Students' perceptions of formative assessments using Google Forms

Abstract

Careful planning and implementation of using web tools to administer formative assessments is required to assure successful instruction (Cohen, & Sasson, 2016). Therefore, this study has examined the perceptions students have of using Google Forms as an online formative assessment in order to improve future instructional design. Specifically, this study has asked:  What are grade 11 chemistry students' perceptions of using Google Forms as an online formative assessment? Online formative assessments using Google Forms had several advantages: students got immediate feedback, students got to retry as often as they wanted, students were able to use any internet capable device and students were able to complete them at any time. There were 24 participants recruited from a French grade 11 chemistry class at École Aux quatre vents. During the course of this research, data was collected from the online formative assessments of the last module of the chemistry course and students were invited to complete a survey that contained approximately 30 Likert-type statements which were delivered using Google Forms. All of the formative assessments’ data was analyzed and correlations with the perceptions survey and summative assessments were calculated to find tendencies and analyze the results. It was hypothesized that data would emerge and suggest better ways of using and implementing Google Forms as a formative assessment tool and hopefully determine if students found the use of Google Forms as an assessment to be beneficial.The results have confirmed that students do feel that online formative assessments have improved their grade, that they are easy to complete and are not perceived as extra work or a burden. Also, this research has generated new ideas that will improve future online formativeassessments and how they are administered.