Analyzing Student Data in a Spreadsheet

As an ex-Excel user, I was delighted to work with Google Doc spreadsheets, which I found easier and more user-friendly than Excel. Although my knowledge of Excel was helpful during my learning about Google's version, I think it would have still been a fairly simply process with no prior knowledge.

If/when I get a job, I can imagine tracking my students' progress through Google Doc spreadsheets. Additionally, by using Google Docs, I can easily access the information from my workstation at school, or my laptop at home. By showing the spreadsheet as a graph, it was much clearer that the low-scoring students had improved over time. Without the visual, the information wouldn't have been as clear, and could have even been misunderstood.

I can also imagine having students track their own data in this way. I'm currently teaching a Math Fact Club(!), and one of the things we're doing is tracking our own progress as the students improve their math fact learning. Using Google Doc spreadsheet, the kids would be able to use technology to make goals and watch their learning progress.

Watch what happens when I graphed the data of below average testers.

Here's a link to my Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aul3OPuXKt85dHYyTW5sa0Y2cFFnbk5EbWNuRmh6S0E&hl=en_US#gid=2