Day 156 - Streamline Workflow Using Google Forms - John Vallerand, BHS Senior

This post originally appeared on the BHS Help Desk Blog

Google Forms in Classroom

One of the most powerful and versatile applications in the Google Drive suite is Google Forms. Forms is the ideal way to create surveys and is perfect for submitting assignments to teachers. Forms can also be used by coaches and club advisors to organize and manage information about their players or members. As part of the Help Desk course, we use Google Forms to submit all of our assigned work. Our instructor, Mrs. Scheffer, created a form for all of us in the Help Desk program. The form, titled “Help Desk Assignment Turn-In,” was shared with us and we access it through Drive on our iPads or on a computer.

 Using Google Forms to Streamline Workflow

Using Google Forms is convenient for both me as a student and for my teacher. After every assignment I complete, I submit my work by copying and pasting the URL of the file into the form. Mrs. Scheffer then opens the spreadsheet linked to the form and has access to not only my files, but all of my classmates files in one convenient location. All of our folders have been shared with her and she has editing rights. But rather than access our work through clicking multiple folders, she can click on one link in the spreadsheet. We have found this workflow to be the easiest and most streamlined method to submit and access work and it allows us to be paperless. Mrs. Scheffer uses the comment feature in Docs and gives us feedback on our assignments. We then edit our documents based on this feedback and submit for a final grade. We recently went through this entire process when we completed our career portfolio projects. Mrs. Scheffer is the only teacher I have who is using this workflow, but I think it’s one that other teachers should consider and see how they like it. Forms can be made private so that the teacher has full control over who can submit responses. The timestamp can be controlled by teachers which is hugely important because it prevents changes to the date and time of submitting work.

 Creating a Form

Creating a Form is a simple process. First, you choose a theme and give your Form a title. As you can see from the screenshot below, there are themes students could use for both academic and personal reasons. For example, if I was throwing a graduation party (June 8th is right around the corner!) I would use the balloon theme.

Adding Questions

The next step is to add questions. There are nine different types of questions you can choose from including multiple choice, text, and check boxes. You also have the option to determine if each question is required.

Once your form is complete, you’ll want to choose the confirmation page settings before sending the form to recipients.

Sending and Sharing a Form

There are several options to choose from when sending and sharing a form including email, Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. Forms can also be embedded into blogs, websites, and emails. Just like with Google Docs, Forms can be shared with others for collaboration purposes and these additional users have editing rights.

 Benefits of Google Forms:

• Add themes
• Choose a destination for the responses to go
• You can validate answers
• You can share your forms
• Manage responses
• Allows students to feel more confident that their work is turned in correctly

Looking For More Ideas?

Below are three links to additional ways Google Forms can be used in the classroom. If you wish to give the Form work submission a try and want assistance in creating and embedding the form, please don’t hesitate to come see us in the Help Desk for one on one help.

Creating a Google Form (from the Google Drive Support Center)
10 Ways I Use Google Forms in my Tablet Classroom80 Interesting Ways to Use Google Forms to Support Learning (includes a Google presentation with ideas)

A Tour of Google Forms

Day 30 - Digital Workflow With Google and Notability - Tim Calvin - BPS Instructional Technology Coach

This post by Tim Calvin originally appeared on the BPS EdTech Blog

You can follow Tim on Twitter - @NothingFuture

You can follow the BPS EdTech team on Twitter - @BPSEdtech

We are often asked about our digital workflow options and use of paper in Burlington classrooms. While our classrooms are not all paperless, we are certainly using less paper in classroom workflows. This post describes one of the most popular digital workflow options used in our 1:1 classrooms.

We find the most efficient way of distributing assignments to students is viadistribution lists. This allows a teacher to send a single email to their entire class, and for students to then open that attachment file directly into their Notability app. Notability is a paid app that we currently provide for all students in grades K-8. The app is highly recommended for high students but it is not required.

First, a student would open the email from the teacher. The email will have an icon for the attachment:

Tap this icon to initiate the download of the attachment. The icon will then change to the file type of the attachment, in this case a pdf.

Tap the pdf icon to see the attachment.

Once inside the attachment, the icon in the upper right hand corner will allow you to open the attachment into another app. In this case, we are going to select Notability.

Once Notability is chosen, you will have the option of creating a new note from that attachment, or adding it to an existing note. In this case we will create a new note.

At this point, any work that needs to be done can be started. Notability is a great tool for annotating documents, labeling maps, science labs, and completing equations.

Each student who is going to submit work needs, in their own Google Drive, to create a folder of their own. They should name this folder according to your requirements as a teacher- though we recommend students using their name followed by subject. This folder then needs to be shared only to the teacher. Students can then returns work to a teacher directly in this shared folder.

To create a folder in the Google Drive iPad app, first, press the “+” icon in the upper right corner.

After pressing the “+” icon, you’ll be presented with a choice of things to create- You’ll want to choose the New Folder option.

A teacher should choose the way a student names their folder. In this example, the standard being used is a student’s first and last names, followed by the subject area. This process will also help organize your student folders in Drive later.

After naming the folder, press create.

You should now have a folder icon in your Drive.  Press the “i” icon by the folder to modify the sharing settings of that folder.

The student should then add the teacher to the folder by pressing the “+” icon and adding the teacher’s email address. From inside Notability, finished work can now be placed in this shared folder by exporting to Google Drive app and picking this shared folder as the file destination.

Teachers can even take the process a few steps further. Teachers can organize all student folders in their Google Drive by class or block. Teachers can annotate completed student work using Notability and assess student progress. Some BPS teachers are using the audio note feature in Notability for assessment. Teachers can record an audio summary for the student to review. All graded and assessed work can be returned to the student through the shared folder. This helps complete the paperless digital workflow.