Seven Simple Steps to Setting up a Student Technology Survey
Quickly set up your own student technology survey to find out what kind of Internet and mobile access your students and their families have.
As I travel the country speaking throughout the year, my most frequent presentation actually is not “Why You Should Use The CLIC”! We are a free site that matches students to every conceivable type of resource for which they are eligible, so we typically don’t need a “hard sell” to entice users - especially when students learn it’s a social network.
What we do focus on, instead, is making our site, and other social media, a lot more accessible for the grown-ups who are committed to serving our students. Of course, before a school or program can begin to update their outreach with Internet and mobile tools, they first need to discover what kind of digital access their students have.
In two years of non-stop presentations, I have not yet met an organization that has already conducted a technology survey of the students and families they serve. Having set many of them up with their first survey, it’s time now to post this great resource for all of our users.
We are going to use Google Docs for your new technology survey. Google has its own free suite of applications much like Microsoft Office: Google Documents (similar to Word), Google Presentations (similar to PowerPoint) and Google Spreadsheets (similar to Excel). Unlike Microsoft Office applications, however, Google’s are free, are accessed online, AND can be shared and edited with a team.
Use the seven steps below to have your own survey ready to go in less than 15 minutes!
- Register for a Google account. If you already have a Gmail email account, you are all set. If you do not have a Gmail account, just go to Google, click “Sign in” on the upper right, then Create an Account. Use your own email as the user ID, create a password, and sign in.
- Open the CLIC Technology Survey. Google Spreadsheets are fantastic because they let you create a form that is linked to a spreadsheet. Every time someone answers your survey, their answers are instantly captured in your spreadsheet - and you can analyze the data instantly with built in charts! To create your survey, click here to open The CLIC Student Technology Survey.
- Copy the Spreadsheet. Once the spreadsheet is open, just click “File/Make a Copy” on the left side of the spreadsheet toolbar. Rename the sheet to whatever you like, then click Okay. You now have your own spreadsheet & survey in your personal Google account! Only you can access that version, unless you choose to share it with others. Important: you must be signed into Google to copy the spreadsheet!
- Review the Survey. To see what the current survey looks like, click “Form/View Live Form” on the spreadsheet toolbar. The survey will launch in a new tab or window. Then you can see the current questions, answers and layout.
- Edit the Survey. To customize any survey content, return to the spreadsheet. This time, click “Form/Edit Form.” If you hover over any question, you will see icons on the right that let you edit, copy or delete the question. You can change the question, the answer options and even the type of question in a snap.
- Set a student ID field. You’ll want a way to identify with student completed the form, but you usually don’t want to collect personally identifiable information like their names. Instead, use a student ID. If that is not an option, simply print up a series of numbers, pass them out to your students and ask them to use those numbers in the survey. Then they just have to write their name on the back of the paper and return the papers to you. That’s the only data you will have to input to match the data to your students!
- Distribute the link. Once you have saved any changes, you will see a link at the bottom of the page to see the live form. Click to view your work, then copy that link to share with your team and students. You can even email the form and still collect the responses in your spreadsheet.
- Review your responses. As people complete the survey, check the Form link on your Google Spreadsheet toolbar. It will tell you how many response you have. To see instant charts of all the results, just click “Form/Show Summary of Responses” - et voila!
One last tip: to motivate students to complete the survey, you might want to announce a drawing, with prizes like a free lunch off-campus, an iTunes gift certificate or even a reserved parking spot for the week for parents/guardians (or students who drive). Students must complete all answers in the survey to be eligible.
Once you have collected all of your responses, we would love to hear what kind of digital access your students have! No school or program names are required; just post a comment below. We think - we hope - you will be surprised at the level of access your students have. And we know it will inspire you to try more online and mobile solutions for college access and success - like The CLIC Network!
As always, share your own recommendations and experiences below!
DMA is the CEO of The CLIC, the revolutionary new site where students can powerfully plan for college and institutions can effortlessly recruit students from a single home page in our FREE interactive network. CLIC students can connect to college matches, scholarship searches, college access programs and the nation’s first master calendar of all college-related deadlines and events, with streaming video tips and much more, at www.theclic.net.
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Tags: cell phones, clic survey, google docs, google forms, google spreadsheet, internet access, mobile access, online access, survey, technology survey, texting