Introduction
We are just starting the revision process here in Peru for the IGCSE and IB exams in November. As part of the flipped classroom I am hoping to develop student independence in their learning, and with this I have been trying to come up with a way where they can identify areas that they need to work on. Self-assessment is not a new thing, and I have implemented it with relative success previously, but I am hoping the update system I have now created will help students to keep on top of this large amount of data more easily.
It starts with students filling out a Google Form which lists all the objectives for the year/course which they are studying. Image 1 shows an example for one section of the IB Maths Standard Level course. If you would like to give it a go, then fill out this form.
Image 1: An example of the form which students fill in.
Once completed, students then get emailed a link to see their personal results, listed in order of confidence, those needing most work first. Below is an example of one that I filled out. They can comment on this document, identifying areas they would like to work on first, and then you can see these comments. If they go to fill in the form again, they will be directed to their original submission, which they can then adjust and resubmit (this will send them a new email with a link to the updated document, with each update saved as a separate tab in the document).
I also have a second tab where I can add details of how they are doing in specific topics, by assigning them a grade of A,B,C or D. These could be based on specific tasks set for each objective, or a more fluid grade. These results are simultaneously shown with the self-assessment results, similarly filtered in order of needing the most work.
From my perspective as the teacher, I can see each individual breakdown that the students can see, but also can see the whole class split up by objective in the original sheet that the form submits to. With some conditional formatting, I can then also identify easily any objectives that the majority of the class are struggling with, so that I can provide whole class revision activities where necessary. Obviously, with the individual feedback, I can also plan more specific tasks for individuals as well.
I have managed to create the code that does all this using the Apps Script that you can enable for Google Sheets, and below I will explain how you can use this to create your own version of this Self-Assessment form.
How To
| First of all open this Google Form which has the requied layout for the form. Go to File->Make a copy... (as shown in Image 2). Choose a name for the new copy which will be saved in YOUR Google Drive.  Image 3: Form Settings The Form Settings should be as seen in Image 3. Should you have a personal (not institutional) account, then the top two options will not appear. For the form to still work, you need to add an extra question at the very beginning of the form collecting the email address of the respondent (make it required). |  Image 2: Make a copy of the Google Form in your own Drive. |
Now you can edit the questions themselves. Leave the first question as the Name box. For the remaining questions you have some options. When you click on one, it will look like Image 4.
Image 4: The Grid Question option used in this form
- If you have enough sections for your use already, then click this button to delete the current question;
- If you need more sections than are provided, then click this button to copy the current question;
- In this section you can edit and add extra parts to this section. This is where you add the individual objectives for each given section;
- This is the possible answers for students to select. DO NOT CHANGE THIS SECTION AT ALL. The script used later will only work if this remains as it is.
- You can decide if you want to force students to assess every objective, or allow them to assess some later on.
- Name the section that these objectives fit within.
 Image 5: Set the spreadsheet to record the results | Now you are ready to set up the spreadsheet where the results will be recorded. Go to Responses->Change response destination... (as in Image 5), and when the pop-up appears set it as in Image 6.  Image 6: Choose the default spreadsheet |
This will create a new spreadsheet to record all form submissions. When you originally copied the form, it probably created its own spreadsheet automatically. You will want to delete this one. Be careful though, as it probably has the same name as the new spreadsheet you just created. Now is also a good time to move both the form and the spreadsheet into a new folder for this (it is going to create a file for each student, so want them in a folder somewhere). You can drag them into a folder, or go via the File menu in each file.
Now open up the spreadsheet, either by clicking on View responses or opening it from the folder. It should look like Image 7 below.
Image 7: The spreadsheet where the responses will be collected before any changes.
| Now you need to go to Tools->Script editor... (Image 8) A new window should open with the script editor (a pop up may appear offering templates, simply click Close on this). Now select all the code in this window and delete it. Open up the code file, copy the code and paste it into this window (it should look like Image 9). |  Image 8: Choose Tools->Script editor... |
 Image 9: The input code | We need to save the code before we can proceed. Press the save button, and in the pop-up that appears type a name for this code (it does not matter what you call it, I always call it analysis). |
| Now go to Run->setup (as in Image 10). A pop up warning will appear saying "Authorization required". Click Continue, and then Accept on the next pop up that appears. This allows the code to edit the spreadsheet automatically, and send the automatic emails. |  Image 10: Run setup to format the spreadsheet as needed for the rest of the code to work. |
If you now go back to look at the actual spreadsheet, you will notice that it has added a second tab named "Teacher Assessment", renamed the original one "Self Assessment", and frozen some columns. It also renames the questions removing the excess that Google Forms automatically includes.
Image 11: The editted sheet after running setup.
| Now we need to set it up to automatically email students after they have submitted their self assessment. Go to Resources->Current project's triggers (as in Image 12). In the pop up that appears, click the link "No triggers set up. Click here to add one now." |  Image 12: Set a trigger to email students when they submit a form. |
In the pop up that opens now, change the settings to what is shown in Image 13. Then click Save.
Image 13: Setting up the trigger
The form is now ready to distribute to you students. Close the script editor, and return to the form. In the top right corner is the button to Send Form, and you can follow the instructions here to send out the form to your class. They will all now receive an email inviting them to fill out the form. As they submit them, they will receive an email linking to their own personal document (as in the example at the beginning of this post).
Teacher Assessment
You can now manually input Teacher Assessment results for each student for each objective. In the relevent cell simply add an A, B, C or D for how the student is doing in this area from what you have seen. It must be one of these grades, nothing else will work.
If you now want to manually send out updated self assessment documents to all the students, then go back to the script editor (Image 8), and Run->selfAssess (Image 10). This will send the whole class an updated link for their document. When you do this, the conditional formatting should also kick in, colour coding the different grades.
Alterations
There are some relatively easy alterations you can make to the code to personalise the form a little bit, and I will go through these in this section.
1. If you want to change the self assessment wording (Image 4 point 4), then you also need to change the code to fit this. Maintain the number of options at 3 (unless you are confident enough in to add an extra bit of code). Once you have changed these you need edit the corresponding code TWICE.
Find the section seen in Image 14 (part of the function selfAssess, use the line numbers 93, 98, 103). In each of the red boxes you need to change the text to what you changed the questions too. This must match exactly (case sensitive and spaces/punctuation). Make sure you leave the text within quote marks as well. This is the manual one you can run at any time.
Image 14: Code to edit
You need to do the SAME CHANGE in selfAssessFormSubmit as well (lines 328, 333, 338). This is the one that goes automatically when they submit.
2. If you want to use different grades instead of A, B, C and D in the Teacher Assessment, then you can do this by changing the the four grades in the blue box in Image 14 (Line 80). Make sure each grade is inside quote marks, and that there are only four. They should be typed in uppercase, and start with the best grade and work down. You also need to make this change in Line 304.
| 3. You can add a button to run the selfAssess code manually so you do not have to access the script editor each time you want to do this. Go to Insert->Drawing... (Image 15) making sure you are on the sheet where you want the button (your choice, but you will normally run it from Teacher Assessment). A fairly intuitive pop up opens where you can design a button (mine is shown in Image 16 below). Click Save & Close to insert this into the sheet.  Image 16: Create a simple button from a drawing |  Image 15: Insert a button using a drawing |
| Click on the button and drag it to where you want it. Then click on the little drop down arrow (1 in Image 17), and select Assign script... (2 in Image 17). In the pop up, type selfAssess, and press OK. Now when you press the button it will run the analysis. |  Image 17: Setup script to run on press of button |
4. Maybe you want to have the Teacher Assessment for you to see, but not available for students to see. If this is the case, use this slightly modified code. In the document that the student will be sent, there is no Teacher Assessment column, only the Self Assessment. But you can still see the Teacher Assessment column in the relevent tab in your spreadsheet. In this case, students are NOT sent an email when you manually run the code (as this is for when you update the Teacher Assessment, and they cannot see this), but they still receive it when they update their self-assessment.
Final Points
For some unknown reason, the browser seems to crash when the setup process in run. If this happens, simply close the spreadsheet, and reopen it. You can then carry on with the process.
I am hoping that this will allow my students to easily identify which objectives from their course they personally need to work on, and give them a springboard to direct their revision. I am also hoping that it will give me a very clear idea of what the students think they can do, and direct me to any topics that I need to focus on with the whole class, as well as any I need to make interventions with for specific students.
If you have any comments, I would love to hear them below. I hope this is useful for people.
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