Google Forms in Google Classroom

If you are a regular reader you know I am a huge fan of Google Forms. I've been using them in my classroom since 2009 and I've written a lot about them.

Google Forms (as quizzes) are now an assignment type in Google Classroom, and lately there are A LOT more teachers using Google Classroom and also Forms. While I was teaching online sessions about Google Classroom in March, we kept hitting on forms, but never long enough to really explore them. So I developed a workshop on Google Forms and taught it five times in one week, but I never recorded it. When my district realized that, they asked me to teach it one more time and record. (That's why there are only a few people on this recording with me. It was very last minute. Usually, I did this session with 40-80 teachers in it.)

If you really want to understand how Google Forms work in Google Classroom, I recommend watching the recorded workshop. (Fair warning, it is 51 minutes.)
For a faster experience you can review the slides embedded below, but they will likely leave you with some questions.

A few ways forms are different and/or tricky in Google Classroom include:

• When you create a "Quiz Assignment," GC auto generates a blank form that already has the quiz setting turned on. If you already made a quiz outside of GC you'll need to delete the auto generated quiz and replace it with your own. Or use a regular assignment type in GC and add the quiz there, but then grade importing to GC will not work.
• After your students take a quiz you'll need to use the "Import Grades" button in GC to bring those scores in to GC. This button is on the right side and can be easy to miss. Also, you need to import grades again when more students take the quiz. 
• To view individual student responses to the quiz you will need to go to the form itself and switch to the responses tab. You may also prefer to create a spreadsheet of the responses to see more of the data at once. Many teachers have expressed confusion to me that they can't view these responses within GC. 

Tips for working with Google Forms: 

• Always make the first question on the form, "What is your name?" Yes, GC will align scores to names in GC, but if you are looking at individual responses in the form, or in the spreadsheet, you will want student names there too. Trust me. 
• Explore the settings in your form. You can turn the quiz feature on and off there. You can also decide if your form is restricted to within your g-suite domain, or accessible outside of it. If the form is only for your students, then restricting it to your domain make sense. If it is something you want parents to fill out or other adults, you should probably turn off that restriction. 
• If someone wants a copy of your form, do not add them as a collaborator. Use the three dots in the upper right corner to make a copy of the form first. Then add them as a collaborator to the copy. If you skip this step they could assign your form to their students and you will have submissions that aren't your students. 
• Test your form. Click the eyeball icon and fill out the form yourself to see what that experience will be like for your students. You may find you need to change a question type or adjust some other settings as you do so. 
• Remember not all forms need to be quizzes. Most, in fact, are not. There are LOTS of other ways to use forms in and out of the classroom. You can create forms from Google Drive too, not just within Google Classroom. 

Some additional helpful posts about Google Forms: 

• What is a Google Form Good For? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. 
• Differentiation with Branching Google Forms
• How to Add an "Entry Code" to a Google Form
• Request a Regrade Google Form
• Classroom Library Book Check Out Form
• Self-Evaluation Google Form for Students
• Five Minute Google Sheets Tutorial

I hope some of that helps you use Google Forms more effectively with your students. Using forms is definitely a learning process. Be gentle with yourself as you go.