Why and how I use Google Forms to reduce workload

 As a teacher I need to be able to check student knowledge and retention quickly and frequently. Teaching just over 400 students a week requires me to be creative in the way I do that - I still need time to analyse what they know and create new resources/plan lessons that react to that. Therefore I decided to outsource the marking element to google so that I can focus on the outcomes. 

An ofsted inspector recently stated that the only point for assessments is to check whether your schemes of work need adapting and what support students need. Spending hours marking the same thing just does not make sense. This year I have focused on creating self-marking forms for my Year 9 Music classes (I have been teaching all 180 students in the year group). 

I attach my google forms to google classroom so that I can import the results and use the mark book in classroom to help me check in on each class individually. I then use the analytical elements of the google form to look for the wider issues. 

I have mostly used google forms in 2 ways:

1. Check understanding of the theoretical/evaluative side of the course
2. To check on self-assessed progress

Checking understanding

I know all GCSE's vary but in our current Music paper there is a large amount of multiple choice or one word answer questions. This means I can create self-marking forms that replicate a chunk of the GCSE that will allow my Year 9 students to see if they can gain confidence in the task. Regularly for homework I set a google form with a YouTube video attached and ask them questions about the extract. For example, which instrument do you hear? What is the texture when they sing the words...? Which term best describes the tempo? etc. It demystifies the GCSE exam somewhat and helps students realise that they do have the skills - and also allows them to practice their listening skills and their vocabulary on a regular basis. 

The downside:

• It takes time to set up the google form - on average I spend about 20 minutes a homework creating the task.

The upsides:

• I can use these resources year in and year out in the future
• I can download the results in a matter of seconds to google classroom
• Using the mark book function in google classroom I can see an individual student's progress over time
• On the google form analytics I can see which questions my classes struggled with overall allowing me to adapt my future lessons and make adjustments to my previous areas of my scheme of work to ensure that I am more explicit on areas they are stuck with next year.

Of course this is adaptable even to courses that do not have multiple choice as a major part of their GCSE - for example in English matching the correct definition to the vocabulary. In maths selecting the correct formula to use, in History selecting the correct dates and people for events. When spaced repetition is so important to our student's ability to recall key facts these forms are brilliant. And of course you can copy and paste the entire quiz or individual questions for later recall activities. Even better if you get students to each come up with, and add on a question to a google form during a lesson for a later recall task - you don't even have to create the quiz!

As a method of checking progress

In each lesson I have 3 statements on the board - what is below, meeting and above my expectations in that day's tasks. For example if learning to play the theme from Star Wars these might be:

Below expectations: I can play the majority of the theme with some gaps

Meeting expectations: I can play the theme with a fair degree of accuracy

Above expectations: I can play the theme and have started adding the accompaniment

Checking the progress of 30 different students by watching them each play would take the majority of the lesson, which would negate my ability to walk round and assist those who are struggling and their ability to use the time effectively for rehearsal. But I still want to know roughly where the class is as a whole, plus who I need to support the next lesson. 

I created a basic google form that I can keep making copies of for each lesson. In section 1 it has 3 questions - students are reminded to answer ONLY ONE of the 3 questions (this is the part that takes training!)

Question 1: I am currently working at below expectations 

Question 2: I am currently working at expectations

Question 3: I am currently working above expectations

There is only one option for the answer 'Yes', but I set the marking for each question to 1 point for Q1, 2 for Q2 and 3 for Q3. 

In section 2 I get them to think about what they are proud of achieving in the lesson and what they want to go on to doing next lesson, or how they think the skills of this lesson will help with the next activity. I do not assign any marks to this. 

When I import the marks to google classroom I can immediately see:

1. Which students are ready for a greater task/will need more extension activities - those that have a 3 beside them. 

2. Which students need some support next lesson (those who have a 1 beside them)

3. Whether I've got my pacing about right (if the majority are on 1 I've not supported them enough or have not got the task right. If nearly all are on 3 I've made it too easy!)

Why not have a go at outsourcing some of your marking to Google Forms and see if it can reduce your workload? Have you found another method? Share your experiences in the comments below.