Google Forms Quizzes: Self-grading, Auto-feedback, Data-analyzing Quizzes

Google is back in the Formative Assessment Game

Happy days are here again. Google Apps for Education has released their yearly summer toys for teachers to play with and this year they have really delivered. The best of these new toys, in my humble opinion, is the increased functionality of Google Forms to include a quiz option.

I've gotta be honest; I started to use Google Forms last school year, coupled with the auto-grading add-on, Flubaroo but I went in another direction. While it was incredibly convenient, there were other products out there that did the same thing without nearly as much hassle. For example, WEO did everything that Google Forms/Flubaroo did in half the steps. And they even analyzed and sorted the data for you! (For more on WEO, see this blog post)

Perhaps Google heard the whispers in the classrooms because they really have done something special with the new functions of Google Forms. They added an auto-grading function to questions. They added the ability to make questions worth points. They added the ability to give feedback to students for both incorrect and correct answers. They allowed teachers to insert links as feedback. They collected the data from responses and analyzed it into easy to read charts. In short, they're back in the formative assessment game with this new roll out.

How to Get Started

So how does it work? See below for some tips and tricks:


1. Turning a normal Google Form into a Google Form Quiz: Simply click the settings (Cog) button in the top right corner and choose 'Quizzes.' Then choose to make the Google Form a quiz and customize your options based on your objective (will students be informed which questions they got wrong, will they be given the right answer, etc.)

2. Click the "Answer Key" button below the question.

3. Choose which answer is correct and how many points the question will be worth.

4. Add answer feedback for correct and incorrect answers.

5. Add links to help struggling learners catch up or extend the learning opportunity of advanced learners.

6. What a completed question looks like from a teacher's view:

7. What the Quiz looks like from the student's end:

8. What it looks like from the teacher's end:

Data is analyzed for teachers and even plugged into the easy to read bar graph. Any questions with below 50% correct will be listed below the Frequently missed questions.

Questions are broken down individually and analyzed. Great for seeing what needs to be re-taught and what is already understood.

You can also choose to review the student quizzes individually. 

Overall, I have to give Google props for really coming with their A game on this new roll out. The instant and customizable feedback really stands apart from other formative assessment tech tools. However, as a teacher, I rarely give multiple choice assessments. They are not a great indicator of learning. Because of this, I would most likely not use Google Forms Quizzes for graded assessments but rather as ways to introduce content to my students. I would most likely have the students read background info (or watch video) about the topic we will be learning about that day, quiz them on their knowledge, and then break the class into "got it" it and "not yet" sections to make sure every student is learning. I'm sure there are many other ways to use this new tool and I'm looking forward to hearing from other teachers about the cool ways that they will use it in the next few months.

If you want to see tutorial of what Google Forms Quizzes can do, see the video I put together below.