New Google Form Add-ons - Choice Eliminator

Google recently added "Add-ons" as a feature of Google Forms.  There are some great options to check out.  Here is a picture of what is currently available.  Check them out.

Choice of Google Form Add-ons

One that I am really happy to see is "Choice Eliminator".  It takes choices out of a list of multiple-choice, checkbox, or list entries.  That way if one submitter selects an option, it is no longer available to people who have not taken the Form yet.  I see this as an outstanding option for people that schedule appointments.  The choices disappear so you don't double-book.  Here is a website with tutorial of how to use Choice Eliminator - click here.

Create your Form.  Go to the Add-ons store in the Add-ons menu and select the Choice Eliminator and try it out.  This will be awesome for teachers scheduling conferences.  Too bad it didn't come out a month ago.

New "Send Forms" Options in Google Forms

Google has been putting in some very functional upgrades lately.  If you are a Google Forms user, you've probably noticed quite a few.  I really like Google Forms and think teachers will love it.  I noticed a few new changes on the Send Forms button information lately.

I noticed that Google now provides a URL shortener on the Send Form window (fig. A).  It automatically will shorten those extremely long URLs to one with the "goo.gl" address.  This is great for people that are sharing the link without having to go somewhere else to find it - like posting your link on a website or email.  Great way to get a group to use their own devices to take a survey or answer some questions.  How about having students use their smartphones - YEA!

Also, Google has added a button that will give you the embed code (fig. B).  This is awesome, so you can embed the survey right on your webpage.  That way, the user doesn't have to leave the page they are on to go take a Form.

Besides the changes, you can still post your link on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook, or even email the people you want to take the Form.

Google Forms are an outstanding way to collect information from people and organize it in an easy way to analyze.  Give them a try.

New Choices in Google Forms

A couple of new features have shown up in Google Forms in the Google Apps for Education domains.  Form creators will notice that two new buttons show up in the top selection of settings.

First, there is a new "Only allow one response per person" box.  This box will allow the survey to only collect one response per "signed-in" user.  Since all of the students have accounts, a "one vote" restriction can be activated.  This is great so that the responders don't "stuff the ballot box."  This would be great for classroom voting?

Second, there is a "Shuffle question order" box.  This box will shuffle the questions on each page of the form.  This might be helpful when creating online assessments.  You might also consider putting all of the identifying questions on a page, then putting the questions of the form on a second page or set of pages.  That way, the identifying questions stay together and the rest of the questions can "jumble up."

It would be nice if you could create the identifying questions and fix their location - but Google will probably figure that out quickly.

Give these new features a try.

Video of New Google Drive Share Window

Here is a video demonstrating and explaining the NEW Google Drive Share window.  It explains changes seen here.

New Google Share Window

Google has changed it's share window for users.  When you click your familiar blue Share button, you'll see something new.

This makes it very easy to share with other people, but there are a few new features you should be aware of.  First, if you want to change your visibility settings, click the "Get sharable link" at the top-right corner of the window (see below).  This will allow you to change the Global access settings of your document.

If you want to see the old format of sharing with People, click the Advanced link in the bottom-right corner of the page (see above).  It will open the page to the more traditional sharing window.

I think this streamlined share window will become very easy to use.  As with most Google changes, it is different and will take some getting used to.  I hope I get used to it quickly.

Generic Google Forms

Teachers are always looking for a way to determine if students are understanding the material. Whether it's group work or direct instruction.

 Here is a good, quick way to use Google Forms to assess the "temperature" of the understanding. I would suggest creating some generic Google Forms. You can save them and use them frequently, by clearing out the response data and using them over and over. Below, I have shared two generic Google Forms that I use to assess my audiences.

I have used these forms to gather information, either in multiple-choice format or short-answer text format.  I have used a bit.ly shortener and QR Code to make the Forms accessible to the students.  They can use any device to submit responses - no need for those expensive clickers.  The actual questions live on the presentation of the day or written on the board in the room.

I also included an options identifier box, so if I needed to survey them more than once, they could include the identifier.  They could use a 1 for the first question, 2 for the second, and so on, so the data could be sorted or filtered.   It could also be used for the student's name, if results were to be retained.  I could then filter my data in the spreadsheet for the results of the survey.

One of the best features of Google Forms is that the graphs of the data are available immediately.  You can stop and analyze it right away.  Having a link to that spreadsheet ready, will make data analysis easy, quick, and very informative.

Create yourself a couple generic Google Forms and gather some quick information from your students.