Using Google Forms for Proctor Registration

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With our sudden pivot to online learning, you may have an upcoming exam where you want to assign proctors. You’ll need to collect some information (e.g., email addresses so you can send proctoring information), and Google Forms is an easy and organized way to collect that data. Dr. McClain created a Google form for this purpose and shared it with the CTL.

We’re going to look at how to create the form, add items, preview the form, share the form with your students, view responses, and send information to proctors.

Creating the form and adding items

This form is simple to create – it’s four short-answer questions plus some directions. Let’s walk through the process.

1. Go to Google Forms
2. Under “Start a new form,” click “blank” (the kind of template you’re choosing)
3. Give your form a title. If you are going to be using proctoring in multiple classes, giving each form a unique title is helpful (e.g., “CTL-1000 Exam 2 Proctor Registration)
4. Add in whatever directions you want to include. 
5. The first “question shell” is already present. Type in the prompt: Email address.
   Google is smart, so it recognizes that you want this to be a short answer question and automatically adjusts the question type. 
6. Set the item to be required by sliding the toggle at the bottom right of this form item.
7. Create a new item by clicking the “add question” button in the toolbar (the plus inside a circle). 
8. Give the next item a name and slide the toggle to require it. 
9. Repeat for each of the items in the form. 

You aren’t limited to just those four items for this form – you can add whatever other items you want or need. 

Previewing the form

If you want to check on your form and see how it will appear to those who will fill it out, you can use the “preview” feature built into Google Forms. In the top menu of the form, click the “eye” outline near the “Send” button. The form preview will open in a new tab. To keep editing the form, just click back over to your other tab. 

Sharing the form

When you have your form exactly as you want it, click the “Send” button. Check the box for “collect email addresses” so that you can keep track of which students have submitted proctor information. 

You then have options for sending the form: email, a link, or an embed code. We recommend using the link option (and clicking the checkbox for “shorten URL”). You can paste that link into an email or a Canvas Announcement to send the form to your students.

Viewing responses

To view your students’ responses, click the “Responses” tab at the top of the form. Google Forms will display the responses on that page, but you’ll want to click the icon for Google Sheets. Leave the “create a new spreadsheet” option selected and click “create.” 

You’ll then see all the responses displayed on a spreadsheet. This makes it easy to sort the information or copy pieces out (like proctor email addresses).

Sending information to proctors

The Google Sheet containing the responses allows you to easily copy and paste the proctor email addresses into Gmail so you can send them information. Highlight the cells that have the email addresses and copy them (either by using a keyboard shortcut or right-clicking and selecting “copy”). 

Go to your email and create a new email. For privacy reasons, you will want to blind carbon copy (bcc) all of the proctors. Paste their email addresses into the bcc field, and enter your own email in the “to” field (you can’t send an email without at least one visible recipient). 

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