Strategies For Teaching and Grading Using Excel Because “Uses of Conditional Formatting” Was Too Boring for 8:30am

I spend a lot of time working …on how to work less. This is an interactive presentation… Please open the Excel Workbook ‘Conditional Formatting Presentation’

‘To most of us, learning something “the hard way” implies wasted time and effort. Good teaching, we believe, should be creatively tailored to the different learning styles of students and should use strategies that make learning easier...’ ‘Drawing on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and other disciplines, the authors offer concrete techniques for becoming more productive learners.’

‘Grappling with the impediments that make learning challenging leads both to more complex mastery and better retention of what was learned…’ ‘Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly.’ ‘More complex and durable learning comes from testing oneself, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another.’

BEYOND the THEORY Engaged Classes Require Student Preparation Offline/Online Learning Systems: McGraw Hill Connect with LearnSmart / Pearson MyLab 50-75 Questions/ Chapter Excel Low Stakes Assignments (Don’t Reward What Students Should Do) BEYOND the THEORY Engaged Classes Require Teacher Preparation FTF Learning: Relevance is Paramount Start With “Why?” Have the Students DO Critical Thinking in Class 100% Student Engagement Redesign Class Time Assess, Address & Reflect Provide Real-Time Data Driven Feedback Offline/Online Learning Systems: Quiz Performance: Excel, BlackBoard, Connect, MyLab Less Grading Item Analysis AOL becomes less biased and easier

Discovery – Diagnostic - Discussion

Discovery Based Learning Imagine you are a student in an introductory financial accounting class. The professor is introducing debits/credits and Double-Entry Accounting. “Click on the ‘Discovery’ tab in the provided excel and select ‘Debit/Credit’ and match the account with the ‘Descriptions/Explanation’ using the appropriate scroll buttons.”

Let’s Build It! Click on ‘Discovery(2)’ To insert a dropdown list click on the ‘Data’ tab, and in the ‘Data Tools’ area select ‘Data Validation’ Do the same thing for the ‘Description/Explanation’ but for the ‘Source’ select and reference the appropriate cells on the ‘Glossary’ worksheet. You will need to select only the Liability ‘Type’ and sort terms alphabetically.

Let’s Build It! – Text Based Conditional Formatting On ‘Discovery(2)’ All the items in the ‘To Increase’ column should have the appropriate term i.e. ‘Credit’ On the ‘Home’ tab select the ‘Conditional Formatting’ drop down list and ‘Highlight Cell Rules’ and select ‘Text that Contains…” Do the same for the ‘Description/Explanation’ items one- at-a-time.

The Order of the Accounting Cycle Imagine you are a student in an introductory financial accounting class. The professor is introducing the Accounting Cycle. Explore the ‘Sequencing-Matching’ tab Attempt to find the correct sequence Confer with a neighbor Discuss WHY this is the ‘correct’ sequence

The Order of the Accounting Cycle 1. Record Transactions in the General Journal 2. Post Transactions in the General Ledger 3. Trial Balance 4. Adjusting Entries 5. Prepare Financial Statements 6. Closing Entries “Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly.”

Formula Based Conditional Formatting On the ‘Sequencing-Matching’ tab select ‘Conditional Formatting’ and ‘Manage Rules…” Click on ‘Edit Rule’ and note the formula =AND($B$3=$A$5,$B$4=$A$7,$B$5=$A$8,$B$6=$A$3,$B$7=$A$6,$B$8=$A$4) If you have used a formula/inequality, it can be used in ‘Conditional Formatting’ <, >, >=, <=, =, <>, +, -, *, /, ^ =$A$1, $A$1-$A$2 =AVERAGE(), =MEDIAN(), =STDEV(), =SUM(), =IF(), =AND(), etc… A1>=AVERAGE($A$1:$A$100)+2*STDEV($A$1:$A$100)

Diagnostic Applications Layering Conditional Formatting On the ‘Traditional Questions’ tab, multiple conditional formats have been used for individual cells. ‘Conditional Formatting’ can be activated using ordered conditional formatting. How the formats appear in the list is very important. ‘Stop if True’ will cause the conditional formatting to stop at a given rule. Traditional Questions can be moved to homework/completion based assignments or for graded assignments (password protected worksheets). Combining Multiple Worksheets Can Provide Feedback and Item Analysis Take a look at the ‘Grade Sheet’ worksheet The ‘Formulas-1’ and ‘Formulas-2’ could be replaced with unique (anonymous) student identifiers. Meta-data

Discussion The point is to engage students and enhance the learning experience Students can participate at their own pace Conditional Formatting can guide students through factual information Critical Thinking and Analysis need to be designed into class activities

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