Google Forms is a versatile tool, far beyond its basic survey functions. If you’ve poked around the blog before or listened to an episode of my Easy EdTech Podcast, you know how much I love them! You might have even used a Google Form I’ve shared to request resources from a workshop I’ve led or to be the first to know about a handful of new resources.
While you might be familiar with ways to use Google Forms for quizzes and feedback forms, the potential of Google Forms is massive. There are multiple applications that can revolutionize the way you share classroom resources and tackle administrative tasks.
Ways to Use Google Forms
In this new blog post, we’ll explore a handful of unexpected ways to use Google Forms. These can save you time, enhance learning, and streamline processes, making your educational endeavors more efficient and engaging.
Student Interest Survey
At the beginning of the year, use a form to learn about students’ interests, strengths, and learning preferences. This information can guide your teaching strategies and classroom activities.
Do Now and Check-In
Start each day with a check-in form where students can share their feelings or concerns, helping you gauge the classroom mood. You might combine this with a “do now” activity to keep track of attendance.
Create a Checklist
I love sharing ways to use favorite tools in unexpected ways, and one of my favorite tips is to create a checklist with Google Forms. If you’ve joined me for a webinar or workshop on formative assessment strategies, you might remember that I often share this tip. This blog post goes deeper into this strategy, so you can try making checklists with Google Forms, too.
Generate Forms Using AI
You can use generative AI to help you save oodles of time this school year. In addition to ChatGPT (download this list of prompts here), you can use educational AI tools like Diffit to create content to share with students. One of their export options is Google Forms, so you can make activities for students that they can respond to right from within this tool.
Virtual Suggestion Box
Encourage students to share their ideas, such as a suggestion for a class read-aloud, through a Google Form. This can lead to valuable insights and foster a more inclusive classroom atmosphere.
Link to QR Codes
You can link any Google Form you create to a QR code so someone can scan it and open up the form on their mobile device. This blog post takes you through the process so you can follow the steps and make your own QR codes linked to a Google Form.
Classroom Inventory Tracker
Use a form to keep track of classroom supplies. Students and teachers can note when items are taken or need replenishing. Alternatively, you can create a form someone can fill out when a particular item is running low.
Use Audio Responses
If you’ve checked out my artificial intelligence resources this year, you’ve probably seen Conker on a list of tools to explore. The same company is behind Mote, a Chrome extension you can install so your users can provide audio responses to a Google Form. Here’s a post that takes you through what’s possible with Mote.
Professional Development Requests
If you are helping organize professional development sessions at your school or district, use a form to gather requests from your colleagues. This helps in tailoring future sessions to better meet everyone’s needs.
Collect Payments
Do you have to keep track of payments for field trips, after-school events, or other moments during the school year? I featured Payable on my blog last year, and this tool lets you connect Google Forms to a payment platform.
Classroom Job Applications
Create a form to introduce to students as a fun way for them to apply for classroom responsibilities. This teaches them about job applications and responsibilities in a practical, engaging manner.
Field Trip Planning
Simplify the organization of field trips by using forms to collect volunteer requests, meal choices or gathering information you’ll need for a particular trip. This can make the planning process more streamlined.
Ready to try out one of these unexpected ways to use Google Forms? By thinking outside the box, you can harness the flexibility of Google Forms to strengthen classroom management, boost student engagement, and save time on administrative tasks this school year.
The ideas shared in this post are just the beginning. As you experiment with these applications, you’ll likely discover even more ways to integrate Google Forms into your work. If you have something to add to this list, I’d love to hear about it! Reach out on social media (you can find me here on Instagram) or reply to one of my free Monday newsletters (I read every response).
