We’ve covered Google Forms before, but they are probably my most important use of Google—next to Gmail, of course—and I just had to give them an update shout-out. I use them both at my church and at my full-time job as a teacher.
There are probably an infinite number of practical applications for these forms, but here’s two uses from the trenches:
Tracking People & Event Sign-Up
Our pastor, genius that he is, dreamed up the idea of using a Google Form as a way for people to “check in” on Sunday mornings while also signing up for activities being held throughout the month. You see, we used to suffer from a severe case of “Sign-Up Sheet Fever,” wherein every activity had a sign-up sheet at our information desk. Some weeks, there would be over a dozen sheets of paper at the desk, overwhelming even our most active parishioners.
By using this simple Google Form, which our people turn into a web app on their home screen, we’ve begun to shift our people to a digital, paper-less mindset. Of course, we still use paper for our older parishioners, but even with them, we have shifted from a sign-up sheet for every event to a single “connection card” that they fill-out each week, marking which events they will be attending. So, essentially, our Google Form has been placed on paper for their convenience.
Activating Prior Knowledge & Summarizing Learning
As a teacher, it’s important for me to make use of every minute of class time, while getting as many snapshots of my students’ understanding as possible. To that end, I employ two Google Forms as bookends for my academic week. On Monday mornings, or at the beginning of a new unit, I have my students complete a Google Form embedded on our class website called the “Do Now.” With this form, I ask them a few simple questions aimed at reminding them of what they’ve previously learned. We call this “activating prior knowledge,” which is essential if you want to connect that old knowledge to some new concept. At the same time, it’s not only important to review old material before learning new material, but it’s also key to review new material before students head out for a weekend filled with Call of Duty or One Direction. To that end, I have my students complete another form on our website called the “3-2-1,” which asks them a variety of questions aimed at making them summarize what they’ve learned during the week.
So, those are my biggest applications of Google Forms. I hope that you’re inspired to make use of these forms in your church or personal life.
How do you use Google Forms?
If you haven’t used them yet, why not?
Shaun D. McMillan says
I used a google spreadsheet to keep track of a token rewards system that doled out class cash for research work turned in during the first 6 weeks of my high school graphic design class. They had to earn $1200 of class currency to pay the deposit on their iMac provided by the school. http://drawalot.com/learn/class-income-spreadsheet-now-available/
Phil Schneider says
That’s awesome, Shaun. Very cool & very practical. Thanks for the comment.
Brad Caldwell says
Phil – Could you provide a link or show an example of what your church uses? I’ve been thinking about trying to get into using Google Forms for things recently, but haven’t come up with a good way to present it to the pastor.
Phil Schneider says
Good point, Brad. I wanted to provide a link, but didn’t want my church secretary to inundated with a ton of random check-ins.
Here’s a link to a duplicate. Feel free to go all the way through, as if you were checking in, to get a feel for how it works. It does work on mobile devices, though it’s not always easy to read/respond.
http://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFAzUGdwakstb0hhWGpKeWpWdURuelE6MA
Chris Gambill says
Phil,
Thanks for providing the sample form. Very much appreciated. I noticed that one of the fields was where people could request receiving texts, and they had to provide their mobile number and provider. How are y’all implementing that?
Phil Schneider says
You’re welcome. As for as the texting goes, we use a ChMS that I’ll leave unnamed as I don’t have anything positive to say about it.
Caleb Warren says
Great article. I got into using Google Forms for a my church, but then realized that it wasn’t a good fit for our church. With a larger congregation, we needed something that could accept payments and was a little more in depth. Google Forms are great and simple, but I needed them to go a little above and beyond what they can currently do.
Phil Schneider says
Thanks for the comment, Caleb. What did you end up using instead of Google Forms?
Caleb Warren says
Whoops! Ha. Forgot to mention in my original post…
Wufoo.
Phil Schneider says
I see. It looks pretty cool. Which plan do you have, if I may ask?
Caleb Warren says
We have the ad hoc plan. You can adjust which plan you have by upgrading and downgrading. We are starting cheap and then adjusting as needed.
Phil Schneider says
Very cool. I’m going to pass this on to my lead pastor. Thanks!