Being data-informed as a teacher is critical, especially in the Information Age. The more information we have about our learners, the more capable we are of designing lessons that enhance student learning. Finding ways to collect student feedback quickly and with the user-experience in mind is becoming more and more easy. Thanks to web 2.0 and the app culture, we now have the means to take the pulse of any group, and to quickly visualize the data. Out of all of the great polling tools available on the web and for Android devices, I’ve not come across one that is quite as slick as Quick Tap Survey.

Here’s what it is:

You can also learn more by reviewing this list of features:

Quick Tap Survey Features Page

Here’s what I like about it:

First off, I like it because it has a very simple workflow that anyone can follow. The first time I tried Quick Tap Survey, I was quickly up and running, and I didn’t find it hard to create the survey, give it, or analyze the results, especially since both the website and the app have plenty of support resources.

Second, I really like that I can give a survey on my Xperia tablet whether I am online or not. This allows me to design a survey, and then give the survey anywhere. The app collects my data while offline and will sync with the webtool once I reconnect to the wireless. This makes it possible to give surveys while on field trips or when the wireless is down.

Third, the user experience is very nice. There are lots of question types, each designed to take full advantage of the tablet interface. People I’ve surveyed with Quick Tap Survey like how simple it is to interact with. Also, there are several themes to choose from to help enhance the experience. Here are some examples of the user interface:

Finally, I like all of the options that Quick Tap Survey provides for interacting with the data I collect. I can download the data, see visualizations of the responses, view the responses by user or by time-frame, and there is even a “select a winner at random” button.

Here’s how it works:

Basically, you create a free account at http://www.quicktapsurvey.com, design your survey there, download the Quick Tap Survey app on your Xperia tablet, sync the app to your account, give the survey via the tablet, and then sync again to send the data to your web account. Inside the web account you can view and interact with the data you collected.

You can only have one survey on your account at a time with the free account and you can only connect the service to a single tablet, but you can have 50 questions in that survey and collect up to 150 responses. There are also various paid plans that give you more options on more devices for a monthly fee.

Here’s how I might use it:

There are all kinds of moments in which I might collect data, but here are a few examples of when I see Quick Tap Survey being especially useful:

• Collect responses to learning while on a class trip or away from wireless access.
• Assess learning on the spot with surveys that are designed for locations (Which of the following is not an example of Impressionism at the art museum?)
• Have students survey parents about the class at Open House.
• Send students into the community to collect data to guide a service project.
• Have students collect “likes” for the school facebook page (wireless required).
• Create a post-event survey to help improve similar events in the future.
• Use the survey as a judge’s form to judge competitions.
• Collect student information on the first day of class via the survey.
• Use the survey as an entry form for a contest and select your winner with the randomizer.