Tuesday, April 21, 2015

#ShowYourLearning Week 1 - Excel

Excel has been my digital kryptonite for too long.  It's time to teach myself how to own the magic that Excel or Google Sheets can produce.  At a conference several years ago the keynote was talking about why we should use digital technologies to enhance Science curriculum.  He pulled data from NOAA and pasted it into an Excel sheet.  What he did next had me in awe.  I frantically took notes on everything he did, but when I tried it on my own I failed miserably.  "Why can't I do this?! It looked so easy!"  I cried and soon gave up.

 As a Technology Integration Coach it's my responsibility to know a little bit about everything digital and when people ask me to build something in Excel...well, frankly, it's a little embarrassing when I say "I am not that good with Excel".  I think my apprehension for learning about the program comes from my math phobia.  I've always struggled with math and I've been known to shy away from having to do any complex form of calculation.  As part of my #showyourlearning project I am going to tackle learning about Excel.  Over the next couple of weeks I will post videos of my trials and tribulations.  If you have any suggestions or input I will gladly take the feedback!

SO, how am I going to accomplish this momentous task you ask?  First of all, I have a subscription to Lynda.com thanks to the generosity of MassCUE.  I plan on using the tutorials to get started.  Next, if those don't work, I plan on going to YouTube to look for some quick "how to's" or asking my friend, the math teacher, to give me a lesson or two.

The real test in my understanding is when someone asks me to help build an Excel sheet!
Wish me luck!  Below is my first attempt at learning Excel!