Fun Form Facts

Google forms are pretty awesome. I've used them in the past, but in working with them again this past week, I love them even more.

My students are using a Google form I created for their monthly self evaluations. This has worked very well. Some of the advantages I see in using the Google form include:

• eliminating another piece of paper to shuffle.
• having the students' work time stamped.
• being able to easily compare student answers in one place on an easy-to-read spread sheet.
• students always knowing where to find the evaluation form.
• creating the all-important "data" that my principals keep asking about.

This self-evaluation form has worked so well that I am going to see what other Google forms I can use in my classes.

One of the templates I found in the template scavenger hunt assignment was a KWL form that students could use. This includes a area for students to list what they already know about a topic, what they want to learn more about on this topic, and then what knowledge they have learned. This was a perfect fit for a small research project my junior ELA classes were doing. I asked my school's librarians to put a link to the Google template on their webliography page (this is the link to that page). I tested it out and it seemed to work just fine. BUT, when the students tried to complete the form, it wouldn't open for them. They received a message telling them they didn't have permission.
I still wanted them to complete the chart so their research would have a better focus, so I punted and had them create a Word document with the information.

Now I know what I did wrong. After reading the feedback on the scavenger hunt assignment, I see that I didn't have permission to use the template after all. Who knew? Now I know. I am going to go back to try to correct that assignment.