Technology plays a big role in how teachers and students interact in digital classrooms. With more schools embracing online or hybrid learning, tools like Google Forms have become essential for educators.

Google Forms is a simple tool that makes life easier for teachers in so many ways. Its user-friendly interface means you don’t need to be a tech expert to take advantage of its features. 

From the youngest kindergarten learners to college grads, everyone can benefit from this easy-to-use tool.

In this article, I will talk about some uses of Google Forms for education, how to integrate it into your Google Workspace, and a few Google Form tips to help you get the most out of it. 

Let’s get started. 

4 Ways to use Google Forms for education purposes

Google Forms for teachers simplifies the process of collecting assignments, creating quizzes, and gathering feedback. Instead of dealing with piles of paper or sorting through countless emails, teachers can manage everything from a single platform.

Some of the best Google Forms uses for education include:

Tracking attendance

Tracking attendance is a daily task that can be streamlined with Google Forms. Instead of manually calling out names, create a simple form where students mark their own attendance.

All the answers go into a spreadsheet, so you have a nice, neat list of who showed up. You can see who's missing at a glance and even use the data to spot patterns in attendance. 

Plus, it's way faster than counting heads or marking names on a paper list.

Here’s how to use Google Forms for tracking attendance:

1. Open Google Forms and start a new form.

2. Add fields for students to enter their name, date, and class.

3. Add a dropdown or multiple-choice question for students to select their attendance status (Present, Absent, Late).

4. Share the form link with students at the beginning of each class, or embed it in Google Classroom.

5. Check the “Responses” tab to see who’s present, and download the data to a spreadsheet if needed.

Quizzes & assessments

Google Forms in the classroom is an ideal tool for creating assessments and quizzes. It’s simple to use and offers various question types that allow you to test students' knowledge in multiple ways. 

To create quizzes in Google Forms for education, follow these steps: 

1. Create a new Google Form and select the “Blank Quiz” option.

2. Enter your questions into the form. Mix different question types to suit your needs, such as multiple-choice for quick assessments or short answers for more detailed responses.

3. For each question, mark the correct answer and assign a point value for automatic grading.

4. Adjust settings to control how students take the quiz. For example, you can shuffle question order or limit quiz attempts.

5. Distribute the quiz by sharing a link, emailing it to students, or posting it in Google Classroom. 

6. After students submit their quizzes, review their responses in the “Responses” tab.

Collecting assignments

With Google Forms, students can upload different assignments, such as essays and presentations. Teachers can easily manage and organize these submissions.

One reason Google Forms is a better fit for collecting assignments is its simplicity. Students can upload their work directly through a form without the need for email attachments or printing out papers. Everything stays in one place, which makes it easier to track who has submitted what and when.

1. Open Google Forms and start a new form.

2. Create “Short answer” questions for students to enter their name and class.

3. Click the “+” icon, select “File upload,” and set allowed file types and size limits.

4. In “Settings,” choose whether to collect email addresses or limit responses to one per student.

5. Send the form and view the responses under the “Responses” tab. All files are automatically saved in your Google Drive.

Creating polls

Google Forms isn't specifically built for polls and lacks the advanced features found on dedicated polling platforms. Additionally, it doesn’t offer any default templates for polls. 

However, Google Forms for polling is still a convenient and user-friendly choice for basic polls.

For polling with Google Forms, follow these steps: 

1. Open Google Forms and start a new form.

2. Add a question and choose “Multiple choice” or “Checkboxes” as the question type.

3. Enter your poll question and list the answer choices.

4. Make questions required, shuffle answer options, and add sections as needed.

Integrating Google Forms with other Google tools

Integrating Google Forms for education with other Google tools can improve your workflow. 

Google Sheets

One of the best ways to use Google Forms in education is by linking it to Google Sheets. When you sync a Google Form to a Sheet, every answer people give is neatly placed into a row and column.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Create your Google Form with all the questions you need.

2. Click on the “Responses” tab, then hit the green Sheets icon to link your form to a new or existing Google Sheet.

3. Now, every response will automatically show up in your linked Sheet, ready for you to work with.

Google classroom

Google Classroom is another great tool for educators, and integrating it with Google Forms can simplify the way you assign and grade quizzes. When you use Google Forms for quizzes, you can automatically send the results to Google Classroom. 

To connect your Form with Google Classroom: 

1. Start by creating a quiz in Google Forms.

2. Open Google Classroom, create a new assignment and choose “Quiz assignment” to attach your quiz.

3. When students finish the quiz, their grades will automatically appear in the Classroom’s gradebook.

Google drive

When creating a Google Form for education, you can choose where to save it within your Drive. Saving it on Drive keeps things organized and ensures you always know where your data is stored.

To set it up: 

1. Create your Google Form.

2. Click the three dots in the upper-right corner of the Form and select “Add collaborators” to control who can access it.

3. In Drive, create a folder where you want to store your Form and its responses.

4. Move your Form into this folder. 

Google calendar

If you’re using Google Forms to register people for an event or schedule an appointment, you can manually add their details to a Google Calendar event or use add-ons to automate this process.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Create your Google Form with the necessary questions for your event or schedule.

2. Use a Google Forms add-on like "Form Scheduler" to automatically create Calendar events based on Form responses.

3. Alternatively, you can manually add responses to your Google Calendar by creating an event and adding the details from your Form.

Advanced features and customizations

Google Forms also has some nifty features that aren’t immediately obvious but can be game-changers in an educational setting. 

Branching logic

Branching logic, also known as conditional branching, is a feature that lets you create a form where the questions adapt based on the respondent’s previous answers. 

It is particularly useful for creating targeted surveys or quizzes for different student groups or for directing students to questions that match their understanding level.

Add-Ons

If you haven’t explored add-ons for Google Forms, you’re missing out on some serious time-savers. These are mini-apps on Chrome Web Store that supercharge what your forms can do. 

There are add-ons in Google Forms for education that can automate grading, generate documents from form responses, manage choice options, and more.

Need to automatically grade quizzes? There’s an add-on for that. Want to generate certificates or reports from form responses? Yep, there’s an add-on for that too. 

Custom themes

Google Forms has some built-in themes, but why settle for average when you can customize the appearance of your Forms? Choose specific colors and fonts, and add a header image that aligns with your school’s branding or the theme of your lesson. 

Customization makes the form more visually appealing and also creates a more cohesive and professional look for your educational materials.

Integration with third-party app

Google Forms can play nice with other apps too. You can connect your forms to platforms like Zapier, Trello, or Slack to automate workflows, manage projects, and streamline communication. 

These integrations help you manage multiple tasks and stay organized without being overwhelmed. 

For example, you can automate tasks by sending form responses directly to a Trello board or notify your team in Slack whenever someone submits a form. 

Formaloo: A better alternative to Google Forms!

While Google Forms for education is quite popular, it has its limitations in design and functionality. If you’re looking for a more flexible and feature-rich alternative to Google Forms, Formaloo is worth considering.

Formaloo offers everything Google Forms does and goes a step further with extensive customization options. You can fully personalize your forms with custom colors, fonts, and logos. 

Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to add and rearrange questions without hassle.

Beyond basic form creation, Formaloo provides advanced features such as over 200 templates compared to Google Forms' limited selection. The enhanced analytics and reporting tools in Formaloo offer deeper insights into your data, which Google Forms lacks.

Try Formaloo for free today!