Saturday, January 8, 2011
Back in Action!
I'm getting ready again to get back to class and discover some new practical technologies I can use in my personal life and at school. Although I have had the last couple weeks off of class, I still stayed busy on classwork for a couple days focusing on spreadsheets. Up until three weeks ago, I didn't really us spreadsheets for anything more than keeping my monthly budget and keeping track on how I do when I play blackjack. (I enjoy Las Vegas and Oneida Casino :) I also have always used Microsoft Excel, though now I am going to be importing my Excel documents into Google docs spreadsheets so I can have access to them where ever I am. I learned a few things I never really used in spreadsheet programs. Out of everything I learned this past lesson, I really like the ability to set up formulas in spreadsheets which allow you to change one cells number and in turn it changes many other numbers on your spreadsheet. It's a great tool for figuring out ingredient amounts in different recipes. I was thinking that I could use a similar formula for students who have difficulty with multiplication facts. I can put a formula into a spreadsheet a student could access and they could play with the numbers and see what products different numbers would produce. Although I don't typically use spreadsheets with my students, I think that could be a practical use of a spreadsheet for my students with learning disabilities.
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I agree, "cloud" spreadsheets have all sorts of uses that I have not been using, mostly accessiblity. The formula application is fun and useful. I took a statistics class and we used Excel for that, and I learned fast how to to use formulas in the program. It seems that the googledocs spreadsheet works a litte different. The problem for me is that I do not use the spreadsheet enough and then I have to re-learn it every time I use it. I have said this before, as a older learner, my brain is hardwired already and learning, or retaining new information sometimes is daunting.
ReplyDeleteI think your idea about "cloud" spreadsheet would allow access anywhere hence making them more useful. I can think of many uses for spreadsheet, but I don't always know if they are the most practical. I would like to say I will be using them all the time, all I can say is that I will try. The formulas are the most appealing aspect to using spreadsheet. I think your idea of using them for multiplication facts would be interesting and beneficial. Would you give your students access to a "cloud" spreadsheet so they could use it anywhere if they needed, or would this be more for practice and within your classroom?
ReplyDeleteBill---
ReplyDeleteI too haven't really given spreadsheets much of a thought until we started working on them in class. However, once I began working with them, I too was fascinated by their ability to recalculate my different values instantaneously. I really liked your idea of importing your existing spreadsheets to Google. If you can work on your documents at any time, why not apply the same mode of thinking to your spreadsheets. Here is a link for my spreadsheet capabilities I think you'd find helpful: http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/pd21byersj/prodtls/spreadsht.html
Amy, I was thinking of using the spreadsheets just for practice for the students. However, if I can find a way to get all of my students access to cloud programs (ie making sure they have emails to sign up for google docs) I would do that! Jared, thanks for the link!
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