Form Builder is the tool with which you create the forms that will be included in various templates and collect data for reporting purposes. Form Builder is one of the most integral and foundational pieces of Tk20 and one that you will use often!
Building a Form
Here are the basic and generic steps for building a form:
- In Tk20, navigate to Administration Form Builder and click the green “Create New Form” button (see screen shot below).
- NOTE: This process is one wherein you will build a form template–a “mold” of the form that can be used repeatedly in different instances.
- In the General Information tab (see screen shot below), input the following information (each section corresponds to the matching number in the graphic below):
- (1) Name (required): this name should be specific enough that you know what kind of data the form collects, yet general enough that you can use the form in multiple instances (hint: don’t use dates in a form name).
- (2) Description: this will only be seen by users who have access to Form Builder. The description will populate in the list of forms that generates when you initially enter the Form Builder tab.
- (3) Instructions: these will attach to the top of the form, below the title. Recipients of the form (in a portfolio, binder, etc.) will be able to see these instructions.
- NOTE: The instructions box in Form Builder does not have rich-text formatting abilities. In order to specially format the text (bold, font color, bulleted lists, etc), you will need to use HTML coding. A helpful site for those new to HTML coding is W3Schools.
- (4) Context: this designates, to the Tk20 system, where the form should populate as an option for inclusion. For more specifics on which context to use for our various functionalities, please refer to the Form Builder: Context & Answer Types quick guide
- (5) “Select all that apply:” the options that appear in this section will vary depending on the context(s) that you assign to the form. Three main options are:
- “Make the Form Active:” this, essentially, turns the form on so that you can use it. If a form is not marked as active, it will not populate as an option to be included in other templates.
- “Make the Form Public:” this allows other users on your server to access and use the form.
- “Make the Form a Key Assessment:” if a form is marked as a key assessment, the submission of the form will be included in the “Assessments” portion of a relevant user’s Tk20 record. For example, if an assessment tool is marked as a Key Assessment and then a faculty member completes that form as part of student Evie’s course-based assignment, then that form and its results will show under the Assessment tab in Evie’s Tk20 record.
- (6) Organizations: Aligning forms to organizational units within your hierarchy will allow organizational security in reporting. For more information on Organizational Hierarchies and Security, please see our quick guide for Organizational Security in Reports
- (7) Instances: You can name different uses of the same form separately, so that you can keep track of them. An instance title will concatenate with the form name in the convention of Form Name: Instance Title (ex: Self-Dispositions Assessment: Internship I).
General Information Tab
- In the “Custom Form” tab shown below, you build out the questions you would like included in the form.
- (1) You can create different “Groups” of questions and title them accordingly (i.e., Basic Information, Essay Rubric, Competency Evidence) by clicking the green “Create New Group” button.
- (2) Within each group, you can add questions and specify an answer type.
- To add a question or heading to a group, click the green plus button within a group.
- Enter the question or heading text in the box labeled “Entry or Question.”
- Update the sort order of the question (if needed) and choose whether or not to enforce answering of the question.
- Select an answer type from the drop-down menu. For more information on answer types, please refer to the quick guide titled Form Builder: Context & Answer Types
- Click “Next.” Depending on the Answer Type selected, you may be asked to further specify the answer type.
- Once you are finished providing information about your type, click “Add” at the bottom of the page.
Custom Form Tab
- Repeat step 3 until you have built your entire form.
- NOTE: You may preview your form at any time during the building process by clicking on the “Preview” tab at the top of the page.
- When you are finished adding questions and groups click the green “Create” button at the bottom of the page.
Editing a Form
You may edit most parts of a form after the form is created and even after it is used. Please note, however, that:
- Edits made to form questions will reflect in reports. Even if some data was collected on the original form, the new questions will populate on the report so some of the data may not match up. If you want to replace whole questions, it may be best to build a new form so that you do not lose data already collected.
- Parts of questions cannot be edited after the form has been used (ex: Likert Scale ratings, rubric values, etc).
- When making significant edits to a form, or when you want to edit a locked answer type, the best course of action may be make a copy of the form in Tk20 and build a new form from the copy. Since the new copy has not been used yet, you will have more freedom to edit without affecting your existing data.
Other Tips and Tricks:
- When building out questions in a form, consider editing to sort order to list in increments of 10 (1st question would have a sort order of 10, 2nd question would have a sort order of 20, etc). This way, if you need to add more questions later, you can include them in between those increments and not have to re-order the entire form.
- When building your form, consider the types of data you are gathering and how that data will effect reporting.
- Questions with text-based answers will not generate aggregable data so they may not generate very report-friendly results.
- Questions with quantifiable data can be aggregated and tend to be most useful in reports. The quantifiable answer types are:
- numbers
- rubrics
- Likert scales
- multiple choice
Form Builder FAQs
- Can I change the order of the performance ratings or change the point values after the form is applied?
No, once the form has been applied (used), you cannot make these changes. You can copy the form to make the necessary edits, rename the form, mark it ‘Active,’ and then use the form for the appropriate purpose.
- If I mark a form not ‘Active,’ will I still be able to see any data for it in reports?
Yes! Marking the form not ‘Active’ retains any data associated with it, while also not allowing the form to be applied for additional data collection.
- Help! I just created a rubric and now I can’t see it anywhere!
Relax. Go back to the form and click on the name. Make sure it is marked ‘Active’ and that you have selected the correct Context. If you make any changes, don’t forget to select ‘Update.’
- I created a form, but the Instance is titled “Untitled Instance 1.” Why?
All Instances are name “Untitled” by default. Depending on how you wish to use the form, the Instance name could be different than the form name to suit your needs. To edit the Instance name, select the check box next to the Instance name, and then the pencil (edit ) icon just above. For more information on Instances, click here.
- There are many form contexts in the drop down menu; Can I use them all?
It’s best to chat with your friendly Tk20 representative to understand how the contexts are applied.
You can also refer to the video link: Form Builder Hands On Training