Google Forms "Assessment"
For this assignment I created a Google Forms assessment for a 3rd Grade Social Studies unit on Maps and Globes. The Google Form can be utilized in many ways to reach the needs of all learners.
Standard: Geography, Humans, & the Environment
3.1 Geographic regions have unifying characteristics & can be studied using a variety of tools.
3.1a Earth is comprised of water & large land masses that can be divided into distinct regions
3.1b Globes, maps, photographs, & satellite images contain geographic information. Maps often have a title, legend or key, compass orientation, author, date, grid, & scale
Google Forms in the Classroom
I have always thought that Google Forms is a great platform to gather data on your students and their families so you can get to know them better. I did not consider utilizing Google Forms as a platform for assessments in subject areas. This makes perfect sense, though, because assessments are a form of gathering data and they are important for determining where students stand in their learning journeys. I have found in my exploration of Google Forms that it is a handy tool for students with disabilities and special needs. As an educator you can differentiate the Google Form assessment to meet the needs of a specific student or groups of students. You can utilize the same content area but produce several levels of assessment utilizing Google Forms for the four student performance levels (Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced). Educators can tailor the form assessment to meet the specific needs of all learners.
For my Google Forms assessment, I created an assessment for a 3rd Grade Social Studies unit on Maps and Globes. I created this assessment with built in scaffolds to help my students with disabilities. I made sure to use a clear font and bolded different parts of text that were important to remember or may be helpful. I also added recordings of the description and questions. The combination of these two accommodations is very helpful for learners with visual impairment or dyslexia. I also included a video at the beginning that can be used as a reference for students who may struggle with recall. Please note, this video is supplemental to classroom instruction, but can be used throughout the assessment to help students with their quiz. The video is a great tool for students with ADHD.
All of my questions utilize images. I wanted the assessment to be visually pleasing and capture the attention of my students. In most of my questions I also provided some blatantly wrong and silly answers to help direct the students to the correct choice. Many of the questions utilize multiple choice or dropdown selection as they form of the question. This helps students with process of elimination skills. This is good for students who get overwhelmed by too many words, like students with dyslexia. Google Forms is also great because students can type their answers to short answer or long answer questions. This is helpful for students with dysgraphia. Since Google Forms are on a digital device, students with talk to text accommodations may be able to fill these forms our more easily. If a student needs more time to complete the assessment, a Google Form can be easily sent to an email address where a student can complete an assessment, wherever they have access to email.
Google Forms is a great platform to create individualized assessments based on the students’ needs. With the ability to adapt the text, add visuals, add audio and video, the Google Form assessment can be extremely interactive and beneficial to all types of learners. I look forward to utilizing this tool in my future classroom as a special education teacher.