Tired of all the Grading....part 4

If you are just joining the 4:1 Tech Challenge, I have been sharing about time-saving grading solutions. After reading about the four resources I review, I challenge you to choose one of the solutions and give it a try. 

This week I'm sharing I'm sharing about the final grading solution in this series: Google Forms and Flubaroo. If you are part of a Google Apps for Education school, this may just be the one for you. At the end of this post, I compare all four grading solutions.

Forms & Flubaroo

What it does: creates digital assessments, grades automatically, analyzes answers

NOTE: This is a combination of tools: Google Forms, Google Sheets, and the Flubaroo add-on

Tech level: High, each student needs a device - works best for 1:1 or BYOD; can be complicated with shared devices, especially shared iPads

Commitment level: None, Google Apps are free and Flubaroo is a free Google Sheets add-on

Devices:

• teachers - desktop, laptop, Android device; making a form with an iPad is awkward because there is no app
• students - use any device with a browser

What it offers:

• digital assessment creation using Google Forms
• item analysis and detailed reports that are exportable with Google Sheets and Flubaroo
• a variety of answer choices (multiple choice, yes/no, true/false, fill-in-blank, checkboxes,etc.)
• grade delivery through email

Time to set up:

• If you already use Google Apps for Education, little setup time is involved. It took me about five minutes to make a ten question assessment, and less than one minute to get the Flubaroo add-on in Google Sheets. I also spent about two-three minutes setting up a QR code generator.  

What I did: I wrote a ten question assessment using multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and a number scale. I emailed the assessment to one student, but I also made a QR code with the Form URL. I had my students scan the QR code with the iPads and Android phone. I had another student access the assessment through email. All devices worked fine for taking the assessment. I also completed the assessment myself so I would have an answer key.

After the students were done, I chose to view responses in Sheets. A spreadsheet was automatically created. In the Sheet, I chose Add-ons, chose Flubaroo, then walked through the steps to grade the spreadsheet. It took less than a minute to grade all the responses. Flubaroo created an item analysis and allowed me to see how individual students performed.  

Why it’s a game changer:

• Time saver!
• You can use a variety of questions.
• It provides color-coded  item analysis.
• If you have students enter an email on the Form, or if you are a Google Apps for Education school, Flubaroo has an option to have the grades automatically emailed.

What I learned that you should know BEFORE using:

• In Forms, be sure to check the settings before sending the form.
• You can shuffle question order to deter cheating. If you do this, don’t number the questions. 
• Be sure to mark “can submit only 1 response” if you don’t want students taking the assessment over and over again.
• You can add images and even videos.
• In Flubaroo, you have grading options for each Form question: normal, skip, and grade by hand.
• Flubaroo will accept more than one correct answer. This is handy if there is a fill-in-the-blank and you want to accept alternate spellings, or if there is more than one acceptable answer. When you fill out the form for the answer key, type %or between all acceptable choices. Flubaroo has a great explanation on their help center.
• Understanding the different question types in Forms is important. Synergyse has a great tutorial.

Now let’s compare the four grading tools:

Tool	Cost	Students need device	Need to set up classes	Item analysis	Track student performance
ZipGrade	free to try; $6.99/yr	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
TheAnswerPad	free basic/ $19.99/yr	Yes	Yes, students can self register	Yes	Yes
Socrative	free	Yes	No	Yes	No
Forms & Flubaroo	free	Yes	No	Yes	With effort

Now, which one are you going to start trying this week? You deserve to get some of your time back. It is worth the effort to get one of these solutions working for you. Let's get some comments flowing. Share which one you plan to use, and if you have questions or need some help, use the contact form on the right to let me know.