Monitor Asynchronous Work with Sheets Notification Rules

  

Since the dawn of distance learning, the term Asynchronous has become a huge part of the EDU lexicon. I think I say this word at least a dozen times daily and type it more than double that. Keeping students engaged in asynchronous work can be a struggle. Some students have thrived, others struggled while many have been rather hit and miss. 

A common asynchronous learning activity is to embed lesson videos with questions on Google Forms. Teachers insert a recorded lesson video to the Form, students watch the video in the Form then answer a variety of checking for understanding questions. 

Keeping track of when students submit work are valuable data points not only for tracking asynchronous work, but also for gaining insight on when students are completing work. This type of information can be useful when trying to better understand student study habits and routines. In addition, this data can be useful when setting up intervention groups. Using notification rules in the Google Sheet generated by a Google Form, you can access this data. You can receive an email immediately after a student submits a Form or get a daily digest of Form submissions.

Below is a series of screenshots showing you how to get started using notification rules with Google Forms and Google Sheets.

Step 1: After creating a Form, click Responses.

Step 2: Click the Spreadsheet button. A small window will then appear.

Step 3: In the small window, click Create a new spreadsheet and click Create.

Step 4: In a new tab, the Sheet will open. Click Tools and select Notification rules.

Step 5: A small window will appear called Set notification rules. Select the option to be notified when "A user submits a form." For "Notify me with" you can choose to be emailed a daily digest or to be emailed right away, as soon as a student submits the form.

This is a sample of what the email looks like when you have set notification rules. If you click the circled "Click here" it will open the Sheet so you can see the most recent submissions of the form.

Notification rules can be used to keep up with a variety of information. It can be useful when using a Form for a sign-up sheet, fundraiser, feedback form, suggestion form and more. For what might you use notification rules? If you have some ideas, please share.