Electronic forms based on familiar e-mail and messaging technology will help schools get the right information to the right person at the right time and greatly reduce the administrative burden of paper forms. Lynn Richart, technology coordinator for the Bishop Moore High School in Orlando, Fla., agrees. In my school, we are required to save student information for 50 years. The greatest benefit to using these forms is transforming our record-keeping process from paper to electronic storage.
Documentation is another advantage.
We now use a paper note or a voice-mail message when we need something. These forms will help provide us with electronic documentation for everything ranging from maintenance requests to employee information. For example, using the Quick Survey Form, a teacher can get feedback from students on a topic relevant to the day's lesson, or an administrator can ask students to vote on a new school mascot. As students respond, their replies can be easily routed to and saved in a public folder so teachers or administrators can view and sort the results. Microsoft Outlook also automatically tallies the results.