Using Google Docs to Capture User Data (No LMS required!)
One productivity tool that I have used for years is Google Docs, which allows users to create spreadsheets, power point presentations,
documents, and other files in the cloud that can be manipulated in real time by any invited users. I find that this is an underutilized tool that has numerous applications to facilitate teams of persons working together using a single set of documents. We probably have not thought about incorporating such tools into our e-learning… but why not? Google has now added a new doc type that we in the e-learning field can leverage to use as a survey or data capture tool – Google simply calls it a “form”.
When you log in to Google Documents, click on Create, then click Form.
The form is quite intuitive and easy to set up. You can ask a variety of question types, from short questions – “How long did this training take?”- to longer questions such as “What ideas do you have for future trainings?”. There are even options for adding multiple choice or Likert scale questions. Besides editing content, you can edit the template, and Google Forms currently comes with 97 different templates that look pretty snazzy. Responses then get stored into a spreadsheet that the Form owner can access for review.
Incorporating the Google Form into Storyline is simple. Once you have created the form in Google Docs, simply add the URL into a Web Object in Storyline. As with other objects, you can customize the size and location of the Web Object. Once you review the appearance of how the Form appears in Storyline, you can make any changes to it inside the Google Form editor, and the output will change automatically since the link will remain the same.
See this Screenr to see how to set this up.
This simple method should help many of us who are looking for simple (free!) feedback tools or wish to survey our users after they’ve taken a course. Another usage might be to have a quick survey after each section so that beta testers can comment on each area of the elearning while it is fresh in their minds. The uses are endless! Let us know in the comments below how you might use Google Docs in your Storyline projects…