As I explored the tutorial that Google has set up, I found it to be very similar and work like a much cleaner version of Microsoft Excel. I then created my own spreadsheet, entered numbered, computed formulas in cells, formatted the cells and played with a few other features, all of which are found it MS Excel. I could use the very simple chart feature but, for the life of me, could NOT figure out how to insert the chart into the document. I was, however, able to figure out how to create several sheets within one document as in Excel as well. I can foresee how this will be very useful next school year. I did realize that there was an old version and a new version of Google spreadsheets. In the newer version they introduced the formula bar, Auto fill, moving columns, and move advanced ways to sort. I’m not sure why the kept the old version up.
What knowledge or skills would students need to use the software? Students often get lost in all of the features when I take them to the lab to work with Excel. I have to be very deliberate and have a well-defined lesson plan and complementary worksheet for students to follow along and learn the necessary features. Some like to explore and find shortcuts and such and, that’s fine. I really don’t feel as if students need any background other than what I do to introduce them to the structure of Excel (and spreadsheets in general) (rows, columns, cell names) and the basic functions. We also talk about very practical reasons to use spreadsheets. They are often comfortable excepting that it is useful in the business world, but often conjure up ideas of very abstract ways that is used there. We explore very functional ways it can be used for everyday people with regards to budgeting, accounting, and how some teachers have used it for gradebooks or to explore other data they might need to analyze with regards to student performance.
How can you share the products you create with this application? This spreadsheet doc can be emailed as a link for other “editors” to share. It can also be sent as an attachment or published as a webpage.
How could you see the application being used to teach a particular subject matter? There are so many ways it can be used in mathematics. One of my favorite ways to use spreadsheets is by having students collect data about the Olympic 200m dash willing times for both men and women, fit a line of regression to the two sets of data, and make predictions about what might happen with the winning times in future Olympic games. Google spreadsheets can be used to have students begin some initial data collection and organization with partners. They could even begin making their charts. I did not see, however a way to create a line of regression and get the formula there, but I might need to look harder but it is definitely a way to get started. I just thought of another way it can be used with students and parents in districts that do not have online grade reporting. And, even if they did, students and parents could still benefit from seeing their grades in this way. A Google spreadsheet could be created to keep track of quiz and test scores throughout the course of the school year. At any time, either party could average the scores, look for trends, etc, and have a conversation about what might be happening with the student’s progress throughout the year.
What are some things a teacher could do to help students collaborate using this application? As I teacher, I plan to introduce Google spreadsheets in the same lesson that I introduce MS Excel spreadsheets and my students and I will explore the possibilities of using it. We will need to be careful, however, to discuss the disclosures that Google has made with regards to use of their product.
What sort of organization or managerial considerations will a teacher have to take into account? The teacher would have to organize the groups/partners, make sure that all parties have working email addresses and regular access to email and the internet. The teacher would also need to be a part of the email communications and have access to all links for each of the groups so that they can give feedback on the group’s progress on the documents. If all students don’t have access to email/internet on a regular basis, access will have to be provided by the teacher/school. All in all, there are plenty of benefits to use the use of Google spreadsheets for authentic student collaboration on a project.
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