Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

Google Forms: Create a Branching LESSON

Create Branching Instructions in Google Forms
Google Forms: Create a Branching LESSON
YouTube video

One way to differentiate your lessons is to use a branching Google Form to first find out if the student even needs the information. In a traditional face to face class I would get the entire classes attention to take notes on my math lesson. Now mind you, I taught 9th grade Algebra and 100% of my students had failed 8th grade Algebra and this is how they got into my class. It’s very likely they already know this information at least on some level, perhaps there are some gaps to fill instead of them needing to do the whole thing. A branching Google Form can help you figure this out.

Try a Branching Google Form

I created a branching Form for you to try out. Take it a couple of times so you can see that if you choose yes it goes to the next question. If you choose “Maybe” or “No” it gives you an instructional video.

Create Sections

The trick to creating a branching Google Form is to first create all of your sections. On the floating toolbar in Google Forms the bottom icon allows you to insert sections.

Click on bottom icon for sections

The trick is to create a section for each question and a section for what happens if they get that question incorrect. This means at least 2 sections per question.

Question and Then Instruction

Give students a question that they should be able to answer if they did the lesson. A check for understanding if you will… except they have not done the lesson yet. If they get it right, they do not need to do the lesson, there are many reasons they may already know something. If they get it correct have them branch to the next question. If they get it incorrect, have them branch to the instruction section.

Text and YouTube

In the floating toolbar notice there is an option to add text that is not a question and to add a YouTube video that is also not a question. This allows you to add instructional elements. Optional to add a new question to CFU after the text or YouTube video explaining how to do it.

TExt and youtube videos

Differentiate Instruction

You can also use branching to provide students options in how they get the instruction. Personally I hate hate hate watching instructional videos. I just want to read the information and move on. Reread or skim it if I need to. Try setting up a section for the instructional portion for “watch a video” “Just read the directions” or “try this activity.” Notice in the screenshot below I would need to set up 3 sections for each response to be able to branch to.

One Multiple Choice in a Section

You can have as much stuff in a section as you want, but only one multiple choice question that branches. You can have more than one multiple choice question, but for branching purposes only one of those questions can link to another section.

3 Dots Menu

On the multiple choice question that the student answers to determine which section they jump to, click on the 3 dots in the bottom right. Choose “Go to section based on answer.”

Set Branching

If you named each of your sections before you set the branching this goes a lot easier! For the correct answer have the question branch to the section that asks the next question. For the incorrect answers have them branch to the instruction section for that question.

For more details on how to create the branching Google Form check out my webinar. As always I give a bunch of bonus tips!

© 2024 All Rights Reserved.

💥 FREE OTIS WORKSHOP

Join Alice Keeler, Thursday Mar 21st or register to gain access to the recording.
Create a free OTIS account.

Join Alice Keeler for this session as we learn how to revolutionize your assessment strategies. We will dive into the essentials of crafting high-quality rubrics that go beyond traditional scoring methods to offer rich, meaningful feedback. We’ll learn about the components of an effective rubric and how to mathematically ensure the accuracy of your assessments.

Exit this pop up by pressing escape or clicking anywhere off the pop up.