Survey+Monkey

[|Survey Monkey] By: Nicole Sorce

** Tool: Survey Monkey **
Survey Monkey is a Web 2.0 tool used for the creation of surveys based on a variety of different topic and question areas. With three different memberships to choose from, Survey Monkey provides something for everyone. For school use the “Basic Free Membership” may be all you need to suit your classroom. This membership includes: 10 questions per survey, 100 responses per survey, 15 pre-designed question formats, real-time answer results and 24/7 customer service and support. Other paid memberships include unlimited questions and responses, as well as more survey options, the ability to change the survey theme (colors, add company or school logo…etc.) as well as the ability to translate the survey and responses into 21 different languages.

Besides choosing from the diverse membership options, Survey Monkey also offers a diverse set of program options. Besides typical multiple- choice questions, Survey Monkey incorporated 15 different types of questions including a matrix of Choice, Rating Scales, Text Boxes for open responses and Demographics. Questions can be formatted by the click of the mouse, sorting answers to eliminate bias and adding comment fields. Although basic membership does not include translations, paid membership allows for theme changes, as well as translations into 21 languages to appeal to a diverse population or school environment at a low cost.

Now you may ask, what relevance does Survey Monkey have in the field of Language Arts curriculum? This program can be incorporated into the Language Arts curriculum in many different ways. The first is based on reading comprehension. Short surveys based on a certain chapter or section of a book or reading assignment can be taken by students as an assessment method as to whether or not the student completed the assignment or did or did not understand the content being discussed. In answering basic chapter review multiple choice questions, it is easy to see who read and understood the chapter.



Surveys can also incorporate the critical thinking aspect of an assignment as Survey Monkey allows for open-ended responses to be entered and submitted. In doing so, critical thinking questions that ask why or how can be incorporated to promote a deeper understanding of given topics as well as an increase in student critical thinking skills and content application. Survey Monkey could also play a valid role in the Language Arts classroom by encouraging and requiring students to become active participants in the classroom. In requiring all students to fill-out and respond to surveys, it will allow the teacher to hold a full grasp on who is doing the work and who understands the content being discussed. In completing surveys, even the shy students have a chance to be active participants without formulating discussions or speaking out to the rest of the class.

Survey Monkey also allows for teachers to see survey response answers, charts displaying the data and a comparison of student response answers. This not only gives the teacher feedback of the assessment activity, but can be used to compare data in the future. Below is an example of what the data results page looks like once the survey has been responded to.

In completing this review of Survey Monkey, I have attached two different survey examples demonstrating the uses of Survey Monkey in the classroom:

Multiple Choice: []

Open - Ended Response: []

Nicole - At first glance I couldn't think of how this type of site could be used in the ELA classroom, but after looking at your examples it is much clearer. I can see how you could use this site to check for comprehension. I just wonder how often teachers would go through the trouble of setting up multiple choice questions via a site like this when they could just ask them on a test. ~erin o