The new ranking response format is exactly what you would guess that it is. You can build a question that requires your students to put items into a correct sequence.
The new Likert response format allows you to build questions or prompts that your students respond to on a scale of 1-5 options. See my screenshot below for an example. (Click image to view in full size).
Applications for Education
The new ranked responses option in Microsoft Forms is a good one to use in a history class in which you want students to identify an order of events. It's also a good option for questions about things like order of operations to solve a mathematics problem.
The Likert response format could be useful in getting students to perform a self-assessment of their skills or knowledge on a particular topic.
