The university licenses several platforms that can be used to create online forms and surveys: Dynamic Forms, Google Forms, and Qualtrics.
Which platform is chosen depends on the requirements of the particular form or survey and the type of data that is being collected. This overview is designed to help you decide which platform is the best to use for your particular form. If you're unsure which platform to use, contact the Help Desk for assistance.
Dynamic Forms (faculty and staff)
Any forms used for official university business should be created in Dynamic Forms. Features of this platform include:
- Ability to authenticate respondent using campus email and password
- Ability to create multi-person email workflows
- Ability to pull data from respondent's Active Directory and Banner accounts into the form
- Completed forms can be uploaded and attached to a Banner record using Xtender
- Forms can be signed electronically
Technology can build Dynamic Forms for you. To request a form please email details to forms@fitchburgstate.edu.
More info can be found on the Dynamic Forms page.
Google Forms (students, faculty & staff)
Google Forms are a good choice for short surveys and polls that collect information that does not support research, decision-making or planning. Information of importance to your department or to the university should not be collected via Google Forms.
- Ideal for simple forms and those being used for a limited amount of time
- Faculty, staff and students can build their own forms
- Note: Google Forms are tied to the Google account used to create them. If your Google Form is an institutional form or it's going to be used long-term, you should use a departmental Google account to build the form (NOT a Google account that is tied to a specific staff member.
- To request a departmental Google account, contact the Help Desk
Contact Technology or visit the Google Workspace for Education Plus page for help with Google Forms.
Fitchburg State Branded Templates in Google Forms
Fitchburg State branded templates are available in the Template Gallery:
- Go to Google Forms
- At the top right, click Template gallery
- Click Fitchburg State University
- Select the template you'd like to use
- A copy of the template opens and you can start to build your new form
Qualtrics (faculty and staff)
Surveys that collect information that supports research, decision-making or planning will transition to Qualtrics. Qualtrics is a robust survey and analytics platform that will support the collection, retention and analysis of data.
Surveys administered through Qualtrics will be supported by Institutional Research and Planning. Contact IRP to discuss your survey needs.