What's New with Google?

If you've been hiding under a rock lately, you may have missed some of the changes that occurred with Google over the past 2 weeks.  Personally, I've been meaning to write this post for about a week, so I am a little late to the game myself.  But for those of you who haven't heard, I thought I would give you some insight into some of the changes going on with Google.

GAFE is now GSuite

The suite of tools offered by Google that we used to know as Google Apps for Education and Google for Work has been renamed GSuite.  This set of tools still includes Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and Sites, as well as others, and is still accessible through Google Drive.  It just has a new name.  If you are new to GSuite (Formerly GAFE), check out this link.  Your District can access GSuite for free and use all these wonderful tools to go paperless.  You just need to sign up.  You can also find out about all the extra benefits you get from using Google For Education rather than a personal Google Account.

The Explore Tool Has Replaced the Research Tool

In a bit of a controversial move on Google's part, the Research Tool found in Docs and Slides has been replaced with the Explore tool.  The Explore tool was originally introduced as a Google Sheets feature, and can still be found there as a quick way to format Sheets and add Charts and Graphs.  However, according to many posts and comments on the internet, users are upset at the loss of the Citation Tool found in the Research Tool.  In spite of these concerns, the addition of the Explore Tool to Slides and Docs means that you'll gain some really cool design features. 

Here's what you get:

• Sheets
• I recently posted an article about many of the Explore features in Sheets.  Check it out here.  Here is the short list.
• Ask questions about your Data
• Format Sheets with alternating colors for each row of data
• Learn about Formulas from your Data
• Insert Charts and Graphs quickly

Source:  https://docs.googleblog.com/2016/09/ExploreinDocsSheetsSlides.html

• Docs
• Much like the original research tool, you can use explore to:
• Gain insights about information in your doc.
• Get suggestions for content to add to your doc.
• Topics
• Images
• Research

Source:  https://docs.googleblog.com/2016/09/ExploreinDocsSheetsSlides.html

• Slides
• Add suggested Themes to slides quickly
• Get suggestions for the layout of your content

Source:  https://docs.googleblog.com/2016/09/ExploreinDocsSheetsSlides.html

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't highlight some of the consumer additions that Google announced this week.  As part of their new family of tools, Google has added:

• The Google Pixel Phone 
• Google Assistant Built In
• 12.3 MP Camera
• Unlimited Storage - Photos and Videos
• Ability to transfer files from your old phone directly
• Pre-Orders will get a free Daydream View VR Headset
• Google Home
• Voice Activated Google Assistant
• Google's Answer to Amazon's personal assistant technology
• Voice Control of Smart Devices
• Chromecast Ultra
• Like the Chromecast, but allows streaming of 4K Ultra HD and HDR
• Google WiFi
• Whole-Home Coverage for Wifi

Learn from the Google Sheets Explore Button

Just yesterday, I posted a few tips about using Google Sheets.  One new item about Google Sheets that just keeps getting better is the Explore Button.  

If you haven't noticed this little gem, that's because it is hidden at the bottom right corner of your Sheets screen.

While the Explore button has been there for a little while, it has recently gotten a few updates.  Let's take a look at what the Explore button can do...

Get Answers About Your Data

One really cool features in Explore is the Answers section.  At the top of any Explore pane, you will see a search box that says, "Ask a question about your data".  So for instance, with the demo sheet available with the new explore button, there is a great deal of data about the World Cup.  You could simply type in "Who was the winner?" and get a quick answer about that data.

Learn from the Formula

Want to know how they did that?  With any question you ask you can click See Formula and see the Sheets formula used to find the data related to your question.  For example, in a question about who the winner is, Sheets uses the unique filter to arrive at the answer:  

=UNIQUE(FILTER(D2:D21,D2:D21<>""))

Once you find your answer, and view the formula, you can click on the formula and it will be copied to your clipboard so you can use it and apply it elsewhere.  This is a great way to learn more about the use of Functions and Formulae.

Add Formatting Quickly

In my previous post (5 Tips for Google Sheets Users) I discussed some of the simple formatting you can do to your Sheet.  For example, there is a quick way to add alternating colors to your sheet.  Want to save a few steps?  Use the Explore button.

Insert Charts In A Snap

You can also get suggestions for Data Charts and Graphs quickly.  Just click on Explore, find the chart or graph you want, and click & drag it onto your Sheet.  You can also click the Pencil on the Graph to quickly edit or make changes to your new Graph.  

5 Tips for Google Sheets Users

Not many out there will admit to being spreadsheet fanatics, but I gotta say - I love spreadsheets.  There was a time when the mere mention of a spreadsheet made me cringe.  But now that I know more about them, I use them all the time.  For those of you that are just starting, check out my tutorials on Google Sheets.  Then grab these 5 tips to help you be more productive.  

Alternate Table Colors

If you love Table Formatting in Excel, you've probably looked for it in Sheets.  There are often times that you need to be able to discern between one row of data and another and you scan your sheet.  To make it easier on your eyes, just Highlight your rows, click on Format, and choose Alternating Colors.

Simple Database Using Links

Since there is no Microsoft Access alternative in the world of Google, you have to get a little creative to create a database.  Sometimes just being able to link between sheets can be necessary.  To get really complicated with linking sheets, check out this video.  But for a simple solution, just highlight a cell, and click Insert > Link to add a link to  a URL or another Google File.  Don't know the link you're looking for?  You can search for it.  You can even search your own sheets in Drive as a link. See below.  

Search Across Workbooks in a Sheet

Too many workbooks in a Sheet can create an issue when you are trying to find information. To do this,  Click CTRL+F.  Then click the More menu (3 dots).  Make sure to set search to All Sheets.  Then search for your keyword or term.

Quit Scrolling Back and Forth - Freeze Your Sheet

When you have a great deal of data across columns, the last thing you need to do is scroll back and forth or highlight rows to make sure you are looking at the right line of data. Save yourself some hassle by freezing columns or rows as needed.  To do this, Click View and Choose Freeze.  You have the choice of freezing 1, 2 or more rows and columns.

Get Notified!

Need to stay up to date on when information is added to a shared form?  Maybe you are collecting data on student progress and have shared your sheet with another teacher or two.  As they add information to your shared sheet, you can save yourself the pain of checking back over and over again for changes by setting up notifications.  To do this, click Tools > Notification Rules and make your selections.

Google Slides - Making Presenter View Work for You

Recently, a reader posted the following question for the Techy Coach:

"I watched your video on the new back  channel available in the presenter view with Google Slides.  How do you as a presenter see this view without the audience seeing it also?"

This question comes up quite often, so I thought I would post this updated explanation about Presenter View to cover some of the features involved.

What is Presenter View for Google Slides?

Several months ago, Google released an update to Google Slides that allows presenters to take questions from the audience.  But its much more than that.  In addition to taking questions from the audience, you can control your presentation from the Presenter View Dashboard, use audience tools to display questions from audience members to the entire audience, and access a back-channel of questions from any presentation in the future.

Getting Started...

To use Presenter View...

1. Open any Google Slides Presentation.
2. On the Present button, click the Drop Down menu and Choose Presenter View
3. Click Start New

Google will provide a URL address at the top of your slides that audience members can use to ask questions.  They can access this address from any mobile device.  Audience members can choose to ask questions using their profile name, or anonymously.

As audience members ask questions, they will appear in the Audience Tools pane.   If you want to present an audience member's question, you can click the Present button beneath their question.

Additionally, you can control your presentation from this window by using the presenter tools.  This allows you to move forward or backward in your presentation, and access speaker notes if you have them.

At any time, if you want to stop taking questions, just toggle the On/Off switch, and the URL will disappear from the top of your presentation, and Slides will stop taking questions.

How Do I Present My Slide Show?

The main question that pops up when using Google Slides Presenter View, as shown in the question at the start of this article, is how to display without your audience seeing your presenter tools.  

The quick answer to this is to change the display settings on your device to Extended Desktop.  However, there is not a quick way to explain how this works on different devices.  Here are a few explanations.

On a Chromebook, you can simply follow these instructions:

1. Click on the Status Area in the bottom right of your display (clock).
2. Choose Settings
3. Choose Display Settings
4. Change Options from Mirroring to Extended Display.

For a Windows

1. Right click on your display.
2. Choose Graphic Options > Output to > Extended Desktop.

By setting up your device and projector as Extended Desktop, you can then present your slide show on the Projected Screen, while viewing the Audience Tools on your device.  

This allows you to see your presenter tools, questions from the audience, and any speaker notes you need to access while all they see is your slide show.

Accessing Questions from Previous Sessions

As you use Google Slides Presenter View over and over, you will notice the option to Continue Recent or Start New.  As a result, you can continue a previous session, adding new questions to old questions, or you can start a fresh session with new audience questions.

As for old sessions, you can access questions from previous sessions at any time.  To do this:

1. In the Google Slides Editor, Click Tools
2. Choose Q&A History
3. A pane will open at the right of your slide show displaying your Q&A History from previous sessions.
4. Click on any date to view audience questions.

Hopefully this helps to answer questions you may have had about Presenter View on Google Slides.  This is a great tool that has many great applications including fielding questions from:

• Audiences at Conferences and Exhibitor Shows
• Students in Class
• Faculty and Staff during Professional Development
• Google Hangouts / YouTube Live
• Parent Meetings

However you plan to use it, always make sure to test it out in advance so you are comfortable with use and settings involved.

Happy Presenting!

Tracking Student Progress and Attendance in Google Sheets

This week, a question to the Techy Coach asks how a coach or teacher might use Google Sheets to track student progress, as well as attendance.

From this I know that there are many times as educators that you want to log data regarding student performance.  Specifically you may want to track Reading Fluency or Cross Country/Run Times, while still having the ability to see a visual of their progress over time.  Google Sheets can help with this, as well as Attendance needs by using a few simple tools.  The video below will specifically cover:

• Sparkline Charts
• Data Validation
• Conditional Formatting

Take a look and see how Google Sheets can help you with your club sponsor and coaching needs.  Design  your Google Sheet to fit your needs, then once you have your sheet setup, you can access it on a phone or tablet as you meet for practice or meetings.

Get Training with the Techy Coach

Are you new to Google Apps for Education?  If you are, grasping some of the more intricate tips and tools can be a lot to take in all at once.  You need training on your time from someone who knows Google Apps!

That's why the Techy Coach blog offers specialized online courses on Google Apps!  Try one of these courses to get you started:





Let Google Drive Take the Wheel

Still shackled to the big box suite of software on your PC? 
Want to learn the first steps to creating a paperless classroom?
Unplug and go mobile with Google Drive. 
This course will help you become more productive while learning how to:

• Upload and Store Files in the Cloud.
• Manage your files and access them from anywhere.
• Collaborate with others in real-time.
• Create and share documents with others.

___________________________________________________________________

The Google Forms Guidebook

Heard of Google Forms, but you're just not sure what it can do for you?  This course will walk you through how Google Forms works, from start to finish. 

• Learn the basics of what Google Forms can do.
• Uncover advanced features you didn't know about.
• Discover ways to use forms that stretch beyond basic polling.
• You'll be making polls, surveys, assessments, and learning activities in no time!

Google Apps Continues to Evolve - Hangouts and Google+

As we learned a few weeks ago, Google Hangouts on Air will soon switch to YouTube Live!  Yesterday, Google announced more changes that will take place with Google Hangouts.  

Starting on August 31st, changes to the Google Hangouts Chrome Extension will be made to make the Chat Feature a bit more user friendly.  These changes will become the default view for new users.  If you are a new user, you'll find that the extension will make the chat feature easy to use, as well as easy to manage when viewing multiple conversations.  If you are an existing user, you'll have the opportunity to opt in to the new features, or stay with the current interface.  

This is much like the experience users have had with Google+ over the past year.  Speaking of Plus, Google announced earlier this week, that the New Google+ interface is now the default option, but if you still want to use the old interface, you can by clicking Back to the Classic Google+

Now, all that being said, if you are a new user to these tools, they can be very powerful tools!  Here are a few things to think about when using each tool.

Google Hangouts - 

• Virtual meetings - use hangouts to have a meeting  - chat or video - without leaving your office.
• As a collaboration tool - use the chat feature to take notes during a virtual meeting.
• Virtual Field Trips - turn conversations into video calls.
• Co-Teaching - Use Hangouts to present to two classes at once with a co-teacher.  Next door, or across the country.
• Chat as a group - you can chat with up to 10 users on a free account, or more with a GAFE account.  
• Present during a Virtual Meeting - Share your screen during a video call.

Google+ - 

• Share your Interests - Create a collection, as a class or individual project.
• Create Communities - Use Google+ communities to collaborate, share, and ask questions.  As a department, school, or district, this is a great way to keep everyone on the same page during a transition to GAFE.
• Your own Personal PLC - follow people, communities, and collections on a wide array of topics.  Check your feed and use it as your own professional learning community.  Or maybe share you knowledge with others.

As with all Google tools, the mindset is that each tool in its own way lends itself to greater productivity, whether for work or school.  But don't just use them yourself - remember students can use these tools for projects and lessons.  Try some of these features as you start the new school year.

Google Forms Update: Add Images Directly to Questions

Google released an update to Forms today that is a huge deal!  In the past, if you wanted to add an image to a Form (quiz), you could do so, but the image would be separate from the question or question set in your quiz.  The problem with this is that if you want to use the Shuffle Question Order option, you couldn't, because you could never be sure that the two would appear next to each other as they should.

Now, Google has added a feature right alongside your question, allowing you to insert an image directly into the question.  

Watch this tutorial video to see how...

A Quick Tour of the New Google Sites

As I said earlier this Summer, Google has released a new, updated version of Google Sites.  This update is not yet available to GAFE users yet, but it promises some awesome features that Google Sites users will love.

Specifically, just this week, Google announced more new features that have been added, including:

• Google Analytics integration - you can now track your site!

• Header Options - Text Only or Banner Style Header

• Awesome Table integration - Users can now embed Awesome Table

• Publishing to the web -Users can now publish sites to the web.

To take a look at what the New Google Sites looks like at this time, watch this quick tour...

Go Paperless With Hyperdocs

For an upcoming training on Chromebooks, I developed a section on Hyperdocs.  If you aren't familiar with Hyperdocs, they are essentially a Document (Google Docs, Slides, or Google Sites) set up to create an interactive and engaging lesson to help students cover a short topic or unit.

Hyperdocs can be modified for several different uses:

• Differentiation
• Collaboration
• Independent Study

This tutorial video explains some basic information on formatting a Google Doc as a Hyperdoc.  If you are interested in more information, check out "The Hyperdocs Handbook" by Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis.

Timesaver Tip: Set Up A Photo Gallery in the New Google Sites

The next timesaver tip I have to share with you involves Google Sites (both old and new) and a Class Photo Gallery.  

If you've ever set up a Google Slide show as a photo gallery and then embedded the presentation on a Google Site, you know how awesome it can be to add more photos later, and make it easy for people to view class pictures on your website.

Let's take that one step further and use a feature that is found inside Google Sites:  Insert>Google Drive>Folder.  Watch this video to see what I mean!

Timesaver Tip: Track Student Progress This Year

We all know that, as a teacher, time is a commodity that is hard to come by.  So to help you out as we approach a new school year, I'll be sharing a few posts on tips you can use to save time in the classroom.  The first of those will focus on tracking student progress. 

Many teachers have the need to track student progress over the semester, so that at the progress reporting period, they can assess whether a student has made gains or has shown a drop in their skill level.  This can be with reading, math, or almost any subject.  

But finding the time to assess each student and track data over a long period of time, without taking a huge amount of time out of your schedule can be difficult.  To make this task easier, try using a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.  There are tools available that can make the job of logging data, tracking it, and visually identifying trends, a piece of cake.

This tip utilizes Google Sheets, Conditional Formatting, and Sparklines.  If you aren't familiar with these tools in Sheets, don't worry.  The video below will explain everything.

  

GoogleFest OK 2016 - Presentations and Questions

As promised, here is the article with both of my presentations from GoogleFest OK 2016.  This event was a huge success and was an afternoon full of information and fun.  Plus it was free - Thanks to the Google Data Center in Pryor, OK and the TulsaTech Owasso Campus.



There were two tracks during the conference, so the first of the two slide shows is a Google basics treatment called Getting Started with Google Apps for Education.  The second is a quick look at Google Apps tips for advanced users, called Go! Go! Google - 25 Tips in 30 Minutes.  

Questions from the audience are posted at the end of this article, along with my answers.  Thanks to all who were in attendance!







Questions:

• Can you take your google docs with you if you leave the school district?
• Yes, you can! With graduating seniors, we help them migrate their portfolio of work from their GAFE account to a free Gmail account so they can take it with them to college. Go to https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout to download a ZIP file of all information you'd like to migrate from your old Drive account. Then decompress your ZIP file and upload the contents to your new Drive account.

• Can you translate into Cherokee? What about other native american languages?
• No. At this time you cannot. Here is the full list of languages that you can translate to:
• https://translate.google.com/about/intl/en_ALL/languages/

• How were the animations created for your presentation? Gifs?
• For my presentations I used SnagIt, which is a software that allows you to create screenshots and animated GIFs. It was available as a Chrome extension, which was created by TechSmith. While they are no longer supporting this extension in the Chrome Webstore, you can purchase the software from their website here - https://www.techsmith.com/.
• I also use Camtasia by Techsmith, which allows you to create professional quality videos.

• How does the new Google Form quizzes handle fill in the blank questions? Does it mark it for review?
• At this time, you cannot assign a correct answer or points to a short answer question. As a result, it also does not allow you to mark them. This would mean that you would need to average the score manually.
• You could use an AddOn such as Flubaroo to handle this, as it does allow you to adjust the grade after scoring short answer questions.
• Flubaroo - https://goo.gl/DralHr
• Tutorial - http://goo.gl/JXQmS8

• When docs are translated in different languages, does it change the sentence structure -- like if it changes to English to Spanish, does it put the nouns and verbs in the appropriate places?
• Yes it does. However, with any translation tool, you will want to educate students to be wary of using them to cheat in a foreign language class, as they sometimes do make mistakes. But from what I have seen and hear, foreign students have been pleased with what Google Translate does in Google Docs.

• Is the document identifier in another location (like settings) in addition to being part of the web address? Is that identifier a GUID?
• It is not located anywhere else. It is located only in the address line, as you can see in this sample address for the presentation above:
• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1avF9htF0nf7DcPesIPvmUscVOBk99vCMz2vkatSFi9o/edit?usp=sharing
• The ID for this doc is highlighted in red.


• GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) are typically used by Microsoft, and some other entities, for Java, C++, and programming uses.


• The string of characters in the address for a Google Doc is not a GUID.

• I need more information on linking sheets
• Here you go... http://www.techycoach.com/2016/02/google-sheets-import-data-from-one.html

• Is google nav in doc like verbatim? https://paperlessdebate.com
• If you are speaking of the navigation pane you can use with Google Docs (Tools>Document Outline), no. It is strictly a tool to navigate through a document using the headings of your doc.
• If you are speaking of the Research Tools in Docs and Slides, check out this tutorial to see how it compares when researching and formatting your document (https://youtu.be/spe9WoQQBJo?list=PLWs92wbpe-2ZhdIDbo9yAuGwhD2ooWGif)

• I would like to have a Google Form that is evergreen and can be updated by the student and will overwrite fields in the sheet based on log in ID of the Student. Is it possible???
• Google Forms are strictly used to gather information in a way similar to what you would find in Poll Everywhere or Survey Monkey.
• They are evergreen in the sense that they can be continually updated and utilized far into the future.
• If you have created the form, the student cannot edit it, unless you add them as a collaborator.
• It will not automatically allow you to overwrite existing fields based on Login, but you can make this happen using a script. Try this link to see how - https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/docs/GJIihaVGrJQ

• Can you import a drawing that you have already created into a Google Doc?
• There are two ways to handle this.
• You can simply open the Google Drawing, Click File>Download As and save the drawing as an image (JPG, PNG), and then insert into your document.
• Or, follow these instructions from the Google Docs Editors Help page
1. Sign in to Drive at drive.google.com.
2. Open a drawing.
3. Click the Edit menu.
4. Hover over “Web clipboard” and select Copy entire drawing to web clipboard.
5. Open the Google Doc or Slide where you want to insert the drawing.
6. Click the Edit menu > Hover over “Web clipboard” > Click the drawing name.
7. A copy of your drawing has been added to the file.

• How can I share a contact in gmail?
• To my knowledge, there is no simple way to do this in a free Gmail account, due to privacy settings in Gmail and Contacts. All information I have read is that you are only able to do this in the same domain.
• In a GAFE Gmail Account you can share your entire contact list:
1. Click on the dropdown menu in the upper left, next to the words Gmail.
2. Choose Contacts
3. Place a check next the contact you would like to share.
4. Click the More button at the top.
5. Click Manage Delegation Settings
6. Add email addresses with whom you'd like to share your contacts list.
• This is probably not the answer you were looking for, as I assume you wish to only share ONE contact, as in the form of a vCard. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do this.

• How can I convert information from a spreadsheet back into doc format without having to copy and paste every cell?
• The best solution to this issue is to use the Google Sheets AddOn, Save As Doc.
• This will allow you to convert a Google Sheet to a Google Doc.

• How did you create this page for Q&A?
• The Q&A Feature is now a full feature of Google Slides. Watch this tutorial to see how it works
• http://www.techycoach.com/2016/05/now-taking-questions-presenter-view-for.html

What If Coding Were As Easy as Playing With Blocks?

Throughout the year, I teach an online class to teachers on the topic of differentiated instruction.  One aspect of that class deals with student learning styles.  Each time I teach the class, I have teachers take an online assessment to determine their learning style.  It is often interesting to see how many of them are kinesthetic learners.  

I've always believed that students learn best by doing.  By actively engaging with their surroundings, students' brains create pathways that link what they see, hear, and do to create memories of the experience.  The more pathways that are linked to a memory, the easier it is for students to access those memories later in life.  

As kids, many of us learned by working with tangible items such as blocks, legos, lincoln logs, and erector sets.  Working with these toys builds creativity, but also helps to develop spatial reasoning.  Well, what if coding worked the same way?  What if students could learn the language of coding in a hands-on way, such as using building blocks?

Google is currently working on a collaborative project to do just that.  Project Bloks is a program in which programmers and developers are working to create tools to help kids learn about coding using tangible blocks.  By making the process a physical experience, it is the hope that children can pick up the basics of coding in a way that is more natural to them.  Check out the video from the Project Bloks site:

Some of the basic pieces of the Bloks program utilize blocks called Pucks.  Pucks will carry out a specific task, such as on/off, move, or jump functions.  These can be controlled by Base Boards and Brain Boards that read instructions, and convey information to wireless devices. 

Personally, I can't wait until this becomes a marketed curriculum that is available to schools.  As a parent, I would love my children to have these kinds of experiences so they can learn how to code.  In the past few years, there have been a long list of resources made available to help kids learn to code.  Until Bloks is available, check this short list of  resources on learning to code.  

• Codecademy
• Code.org
• Made with Code
• Code to Learn - Scratch

For now, Project Blok is still in the research phase, but the site has more information if you are interested.  Plus, you can sign up to be notified of future progress.  Check it out here! 

Take A Course with the Techy Coach

Very soon, the Techy Coach Blog will begin offering online courses.  In preparation for that day, I am polling you - the reader - to see what types of training you would like to see on the Techy Coach Blog.  So to that end, please fill in the form below and voice your thoughts.

Thanks!

Why Are You Still Using Bubble Sheets?

Today, I made a run down to our front office at school to find some office supplies.  While there, I ran across a large number of bubble sheets.  I asked the secretary in the office why there were so many.  She told me that there are a large number of teachers that use them.  I asked why, and she said, "tell me why you ask, because if we can avoid ordering them, they are expensive."  I then proceeded to tell her about all of the online options that teachers have for grading student assessments.  She was unaware that there were so many options.  So, as a result I decided to write this article, asking the question:

WHY ARE YOU STILL USING BUBBLE SHEETS?

Now, before we go down this path, I truly understand that in terms of assessments, the following still may apply:

• I need to see the steps in my students' math problems.
• Students can cheat when they use online assessments.
• My kids don't have mobile devices to use in the classroom.

I understand how each of these may be true.  But while only the first one relating to math may still be unanswered by this article, the other two can be, in at least some way, solved by these options:

Google Forms

If you aren't already using Google Forms, you should be.  Google Forms is the best thing since sliced beer (or is that canned bread?). Google Forms, while originally thought of as a survey tool or means to gather information, is a great assessment solution.  But as an assessment tool it works great in a 1:1 environment.  Here's the rundown on how Forms works:

• Forms allows users to set up an online document that users can fill in.
• Users can add Multiple Choice, True/False, Short Answer, or Essay questions
• All responses are collected and saved (New Forms collects answers in the Responses Tab).  Responses can be viewed in a Google Sheet if you'd like.
• Watch this video for more information.

Since Google Forms allows Google Apps for Education Users to restrict who fills out a form, and to automatically collect usernames when filled out, it makes Forms a great tool for Assessments.  Plus, when you use Google Sheets Add-Ons such as Flubaroo or Super Quiz, all student submissions can be automatically graded for you.  See this tutorial on Flubaroo for more information.

And, if you still want a bubble sheet for kids to fill in when they can't use a device to complete the assessment, you can always print your form as a bubble sheet.

Since Google Forms allows teachers to shuffle answer options, or shuffle questions, there is less chance of cheating in a proctored environment.

Socrative

This one works equally well in a 1:1 environment, or one in which students have access to phones, tablets, or other mobile devices.  Socrative allows teachers to set up quizzes, tests, or exit tickets using their Socrative account online.  If you don't already have a Socrative account, you can use your GAFE account to set one up for FREE.  Just use this link and click Sign In with Google.  

Once set up, teachers can administer tests using the Socrative website, or Teacher apps available for Android, ChromeOS, or iOS.  Students can interact and answer questions using the Socrative Student App available for Android, ChromeOS and iOS.  Since teachers can randomize questions and answers, you can reduce instances of cheating.  Here is a quick sample of how it works.

Plickers
This option is great for schools in which teachers have access to a tablet or phone, but 
the kids may not.  Plickers is an app available for Android and iOS, that uses QR-style codes to gather responses from students.  The Plickers app can be used to scan the room for responses to questions that teachers create.  Each student has their own set of cards used to respond to questions (See below).  Students are assigned to a specific Card Number.  Depending on which way the card is oriented, the app will pick up the student's answer.  

Responses are collected by the app and saved to your Plickers account.  Cards can be printed from the Plickers website.  Get started by visiting http://plickers.com

ZipGrade

For bubble sheet users, this may be an appealing option.  ZipGrade is an app available for Android and iOS.  While this is a paid app, it is still very economical.  Here's how it works: 

• Users can pay $1.99 for 2 months, $6.99/Year, or a one time fee of $12.99 (iOS only). 
• Set up your account at http://www.zipgrade.com to create tests and answer sheets.
• Bubble Sheets can be printed here.   
• As students turn in their sheets, teachers can use the app to scan in answers.
• That's it!  All answers are collected and can be viewed online or downloaded.