Creating Online Surveys

Billanook PS

October 15, 2009

Why survey?

There are occasions when surveying is a very useful to

1. the classroom teacher

2. the teacher with a special responsibility or leadership position

Surveys can be used

1. to collect information from students

2. as a learning activity for students

3. to collect information from colleagues

4. to collect information from parents

Advantages of online surveys

• Reduces paper use, so more environmentally friendly

• Responses can be obtained quickly• Can be done anywhere, anytime• Legible• Data collated for you• Can include geographically disparate groups• Can be linked from school website or wiki to

encourage greater access of this facility

Collecting information from students

There are many occasions where you may want to collect information from your students:

• feedback on learning activities,

• formative assessments to assist your design of new units,

• reflections on learning,

• opinions and preferences to inform democratic processes such as class decisions

• tests

• voting in your classroom

The possibilities are endless…………………..

Learning activities for studentsAlternatively, students may be collecting information as part of a learning activity and may need to design a survey.

The data students collect could:

• form the basis of a Maths graphing activity

• assist SRC students to make recommendations and

decisions

• provide evidence for a persuasive text /

argumentative essay

• test fellow students’ knowledge of a research topic

• etcetera

Collecting information from colleagues

Teachers with a special responsibility or leadership position may need to collect data from colleagues, such as:

• strategies used in various areas of teaching and learning

• PD needs

• feedback / evaluation of school PD

• feedback on student observations

• grade and allotment preferences

• resource needs

• staff welfare

• suggestions of dates venues for staff functions!!

• opinions re new building designs / facilities

• opinions re priorities for budget expenditures

Collecting information from parents

Parents might be surveyed to ascertain information such as:• how they can support their children with their learning for instance, skill level development in areas of numeracy or literacy

• areas in which they could volunteer support to the school

• feedback about facilities around the school

• fundraising ideas

• elaboration on department parent opinion surveys

Online Survey Options

• Free online surveys

• Zoomerang

• eSurveyspro

• Survey Monkey

• Poll Daddy

• Google Docs

• and many others

Let’s try a survey

Go to the following link and complete the survey: SURVEY

or go to the wiki and click on the survey linkyarrarangesnetwork@wikispaces.com upcoming professional learning

Let’s analyse the data….Go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/Default.aspx and login

Survey Monkey Click here to set up an account

Click here to

create account

If you already have an account, login

When you login you get an account summary; to create a survey click here

Once you have created a survey, you have the option to copy existing surveys, otherwise, simply check create a new survey from scratch and then choose a title for the survey

Finally, click “Create survey”

Select a theme Give the page a name

Question types

Design Survey

Collect Responses

You can collect responses by placing a link in an email or embedding a link in a webpage or wiki page

There is a default setting for survey monkey surveys which does not allow multiple responses per computer – this is to guard against individuals completing multiple survey responses and therefore skewing the results.

However, in a school where multiple students need to access the same computers it is often necessary to change this setting. Simply go to “change settings”.

Analyse results

In the free basic account you can view a summary of all respondents expressed both in raw numbers and percentages.

You can also browse all individual responses which are arranged chronologically according to date / time of response.

Other features are only available if you upgrade to a professional account which $20 US per month

Poll Daddy

Create surveys or take quick polls – can be embedded into websites and wikis

Google docs

Start a Google Docs account and use a form to create a survey.

This survey can be embedded in a wiki or a link emailed to respondents