By Our Correspondent.
ARUSHA: A question that once ended on a piece of paper can now travel from a teacher’s screen to a learner’s device—and return with information that can help the teacher understand what has been learnt and what needs to be taught again.
This is the practical experience teachers from Arusha City Council (Arusha CC) and Arusha District Council (Arusha DC) are gaining as they learn to use Google Forms to create digital assessments, administer quizzes and review learners’ responses.
The skills are being acquired during a6four-day training on the ICT Competency Standards for Teachers in Tanzania (ICT-CSTT) in Arusha, where teachers are being equipped with practical digital competencies that can be applied in their everyday classroom work.
The training is being conducted through collaboration between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) and the Prime Minister’s Office through TAMISEMI.
During a practical session on Google Forms, Dr. Lucian Ngeze from the University of Dodoma (UDOM) guided teachers through the process of creating digital forms using their Gmail accounts.
The session introduced teachers to different question formats, including short-answer, paragraph, multiple-choice, true-or-false and drop-down questions, enabling them to select a format according to the type of response they want from learners.
For instance, a short-answer question can be used when a brief response is required, while a paragraph question gives a learner an opportunity to explain an idea or respond to a question in greater detail.
Teachers were then given time to create their own questions and practise developing forms based on the subjects they teach.
Dr Ngeze also demonstrated how a Google Form can be turned into a quiz by activating the quiz option in the settings.
Once the form is converted into a quiz, teachers can use the Answer Key to identify correct answers and assign marks, making it possible to structure the assessment according to the learning activity.
After preparing the quiz, the teacher can publish it, copy the link and share it with learners, including through WhatsApp groups.
The exercise showed teachers that digital assessment does not necessarily require complicated systems. A tool that many users already access through their Google accounts can be adapted to support a task that is at the heart of teaching: asking questions and finding out whether learners have understood.
But the process does not end when the teacher shares the assessment.
Mr Jonas Emmanuel Meyan, a trainer from Munduli Teachers College, demonstrated how teachers can access the Responses section after learners have submitted their answers.
Through the responses, teachers can examine information provided by learners and identify areas in which students may be struggling.
That information can help a teacher determine whether a concept needs to be explained again, whether learners require additional exercises or whether the class is ready to move to the next topic.
In this way, assessment becomes more than a means of measuring performance at the end of a lesson. It becomes a source of feedback that can inform what the teacher does next.
The practical approach also highlighted the importance of responsible handling of learners’ assessment information.
Mr Meyan cautioned teachers to be careful when sharing students’ results, particularly where poor performance could embarrass or demoralise learners and their parents.
He advised teachers to share results with the appropriate people and use assessment information in ways that support learners’ progress.
For teachers, therefore, the lesson from Google Forms goes beyond learning how to create an online questionnaire.
It is about understanding how a simple digital tool can connect teaching, assessment and feedback, giving teachers additional information about learners’ understanding. They have also been able to explore other digital assessment tools including SurveyMonkey and Quizizz.
The approach supports a broader objective of the ICT-CSTT training—to strengthen teachers’ ability to use digital technology purposefully in their professional practice.
For UNESCO and its Government partners, building teachers’ digital competence is an important part of ensuring that technology contributes meaningfully to education rather than becoming an end in itself.
For teachers from Arusha CC and Arusha DC, the practical skills acquired during the training offer an opportunity to take digital assessment beyond the training room and into their classrooms.
A teacher who has never created a digital assessment may begin with something remarkably simple: opening Google Forms, writing one question and sharing one link.
A learner responds. The teacher receives the information. The information points to what has been understood and what requires attention.
From that simple cycle, a new possibility emerges—a classroom in which technology is not merely something teachers learn about, but something they can use to make better-informed decisions about learning.
The journey towards digital assessment may begin with one question, but its real value lies in what the teacher does with the answer.
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