spreadsheet+benefits

=Spreadsheet Benefits = You need to contribute to this page in the wiki, and share the benefits of using a spreadsheet for administration in teaching. You need to make a different point from the points raised by others. Please note, a wikispaces wiki does not automatically save frequently enough to cope with multiple people editing the same page at exactly the same time.

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Benifits of using spreadsheets in teacher administration
==== Teachers must maintain records of marks awarded to each student for all assessment tasks (Board of Studies 2003, 12). Spread sheet programs such as Microsoft Excel are effective tools for this task allowing multiple electronic and hardcopies and performing calculations such as final grades, rank and percentile rank (Zach 2005, 1). Using a spread sheet application to perform these complex calculations is a time saving and far less tedious way of maintaining records. Percent ranks could be easily graphed to show relative improvements or deteriations through the progrssion of the year. At the click of a button Excel can sort students by rank or alphabetical order. Comments can be inserted to explain inconsistent marks, such as illness or family crisis. These comments can be valuable memory joggers during reporting time or parent teacher interviews. ====

Zach, R., 2005, ‘Using Spread Sheets to Keep Track of Student’s Grades’, http://www.ucalgary.ca/rzach/teaching/grades.html, retrieved 29/10/08.
Angelle Hughes: 204 156 388

 Benefits of using spreadsheets in teacher administration. For ICT teachers’ and co-ordinators’, spreadsheets are used specifically for Software Inventory within the school. Records of all software purchased by the school, licensing details, date of purchase, installation date and any patches applied to the software are kept up to date using spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are also used for Hardware Inventory. Details such as serial numbers for desktops, laptops, printers, scanners, data projectors etc would be recorded in the spreadsheet. Also recorded would be the location of each item and details of any hardware upgrades such as extra memory or larger hard drives. Keeping track of all software and hardware is made easier and less time consuming by using spreadsheets. Using the find function allows you to easily search for specific software/hardware and find out any details regarding that software/hardware. [|www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/24816/1/Unit14.pdf]  [|www.bcps.org/offices/oit/liaisons/05-06/nov%20secordary/managing%20a%20school’s%20hardware%20inventory.doc]  Rouba Eid

Aside from the grade keeping capabilities of spreadsheets they can be used to ‘organize these data and perform required descriptive statistical analyses’ (Eastern Illinois University). Spreadsheets are a valuable tool to analyze trends in student and school achievement. Teachers in one grade level can export their grades to the team leader who can then collate these results to look for patterns and trends in the results and as a result, make decisions as to the effectiveness of assessment tasks. Likewise, the school administration can use these trends to help guide the structure of the school’s curriculum. These results also enable the school to compare their results with those of other schools. Converting this data to a graph also enables the school to present this information in a more meaningful way to parents. http://www.eiu.edu/~edtech/lesson_07/word_excel/spreadsht.htm

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Spreadsheets are a highly versatile tool that can perform many tasks. As mentioned above, spreadsheets can be used to record and maintain marks, for purposes of statistical analysis, which can both be further simplified graphically for presentation purposes, and they can also be used as a means of recording inventory of schools available resources. What about less complex uses? =====

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Spreadsheets are good for all the above, but they can also be a life saver in classroom administration and organisation. They can be used not only to record marks, but to develop rubrics in which to determine how to mark an assessment. They can be used to develop checklists of skills required for task proficiency. Spreadsheets can also be used to organise lesson plans and activities, as well as this, they can be very useful in the complexities of timetabling classes. =====

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There is also the issue of availability. With such programs as OpenOffice (freeware) available, which can read and convert many type of spreadsheet format, you can have you're spreadsheet at home or on the road, even if you do not use the same software as the school. Many newer mobile phones now come with spreadsheet software to allow reading and editing of spreadsheets. And if this isn't enough, many spreadhseet packages support the idea of a web interface, meaning that you can create web page access to the spreadsheet. =====

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Lastly, they can be used for logging of resources. Logging hardware that may have been borrowed by students or staff, listings of preferred suppliers of equipment, software and services, and logging things such as Internet Usage in an internet lab or in the library (for purposes of tracking students usage statistics, as well as inappropriate usage). =====

**//Matt Carrig//**
Spreadsheets for creating Rubrics

Spreadsheets can be used to construct rubrics. The use of a spreadsheet in designnig a rubric has many advantages.

The workbook with in the spreadsheet can hold mulitple sheets this can allow the teacher to have all the students grade and rubrics in the one file. By using a spreadsheet for your rubrics you can link the data on multiple sheets to a summary sheet of the final grades. This summary sheet can then be used a result submission sheet where the data can be stored or intergrated in school management systems.

Rubrics can be designed for many different types of assessment ranging from essays, presentations, online forums, research reports or oral presentations.

Andrade, (2000) writes of the advantages of using rubrics as an assessment tool and also a means of instruction. Rubrics can simplify the assessment and marking procedure for both student and teacher. The use of spreadsheets in rubrics makes it an effecient practice for both teacher student.

The University of Newcastle has some excellent and well designed rubrics using Excel. They have used the macro function to allow you to be able to download and customise the templates.

http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/teaching-learning/projects/rubrictemplates/index.html#context

Andrade, H.G. (2000). Using rubrics to promote thinking and learning.

Matt Peade

I have chosen to contribute to the spreadsheets wiki as they are currently used at my school. Each department has a results folder and markbooks for each grade are saved there, with a separate sheet for each class. Specialist classes within each department have a separate markbook. From a teacher's perspective this provides an easily accessibly markbook which unlike a paper marbook cannot be lost. This markbook is accessible from any computer in the school (provided you have a teacher log in) as well as from outside via a Citrix gateway. It also means that results can be copied and pasted into our reporting system, and plans are in place to simply import them automatically. Calculations can be automatically done in subjects where marks are used. Because this markbook is on a network which is backed up every hour or so there is no chance that information can be lost. Local backups are kept for weeks, and off-site tape backups are kept for years. It means other teachers can look up grades when required, e.g a PC teacher or Head of Department having an interview with a parent or student. This can be very useful if a teacher leaves a school as the next teache can continue using the same markbook and quickly see where the students are up to. From a Head of Department's point of view it allows quick access to student results. This allows for tracking of students in each grade level to spot problems early on and liaise with the teacher to assist students in need. It allows for rapid calculation and comparison of results for administrative tasks, such as awarding academic prizes without needing to aproach teachers. It also allows the HOD to monitor where teachers are up to in their marking and ensure assessment is marked and returned to students in a timely manner. From a management point of view spreadsheets mean that teachers are saving their results to a system which is backed up and checked regularly. It means the HODs and management can track students more easily and identify problems much earlier. From an accountability point of view it means they can access markbooks from previous years rapidly, even if the teacher has long since left the school. It eliminates the problem of missing records and the potential legal problems that can result. Currently we use Microsoft Excel so there results are only available on request. Next year we are moving to the TASS academic reporting system and the use of student and parent access online via TASS Parent Lounge and Student Cafe. This will allow families to access their grades for each assessment piece, rather than having to wait for reports or make phone or in-person interviews. This use of spreadsheets will help families become more involved in the education of their students, if they wish, and make the school more open and accessible. Even better from a teacher point of view is the fact that these results will be used by the reporting system, Webbook, eliminating the double handling that has previously occurred which is time consuming and prone to errors. Spreadsheets are now standard as a markbook in place of paper based systems in most schools as they eliminate the possibility of losing results, make the school more open and accessible and allow for better tracking of students. David Perry