1. Using Excel for Quantitative Skill Development
Benjamin J. Maas
Buena Vista University

2. Workshop Objectives Introductions Why I use Excel based assignments
Introductions
Why I use Excel based assignments
Example assignments
Growth of students’ Excel abilities
Things to consider
Time to work on assignment ideas
Q & A

3. Introductions What do you want to gain from today?
What are the most important Excel abilities students should have?
When do you allow students the chance to practice them?
Write answers down on large sheets provided on tables

4. *Note* Can Use Google Spreadsheet Instead
Has all capabilities of Microsoft Excel
Free and many students use it because editable online

5. Why Do I Use Based Excel Assignments?
Was not happy with my “old” assignments
Provided limited opportunities for reflection on concepts
Did not incorporate the interpretation of data
As a result key ideas were being missed
Builds on concepts introduced in the courses
Students can sift through the data
Take ownership of the data
Identify different ways to represent data
Students learn Excel
Many have limited practice with it
Also wanted to get assignments located higher on Bloom’s Taxonomy
They really like the default line plot Excel generates

6. Courses with Excel Assignments
Why?
Intro. to Environmental Science
Global Climate Change
Environmental Hydrology
Water Treatment and Lab Methods
Oceanography
Physical Geology
Intro. to Soil Science
Agriculture and the Environment
Applicable to jobs
Students have little exposure to making graphs
Students have little exposure to organize data
Students are able to take ownership of the assignment

7. Examples of Homework Assignments

8. Examples of Graphs for Assignments
Excel techniques learned:
Independent y-axes, values in reverse order, column spacing, picking the ‘right’ graph

9. Student Graphs Graphs at end of the semester Early Graphs
Many students improved on
Axes labels
Axes location
Chart type
Formatting
Chart design
Excel confidence
Amount of improvement varied with each student

10. Things to consider What are the objectives?
For me, problem solving ‘signature skills’
Wanted more critical thinking
How long are the assignments?
And how frequent
Number of students
What is the ‘right answer’
For me it was coming to a logical answer
Need to provide enough introduction to Excel
Many students have limited experience using Excel

11. Data set to brush-up on Excel Skills
Pick one of the data sets loaded to webpage and produce a graph similar to the one below
Alternatively, you may work on crafting your assignment idea if familiar with these graph types

12. Bubble Chart Allows three data sets to be compared at once
X-variable
Y-variable
“bubble” variable
Alternative graph type if you feel comfortable on the other graph types

13. Sites to Access Data

14. Your Turn How can you utilize Excel in your courses?
Outline an idea
Learning objectives?
What are the data?
Important graph(s)?
After forming your idea, start working on the assignment or deliverables
Will reconvene towards the end of the mini-session to share ideas