Excel can be used in many ways that Word can, however it has the option to (as I mentioned earlier) insert formulas. This is so beneficial to education in particular because it can help teachers save time when it comes to grading. Many educators use Excel spreadsheets as a grade book, and now I understand why. Why would you complete each individual math problem by hand and risk making a mistake when Excel will do it for you with the click of the mouse?
When reading the assignment to make a crossword puzzle, I wondered why I had never thought to use Excel to do so before. It seemed like an obvious use of the application, yet I had never done it. That is when I became interested in how many other uses of Excel I had been ignoring, mainly because I thought I didn't understand it or that it was "too complicated".
After looking into Excel and finally opening it again after (I confess) years, I realized how user friendly it really is and that using it was as natural for me as Microsoft Word. The difference being that you are given the option to use Excel for more different tasks or calculations. I am excited about my new found interest for Excel and hope to continue to play around with it and see what else I have been missing out on for quite some time now.
I couldn't agree more with your post. I struggle with using Excel and I am (embarrassingly enough) a math teacher. I was never really shown how to use it and always would have documents created for me to use. I use it mostly for creating documents like sign in sheets and coaching stuff, but I haven't seen it used as a grade book as much. Not a bad idea though!
ReplyDeleteI liked that you pointed out about the crossword puzzle and not realizing that excel may be the easier way to make it. I couldn't believe how simple excel made it and how professional the result ended up being.
Let me know if you find out any other helpful hints!