Google Forms
Name, Abbreviation, and Number of Course
Environmental Conservation (ES) 978: Conservation Fundraising
Name of Activity or Assignment
Aleia McCord | USAID-DIV Grant Proposals | Grant Evaluation Form
Description and Purpose of Engagement Tool
Google Forms is a free tool that is part of UW-Madison Google Apps. A Google Form is an easy way to collect anonymous data in a systematic way. Forms can also be embedded into a course site. They allow instructors to quickly gather data from a class in a way that is searchable and organized. Instructors can easily have the form locked down to just one class, making it FERPA compliant. This tool is an asynchronous tool, meaning students can use the tool when convenient to them and it does not have to be administered synchronously. This allows students in different time zones and/or work schedules to participate in the activity when it is appropriate for them to do so. The tool is easy to set up as there is a lot of documentation online regarding tips and tricks along with robust tutorials on how to use Google Forms.
Description and Purpose of Activity or Assignment
In this activity students were to read a grant and then evaluate it using the Grant Evaluation Form. Part of the final project was to peer review other proposals, and this activity occurred multiple times throughout the semester in order for students to practice reading and reviewing grants. This activity was designed to quickly collect data on students’ ability to review a grant using the Grant Rubric Assessment Guide. The choice to use Google Forms came about because they are easy to embed in a course and allow the instructor to collect the review feedback in an auto-generated, systematic way. Each Google Forms were anonymous (although you can easily ask students for their name and have the activity graded). The instructor used the feedback collected in the Google Form to follow up with the class on trends and/or issues she noticed. This allows for a more customized learning experience for each cohort that takes this class, as they all come in with different background experience and knowledge gaps.
Learning Objectives Associated with Engagement Tool
- Recognize the key elements of a successful grant application
- Critically evaluate grants from local conservation organizations
- Support and learn from your classmates as you share advice and thoughtful feedback.
- Prepare and revise a draft grant proposal that includes: project summary, background/justification, description of team/partnerships, budget, timeline, and outcomes.
Preparation Details of Activity or Assignment
After the Google Form was created, it was very easy to re-create (copy) them for all the grants in the course and place them in the course using the auto-generated embed code for each form. For this activity the form was identical to the Grant Rubric Assessment Guide students will use to assess their peers’ grants as part of the final project in this course. The purpose of this activity was for students to practice assessing grants. Using the same form for all grant assessment activities is a strategy to get students accustomed to looking for specific elements in a grant proposal.
Instructions were very basic for students, as the Google Forms were embedded in the pages with the grants; they only needed to be prompted to fill out the form after reading a grant. Some special considerations when using this tool are that you will have to re-create a Google Form each semester because otherwise it will have old data attached to it. Also, when you create the Google Form, you will have to share it with other Instructors or TAs that need to see the results because otherwise they won’t have access to the data, as only the person who created the form will automatically have the data. In some cases, this could be a useful tool for students to see and use the data. When extracting the data out of the form, it automatically populates a designated Google Sheet. This data can be exported as an excel document or a PDF.
Student Instructions for Activity or Assignment
Read over grant, and then fill out the Grant Evaluation Form. The purpose of this form is to practice evaluation grants using the Grant Rubric Assessment Guide. When you are done reviewing the grant, take a poll that asks if you think the grant was accepted, then listen to the audio podcast of the grant writing explain the grant writing process they took to write this particular grant.
Assessment/Grading Criteria for Activity or Assignment
This activity was not graded. The anonymous data collected from the Google Forms was used to steer additional discussions and news feed items consisting of clarifying and supplementary readings depending on the form results which helped indicate students’ knowledge gaps/additional learning needs. Although this activity will not be directly assessed, the feedback and additional support materials students will receive from doing this activity will aid them in the final assessment for this course: peer evaluation of a grant using the same rubric.
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