Creating a Google Form

A few days ago I posted an idea for using Google Forms to keep track of your anecdotal reading records. I can't wait to use this next year! Here is a step by step guide to creating your form:

Step 1: Log in to your Google Account and click "Documents"

Step 2: Click "Create" and choose Form.

Step 3: Give your form a title and description and create your first question. My question says "What is your favorite genre?" I chose "text" as the answer type, so people (or I) can type in answers. 

Step 4: Hover over the sample 2 question and click on the edit button. When you do this, you will see the same question editing set up as above. You can then create another question.

Step 5: You can also add questions by clicking +Add Item in the upper left corner. Add as many questions as you would like, in as many varieties as you would like. 

*Note: You may want to play with the different question types. I used the "Choose from a list" option for my drop-down menu questions. You can add as many or as few options as you'd like. You may also want to leave the first option blank. I did this on my reading records form because I noticed that in the resulting spreadsheet whatever is in the first box is recorded, whether or not I actually choose that option. Plus, I like how it looks on the form for the dropdown box to be empty until the person chooses one of the options. 

Step 6: Make it Cute! In the upper left corner beside the +Add Item you will see a button labeled "Theme: Plain." Click this button and choose from one of the themes provided for your form. When you find one you click, click on it and you will see a preview of your form. Click Apply. 

Step 7: You're done, but how do you access it? There are several ways to do this, but what I did is use the "Email this form" button at the top right of the page, and emailed myself the link. Once the link is open in your browser (iPad or PC) you can save it to your desktop for easy access. 

Step 8: Where's the data? You can access your data by either using the "See Responses" button in the upper right corner, or by clicking on the title of the form in your list of Google Docs. 

Do you used Google forms or other Google docs in the classroom? I look forward to hearing how you use them, or plan to use them. Please let me know if you have any problems and I'll help out.