Formative Assessment with Google Forms
A look at Formative Assessment
Formative Assessments are assessments that occur during the learning process. I like to think of formative assessments as a "check in" to see how students are doing with the material or concept. Formative assessments do not need to be full length quizzes, instead they can be fun interactive ways for students to show their knowledge. It is a way for teachers to assess their own teaching strategies as well. It is a great way to see where student learning is taking place, and where more attention is needed. Formative assessments should occur on a daily basis as a way to assess progress before the more high stake summative assessments take place.
The formative assessment process is beneficial to teachers and students in a variety of ways. These quick check ins allow teachers to informally assess whether or not students are understanding concepts. If they are not, teachers can go back and reteach the material or find ways to differentiate their instruction for students who need extra help. This type of check in process can help teachers see which students are ready to move on and which students need additional instruction. Formative assessments also help students assess themselves to see if they are understanding the material and concepts. Students can ask for more help if needed, or feel confident in knowing they are on the right track. Teachers can guide students in self-assessment practices through providing formative assessment opportunities.
Creating Formative Assessments with Google Forms
Although I have had many occasions where I have filled out a Google Form, I have not had the opportunity to create my own Google Form. This assignment was a great way to explore ways to create formative assessments with Google Forms. I found Google Forms easy to navigate and was able to create a very basic Exit Ticket using the template found within the tool. I wanted to create a formative assessment for the e-course I am working on for early childhood teacher professional development so that is where I started. I created an Exit Ticket that I can insert into the e-course at the end of each section to gain an understanding of how teachers are doing with the material. I used one of the assessment strategies found in the resource 10 Innovative Formative Assessment Examples for Teachers to Know, 3-2-1 Countdown to create the exit ticket.
Here are the steps I took to create the basic Exit Ticket:
- Once in Forms, I clicked on "Exit Ticket" under create new form
- This gave me a basic form to build my own exit ticket from
- I started at the top and changed the theme of the exit ticket first by clicking on the top right paint palette; here I could change the picture at the top--click on image upload and choose the image; once the image changed it gave suggestions for complimentary colors to choose for the border and background colors.
- From there I clicked on each section to change the wording and questions asked.
- I clicked on and changed the Title and description box to better suit my needs for the e-course
- I chose to keep the name and email section the same and made sure I put the "required" setting on--located on the bottom right of each section. When "on" it requires learners to answer the question before it can be submitted
- I changed the first question to: "List 3 things you learned today" and set it to required; Forms has many options for ways questions can be answered I chose "Paragraph" for this one by clicking on the upper right drop box
- I clicked on the next section and changed it to "List 2 things you want to know more about" and set it to required and answer in "paragraph"
- I clicked on the last section and changed it to "List 1 thing you will start doing in response to what you have learned" and set it to required and answer in "paragraph"
Overall, the Google Forms process was easy to follow and create. I liked the way that templates were already there to build upon since I have not created one previously. I can see where Forms would be an easy way to provide formative assessment tasks to students that would not take up a lot of class time. Learners will be able to provide feedback to teachers quickly and easily by using Forms. Teachers can then use the feedback to prepare, change or alter instructional strategies and activities to suit the needs of students.
I would like to explore more with Google Forms to create a survey for the program evaluation I am working on for another class. I think Forms would be an easy way to get a survey out to many people and easy for them to fill out quickly. I am looking forward to exploring more with Google Forms for this purpose.
