MS Excel

     One of the skills that I really want to learn is the skill in Microsoft Excel. Nowadays, it is important to have skill about it especially in the works that require skills in computer specifically in MS Office. Working with excel is not that easy. There are many commands that you need to learn in order to be familiar with the works in excel. Each icon has its own function. You need to know the purpose and how it is used. To be able to do that, you read books about excel or you can find the tutorial in the internet. You can also read in the help  portion of excel. It is located in the upper part on the right side of excel. For me, it is better to have a coach while studying it. As you practice, you do it.

     I have knowledge in excel but a little only. Before, I studied about it on my own and I learned something but I was not able to practice/use it most of the time so I forgot about it. It is really important to practice or use what you have learned so that it will remain in your mind. I am glad that in our Educational subject it was tackled. Our professor gave an example on how to apply the different commands, and I’m happy because again I learned something. I got happy when I learn new things, ideas, experience etc. I’d like to introduce you what is MS Excel.

What is MS Excel?

Excel is a spreadsheet application developed by Microsoft for Microsoft windows, Mac OS and iOS. It features calculations, graphing tools, pivot tables, macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. Excel is massive application with 1000s of features and 100s of ribbon (menu) command. It is very easy to get lost once you open excel. So one of the basic survival skills is to understand how to navigate Excel and access the features you are looking for. When you open excel, this is how it looks.

The Excel Window

Starting the Excel Processing Program

1.    Click the Start button

2.    Point to all programs

3.    Point to Microsoft office

4.    Click on Microsoft office excel

The Ribbon

The Ribbon is the panel at the top portion of the document. It has seven tabs which are Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Date, Review and View.

Home Tab

          You can do things like formatting, alignment, inserting and deleting rows or columns, sorting and filtering numbers, applying styles and formatting effects, finding and replacing data and much more using the Tab. This Home tab displays commands which are grouped as Clipboard, Font, Alignment, Number, Styles, Cells, Editing. Each icon has its function.

Insert Tab

     You can insert things pictures, clip art images, smart art graphics, charts, Pivot tables, hyperlinks, header and footer sections, etc., using this Tab. This Insert tab displays the related commands which are grouped as Tables, Illustrations, Charts, Links, and Text.

Page Layout

This Page Layout tab displays the related commands which are grouped as Themes, Page Setup, Scale to fit, Sheet Options, Arrange.  

Formulas

     The Formulas Tab greatly simplifies the task of number crunching. It has the following groups: Function Library, Defined Names, Formula Auditing, and Calculation.

Data

          

     Using this tab, you can import data from external sources including but not limited to a text files, Microsoft Access databases, web pages, xml documents, Microsoft Query, Microsoft SQL Server databases. The Data displays the related commands which are grouped as Get External data, Connections, Sort & Filter, Data Tools, Outline, and Analysis.

                                   

Review

This Tab has functionality that will let you proof read your Excel workbooks, add and delete comments, protect and unprotect Excel sheets/workbooks and finally allow users to track changes in a multi user Excel workbook. The Review Tab has the following Groups: Proofing, Comments, and Changes.

View

           

     Using this Tab, you can control the layout and view of your Excel Workbook.  This is especially important when you are done working on a spreadsheet and are finally ready to print it. It displays the related commands which are Workbook Views, Show/Hide, Zoom, Window, Macros.

        These are the important areas and parts of Microsoft Excel. You have to be familiar with these in order for you to get started with excel. I gave you the images/screen of every tab for you to be familiar. Next time I’m going to place here the assignment that we did for our subject.

ONLINE Service

Another topic that we need to explore in our Educational Technology subject is Quipper and Engrade. We were instructed to open an account either in quipper or engrade. These two e-learning can load instructional materials. If a teacher wants his/her students experience smarter, quick, fun education, he/she can use Quipper and Engrade.

            

Our professor instructed us to open an account and create a section/class on e-learning and I chose Quipper. Our professor said that we will use it as our class. We will act as teacher, and we have to invite five persons from our classmates as our students. I thought it was hard to do. When I decided to create my own, I went to quipperschool.com. There are two portals, the Teacher and the Student portal. If you are a teacher, you go to the teacher portal and your students will go to the student portal to join your class. 

To help you more understand on what quipper all about is and how to create an account, you can watch this video.

This is my class

 Truly I had fun in quipper. At first, I was confused where to go to learn about it. But if you’re going to find out and explore it, you will know how to use it in your class. When I gave an assignment in my class, I felt like I’m a real teacher. I chose English subject for high school students. The subject has different topics and all you have to do is choose among them. Just click on the topic that you want. The good thing is there are lessons that a students can read before they can answer the questions and it adds knowledge to them. As the student answers the questions, he/she will be excited because after each question, it will automatically tell you if you got the right or wrong answer. The effect of the right and wrong answer is exciting and it has impact to the one doing it. For me, this kind of class is something that a student wants to experience especially that we are in a digital world now. If you allow your students to experience things they want, they become more interested. As a teacher, you have to find other ways to make your students not just learn, but also have fun at the same time.

What are you waiting for teachers? Get started with the Quipper school now!