Zoomerang

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• Learn more about surveys and web-based tools.

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Zoomerang is an online tool for creating surveys. The site simultaneously tabulates all results so they can be seen in both graphical and spreadsheet form. You can register and create surveys for free, but free accounts have, of course, some limited functionality.

“What do you think?” When I was teaching high school, I often asked this question of my students and fellow faculty. The typical responses, in order, were “I dunno” (accompanied by shrugging shoulders), and “Well, I’m not sure.” Amazing, isn’t it, how we progress from having absolutely no opinion on almost everything to the fear of sharing our opinion for fear of committing to something we might later regret. There are many contexts in which we as educators want to know the opinions of others. We use feedback from questions like “What do you think?” to gauge our teaching, to engage our students, and to survey the feelings of a class or group. Surveys are common tools we use to accomplish this task. Given the nature of the question or area of interest, surveys can either help us save time or, sometimes, increase the amount of time spent on a particular issue if used improperly. Creating, printing, distributing, administering, and tabulating surveys can involve more time and energy than it is worth. So, the gauntlet now thrown down, there must be a solution somewhere! Try this free online tool for creating surveys called Zoomerang. Recently, I used Zoomerang to help me conduct research on teachers’ attitudes about using technology. My participants were all at the same school, but it was neither convenient for me to meet with them nor to drive to the school. I sent each participant an email explaining how to log on to the site and take the survey. I had 100% participation with very little effort on my part. As participants were completing the survey, the site simultaneously tabulated all of the results so that I could see them in both graphical and spreadsheet form. Once you have created or taken a survey using this tool, it is easy to imagine the possibilities Zoomerang offers for classroom instruction. In the style of Total Quality Management (TQM), a teacher might use a survey to ask students to analyze the learning environment so that they can create strategies for improving learning. Surveys might also be used as formative assessment tools, providing feedback on student progress on a particular topic. Teachers might use surveys to collect information from parents regarding any number of issues related to the teaching and learning environment. Of course, no survey will produce the desired results unless careful attention is given to the quality of the questions!