update, deletion and wireless problems. Admittedly the technology got in the way of the learning  and it proved a disappointing afternoon. You really do win some, lose some. There were of course some groups that worked without any issues. So what went wrong – I think that it is important to try and reflect on the successes and failures on this blog so that I learn from it and others do as well.

  1. We put a lot of pressure on the wireless network in the session as 16 machines were active and Google docs regularly refreshes so the web connection was very busy.
  2. Some kids worked on the class PC and they seemed to work a lot smoother.
  3. The children accessed del.icio.us links and these included a NASA image gallery so that could well have chewed up the bandwidth a bit.
  4. Google presentations deals with different data than the spreadsheets, whole slides need to be updated sometimes with images etc – not just a number in a spreadsheet.
  5. The children had to start from scratch and make new slides for their planet – some mix ups went on here.
  6. All of the children were using one Google domain login – not sure if this hindered.

On reflection the idea is still a good one. Children all contributing to one presentation that has a common theme. They all have a piece of the jigsaw. But I think that we just asked too much of the wireless network, it certainly was far more than we have ever done. I am uncertain if the same login made an issue, I may try out some individual account logins with a similar activity.

I think that the most important thing to learn from this is that sharing Google Presentations works smoother when on hard wired PCs because it deals with a larger data set than spreadsheets.

Taking risks is a good thing. If I had never planned such an activity I would not have learned about how differently the application performs in the classroom. Were I to do it again in the future I would feel better prepared. Lesson learned.

Sharing a Google Spreadsheet in class

Google Docs, Laptops, Literacy, My class, SciencePublished on9 Comments on Sharing a Google Spreadsheet in class

Today was Day 1 in terms of our laptop use in the classroom and we hit the ground running, so to speak – just how I like it. I am sure you have had days like today, when it is a bit of a whirlwind from 8am right through to 4pm – where does the time go? Today the sands just seemed to slip through my fingers! Not to say it was one of the best days for a long time.

We now have 8 Toshiba laptops running happily in both of our Year 5 classes and today we kicked off with a simple word level activity in literacy. One group worked on Race to Ramses! a game about combining prefixes and suffixes to create new words. I have taught with laptops in the past but the new technology (laptops and WAPs) is just so much more reliable. And it is great seeing children completely engaged with one to one technology supporting their learning, I am so pleased to see it in the hands of the pupils – which is the whole point. You might think “web game, one group…not really setting the world alight” – but I suppose it is a culmination of a lot of work and to finally get things in front of children, reliable and solid feels like a big achievement.

Needless to say in the afternoon we swam into deeper waters and I’d like to think we pushed the envelope a bit…

The morning was successful and the children enjoyed working on their own machine and many children asked for the web address for the game – so we will have to get our del.icio.us account sorted or get them into their Google accounts soon!

In the afternoon we were looking at some science work we have begun regarding healthy living and exercise. Today we explored pulse rates and we used an online spreadsheet to share our results, hence the title of the post. (This work is similar to some online spreadsheet action we had last year with my Year 6 class) I decided to use a Google spreadsheet as I have been using the Docs application for a while (in fact I have a few grumbles about that – more soon) but you could have easily used EditGrid as an alternative – I set the sheet up so that all of the children’s names from both classes were present in the first column. Then 10 other columns were labelled, “Resting Pulse1, Resting Pulse 2…” It was in these cells that the kids added their resting pulse after counting for 30 seconds and doubling.

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I then accessed the same spreadsheet through my Google login on all 8 laptops per class that I put around the room – so in effect I logged in 16 times (plus my PC and SMARTBoard, so 17) to the same document from different locations. We talked a little about how to find our pulse and then asked the children to record 10 instances of their resting rate into the spreadsheet. It was great! With the live update feature we were able to see individual results popping up all over the place and even from next door in Rick’s class who were doing the same. Google Spreadsheets has an Auto Save option which makes life much easier and gives you the opportunity to see the live data. Not only did the hardware hold out fine, but accessing the spreadsheet was excellent – even with 17 simultaneous users on a single login. The children really enjoyed seeing each other’s work and it gave them a great overview of not only the class year group working together, but also to the sorts of data people were adding. Children from the other class were nipping across the corridor and questioning the validity of results from kids in my class.

The children had a tendency to sit with the laptop in front of them, in small groups rather than freely moving around the classroom and accessing any machine. But I suppose that is due to the nature of task.

Within the space of about 40 minutes, perhaps less, we collected approximately 600 individual results all in one place. No doubt they will be quicker next time. This method of data collection also allows us the ability to then manipulate the results afterwards, working out averages of the whole year group etc. I would highly recommend doing this if you have the reliable kit in your classroom, we have already said that it will be an excellent data entry method for our maths lessons on data handling.

It is now 12 hours since I started the day at school and I am just about coming up for air, no don’t worry I am not at school still! – but it is great to reflect here on these sorts of days. One to remember and I hope you might take some of these ideas and use it yourself.