PBL: Tech Tools for Survey Data Collection

This summer, I will be teaching a district workshop titled "Designing Technology Infused Project-Based Learning Experience in the Classroom". In this workshop, we put our focus on project based learning and supplement this with technology tools that can help the PBL experience for teachers and students. When looking at the technology tools, one classification of tools is "Survey Tools". Surveys are great for collecting data that can provide real world feedback in a PBL lesson/unit. These are several tools that we intend to highlight.


Survey Tools
1. Microsoft SharePoint - If your district uses Microsoft SharePoint, you may have the ability to use the survey tool. The great asset to using an in-house resource is that you have all the data stored internally. This is great from a security standpoint. The downside is that people outside your active directory cannot take the survey.

2. Google Docs - I think this is the best survey tool that you can use. Anyone can access the survey (using a Google Form) and the results are put into a spreadsheet for you. The creation of a Google form is so simple too.

Just open up http://docs.google.com and click the create button (You must be signed into your Google Account). Choose "Form" from the drop down menu.

Develop your questions and type them in. You can use a variety of question types such as multiple choice, open response, short text answers, etc. Initially, you have space for two questions. To add more, click the "Add Item" button in the upper left corner. When you are finished, the link at the bottom of the form can be added as a link to a website, to post on a social media site, or email. There is the ability to embed on a web page too.

Information collected from the form feeds directly into a spreadsheet in your Google Doc. 

3. There are also several free survey tools that we will be showing. Both are very similar and give you limited features and survey participants for free. They are free and easy to setup but they do come with some limitations, but will probably be good enough for most applications. 

http://www.freeonlinesurveys.com/

http://www.esurveycreator.com/

I am looking forward to teaching this workshop and exploring more tools that can infused in Project-based learning. This is technology that actually works!

If you have additional resources to share or have questions, leave a comment or contact me on twitter @itechbob