Educational Technology-Week 2

I have learned so much great information about spreadsheets and databases this week.  This is effective software for helping people more productive on the job and to improve efficiency.  These tools can be used to create documents, brochures, charts, graphs, and newsletters and they have the potential to enhance teaching.  These tools can also enhance learning for students because it has the potential to be made engaging for students.  I learned that spreadsheets are effective for preparing various types of numeric data and can easily demonstrate “what-if” analyses.  Databases can be used for easy access of lesson plans and prepare targeted summaries of content to address students’ needs. 

I am not currently a teacher but I have found a few sites that I will refer to when I am a teacher.  One website that I found that discusses spreadsheet use in K-12 classes is a website made by Dr. Christie.  The URL is http://www.alicechristie.org/edtech/ss/.  She lists many different activities you can use a spreadsheet for in the classroom.  There are examples of different questions you can ask a class in order to give examples of graphs and charts and there are also links to different interactive websites that can help a teacher incorporate spreadsheets.  I noticed that many of her suggestions for using spreadsheets are when teaching about math and science.  I agree that this is a great tool for engaging students in math and science lessons. 

In the past I have used spreadsheets and databases for keeping a budget.  I keep track of our estimated spending for the month and the actual spending we did for the month.  It is very simple to input the amounts and have a clear visual of what we have spent.  I have also used a spreadsheet for keeping track of a large amount of addresses. 

Finally, throughout the week I have learned that one of the best purposes of a spreadsheet or database is to record grades and the students’ progress throughout the school year.  This is an easy way to demonstrate to parents the progress of their student when having a teacher-parent conference.  These resources are also a very efficient and effective way to keep track of students’ grades.  Once you have created the spreadsheet it is simple to input grades throughout the school year.