How to Excel?

How to Excel?
Unwatch People watching: Caleb X, Jason 'Jake' Coldwell, Kingsley Croft, Stuart Dennett, Lee Gumienny, John Wendel,
Gregg Devillers, Tim Roberts, Paul Groba, Daryl McGee, Sabrina Louie, Caleb Botton, Amber Allen, Harry Spencer,
Michael Siegler, Don Baumhardt, David Faust, Jennifer Howell, Daniel Jones, Paige Peterson, Chris Brannon, John
Buckley, Ian Schwartz, Virginia Holthe, Clint Proctor, Craig Cocking, David Schamma, paul duffin, Aleesha
Martorana, Stacy Martin, Patricia Greenman, Barney Lavin, Adam Baker, Dermot Coffey, Beth Moore, Stephen Craig,
Kirk Hart, David Watermeyer, Heath Chambless, LAD LAD, Nate Oski, and Michael Raymond
May 22
How to Excel? on The LADs project
Apr 5
Caleb X
there seems to be a theme in Office 4 where people wish to know a bit more about Microsoft Excel. specifically:
how to go about putting together a spreadsheet to track grades
how to rank students in a class based on their performance
how to plugin scores and figure out percentages according to Dongguk's criteria
what i would like to do is put together a workshop where i can walk people through these things and share what i
know.
i think it would be good to do this before midterms or shortly after.
for those that are interested, please chime in here with the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
do you have a desktop or a laptop?
if so, what system does it run? (e.g. OS X, Windows RX, Linux)
which version of Excel do you have to work with (either at home or Dongguk)?
when are you free?
we can work out a specific date and time from there.
i also have attached two .xls files here:
the first is for a Dongguk class and the other is from my last job. you can play around with them and get a feel for
what Excel can do and how i'm using the software. i will talk a little bit about these workbooks when we gather.
my goal is to help others learn how to build their own spreadsheet from scratch.
2012.Spring_SCLB__09.00 -‐‑ 11.00__attendence grades.xls (100 KB)
2011__Summa Feedback__Writing.xls (3 MB)
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Apr 5
Jennifer Howell
Interested in attending! 1. I'll be using my desktop at the office. 2. Runs Windows. 3. Will get back to you on that. 4.
Tuesdays are usually good as they're my day off. Any night after 6 also good and almost any day before 12 is also
good. Saturdays are okay; Sundays are out. Thanks for organizing!
Apr 6
Sabrina Louie
Hi! I'm interested in attending a workshop. I use the desktop at school, but also use my macbook at home. I'm
computer dumb when it comes to computer jargon. But if shown formulas or demos, I can catch on. I teach in the
mornings and I am usually free after 1 or 2 pm most days except Tuesdays. Thanks Caleb!
Apr 7
Caleb X
excellent.
a few notes:
i want to nail down a time/date for the workshop next week, so if you are interested and haven't stated that
yet, please do.
those of you with whom i've talked and have expressed verbal interest, you have to put it in writing so i can
plan around your schedule and know that you are serious.
the reason i'm asking about your system is because for the ease of your learning and my showing, we all
need to be using the same version of Excel so you can follow what i do. the easiest and most flexible
version to learn in is Excel 2003 -‐‑-‐‑ not 2007 or 2010 (for PC) and not 2004, 2008 or 2011 (for Mac). i can
get into the specifics (the two minute version) of why later on, if you are curious.
don't be too concerned with what you have or don't have; i have everything you might need for any computer
you might own (call that a true geek burden).
don't worry about what you don't know, when we're done, you will know how to make Excel your bitch and
that's all that matters.
if there is a need and interest, i will also put on a workshop to show you how to make Word your bitch.
Apr 7
Craig Cocking
Hey Caleb. I'm in to make Excel my Bitch... Any day around 5:30pm is good for me but I could squeeze in a morning
slot Tues -‐‑ Thurs if that suits everyone better. I'll use it mostly on my desktop at uni but need to check which
system it is... Cheers
Apr 7
Michael Siegler
Caleb,
What are your feelings about Open Office? It seems to have its limits as far as high-‐‑end functionality goes (Impress
vs. PowerPoint, Calc vs. Excel), but for our basic spreadsheet needs (i.e. simple BEDMAS grade sheets) it seems
sufficient. And it's free.
Give me the two minute version here, or I'll ask you about it next time we see each other.
Apr 7
Caleb X
@sieglermike
i once played with Star Office 5.2 which evolved into Open Office. i've heard good things about it lately, but using it
would require learning how to use it. i may play around with it during vacation and see if i like it and if it works
better.
THE TWO MINUTE VERSION (i timed it)
we expect software to get easier to use and more efficient, but this is not the case with MS Office:
PC versions:
in Office 2007 and 2010 each tool is more difficult to find AND their location cannot be changed (a very
minor exception here is in the ten minute version).
the interface of Office 2003 is 100% customizable ... the tools you need can be put right in front of you and
the ones you don't need can be put away so you never have to see them again.
Office 2007 and 2010 do not offer this convenience, in fact they take away convenience from the user
Office 2003 uses much less memory than 2007 or 2010 versions
Mac versions:
Office 2004 is fine, except it crashes repeatedly (and won't run on Macs made after 2006)
in Office 2008 the crashing problem crops up and it has some of the hide-‐‑n-‐‑seek tool nonsense of Office
2007. worse, it has no VB support which means no macros
a marco is a recorded action
macros save your wrist from repeating the same mouse clicks over and over (like making a table or
formatting a cell) -‐‑-‐‑ a very useful thing
any macro from any other MS Office suite fails work; this is especially bad for Excel files.
Office 2011 has vb support, but is a resource hog; as a bonus you can't customize the interface.
any Mac user is better off using Office 2003 with an virtual machine (a.k.a. an emulator); this also gives them
the ability to access e-‐‑class and uDRIMS from their Mac instead of needing a PC)
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done!
Apr 8
any
unknown terminology in this explanation will be covered in the workshop!
Lee Gumienny
Ugh -‐‑ my laptop just died. No choice but to use the office computer and Excell 2007 is loaded on there. I am free
after 5 almost every day. I can also meet before 1 except on Fridays. Let's do it!
Apr 8
Amber Allen
I would be interested as well. I would be using the office computer and my laptop at home. I have the same
schedule as Sabrina. free after 1pm/2pm except on Tuesdays. Thanks!
Apr 9
Stuart Dennett
Mike S mentioned "simple BEDMAS grade sheets". I want to demonstrate in this post how we can go beyond this and
utilise some more advanced tools of modern spreadsheet programs in order to save time, reduce user error,
highlight problem students, and more fairly grade students.
Basically, I want to show you what you might be missing out on.
Side point: BEDMAS is known as BODMAS in the UK. Why on earth don't we call it BEDMAS? Everyone's
confused about what the O stands for.
A sample spreadsheet is attached. It was made in Excel 2007 for Windows. I don't know how it'll work in other
versions of Excel. I have altered students' names and student numbers for privacy reasons.
This is not intended to be a replacement for Caleb's workshop. You should consider it an advertisement for it,
though I don't know if you'll learn these things specifically. I myself have discovered these things through trial and
error, and my spreadsheets sometimes require manual intervention to keep things working. Looking at the
spreadsheets Caleb uploaded, he clearly knows what he is doing better than I do.
I am not recommending Excel 2007 above Excel 2003. I do not know which is better for our purposes. Caleb has
made some good points in favour of Excel 2003.
You may encounter difficulties if you try to use the attached spreadsheet for your classes without understanding the
formulae and what's going on behind the scenes. Not everything is automatically taken care of. I recommend
attending Caleb's workshop. After that, you may want to create your own spreadsheet from scratch, so you can be
sure that you understand everything that's going on.
-‐‑ Useful spreadsheet tools and techniques -‐‑
In decreasing order of importance:
Sorting (part of the Filtering functionality in Excel):
Open the attached spreadsheet. Notice the grey buttons depicting down arrows next to each heading. These allow
me to sort by name, student number, whatever I choose. So when it's time to upload absences or grades, I'm not too
put out by the various orders in which UDRIMS and eClass give us the students in in different places.
Sample attendance and grading 2.xlsx (30 KB)
This
is too
long to becolumn,
displayed.
Click
for
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penultimate
Total
End%
. Click
onview.
the down arrow button, and choose to sort in
Apr
9
descending numerical order (숫자내림차순 정렬). Now the best-‐‑performing students are at the top, and the worst-‐‑
Daniel
Jonesare at the bottom.
performing
I am up for some excel training. I use Open office but my work computer has 2003 on it. I am free any time before
This will become useful after the midterms -‐‑-‐‑ The percentages will be a useful forecast of what the students can
1pm/ after 5pm.
expect to achieve, and I will be easily able to see how students are performing in relation to their classmates.
Apr 9
After finals, I'll be able to enter grades from top to bottom, making sure that they are in order -‐‑-‐‑ The A+s at the
Daryl McGee
top, the D0s and Fs at the bottom. (Also bearing in mind whatever grading rules my teams have set.)
I'm with Dan on this.
When that's done, I can sort by student name or student number, or whatever order UDRIMS uses in the place where
we enter grades. As my spreadsheet will then be in the same order as UDRIMS, entering grades will (in theory) just
Apr 9
be a matter of going down the final column and entering that letter into UDRIMS.
Adam Baker
Before continuing, sort the spreadsheet by name order or UDRIMS order (which are actually the same order)
I'm reasonably competent with Excel, so I'll put myself out there as a resource if anyone ever has any questions
to get things back to how they were.
about anything.
Apr 9
Logical
expressions
Sabrina Louie
Notice that the second student (whose name is 'B') has an excused absence in Week 3. In my courses, this means
The only mornings I can do are Thursdays after 11. But any day after 2 except Tuesday is good. My desktop uses
that he is excused from everything in that class -‐‑-‐‑ attendance, participation points, due homework, and quiz
Windows XP and Open office 3.3. My laptop at home should be up to date with the current Mac OS.
points.
Apr 9
Note also the numbers in the bottom row. This indicates what each field is scored 'out of'. The quiz was scored out
Sabrina Louie
of 6, for instance.
Sorry, it's Windows XP Excel 2007.
Now examine the formulas in the following cells:
BN11:
Apr 9 This totals the value of every cell in row 11 in every 'Q' column. i.e. It counts all the quiz points for that
student.
Caleb X
BO11: This counts all the quiz points that the student has been excused from. When it finds a -‐‑ in a quiz column, it
i count 7 people for the workshop so far:
uses the bottom row to check what each quiz was scored out of. (In this case, cell O35 is used.)
1. Jennifer Howell
BN35: This counts how many quiz points it would be possible for a perfect student to get.
2. Sabrina Louie
3. This
Lee Gumienny
BP11:
compares the gross quiz score (in BN11) to the maximum quiz points the student could have gotten,
4.
Amber
Allenhe was excused from. In this case, the student has a perfect quiz score (so far!).
excluding
quizzes
5. Daniel Jones
6. Daryl
BQ35:
This isMcGee
what percentage quizzes go towards the total percentage score, set by my team.
7. Craig Cocking
BQ11: The students' total percentage quiz score is scaled to how it will be in the total percentage score. In this
i'm
going
to closehas
thisthe
listfull
on score
Wednesday
and then
a schedule
of score.
possible times, getting
case,
the student
for quizzes,
andstart
getsputting
the fulltogether
15% towards
his total
software to people, and rustling up equipment (e.g. a projector) for the big event.
BV11: The students' total score.
in the meantime if you have any Excel questions, you should write them down or post 'em here so they can be
To automatically
covered
in the workshop.
excuse excused quizzes in this way would not have been possible without the SUMIF and SUMIFS
expressions in cells BN11 and BO11.
@adam
There expertise
more
are various
would
otherbelogical
great,expressions
would you consider
in other pitching?
parts of the spreadsheet, such as COUNTIF to count
attendances and absences. Take a look around.
Apr 10
David Watermeyer
Hi Caleb -‐‑ I am interested in an Excel meeting thanks. I use Windows 7 . I am free after 5pm Tues,Weds ,Thurs..
@calebx
Apr 10
Barney Lavin
Hi. Add me to the list, please. I have XP Excel 2007 at home. I'm free Monday after 2, all day Tuesday, Wednesday
after 3, Thursday and Friday after 5. Thanks.
Apr 10
Kirk Hart
Hey, count me in as well. I am using office 2007
Apr 10
Caleb X
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Jennifer Howell
Sabrina Louie
Lee Gumienny
Amber Allen
Daniel Jones
Daryl McGee
Craig Cocking
David Watermeyer
Barney Lavin
Kirk Hart
i'll start putting together a preliminary schedule today with available times.
Apr 10
Michael Siegler
Put my name on the list as well, good sir. Desktop Mac at home (OSX 10.6.8) and a PC laptop as well (Windows 7). I
don't use Excel -‐‑ I use OpenOffice Calc -‐‑ but I'd like to attend as there's a lot of crossover between the two, because
people occasionally ask me Excel-‐‑related questions, and because I'd like to keep an eye on you. I'm free every day
between 5am and 7am and after 2pm.
Apr 10
John Buckley
Depending on the time/day that gets settled on, please add me to the list as well. If I'm not able to attend, I'll let
you know. Thanks!
Apr 10
Nate Oski
I'm interested as well Mondays after 5 or Tuesdays after 3^
Apr 10
Caleb X
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Jennifer Howell
Sabrina Louie
Lee Gumienny
Amber Allen
Daniel Jones
Daryl McGee
Craig Cocking
David Watermeyer
Barney Lavin
Kirk Hart
11. Michael Siegler
12. John Buckley
13. Nate Oski
Apr 10
Paul Groba
Same as John B. -‐‑ depends on the time and place.
Apr 10
Beth Moore
Much needed. I'm in. Please let me know the finalised date. Thanks.
Apr 11
Caleb X
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Jennifer Howell
Sabrina Louie
Lee Gumienny
Amber Allen
Daniel Jones
Daryl McGee
Craig Cocking
David Watermeyer
Barney Lavin
Kirk Hart
Michael Siegler
John Buckley
Nate Oski
Paul Groba
Beth Moore
enrollment closed^
i compiled a preliminary schedule based on the available times people posted. those who said "everyday" or "any
day" got plotted for a possible Saturday. if i've made an error, just email me straight up rather than muck up
inboxes. i can post changes when i next update here.
i'm leaning toward an evening (after 17.00) event as that seems to be when most are free. this week i'll see what the
LAD can do for this and then work the rest out ...
calebjcook_workshop_excel_01.xls (90 KB)
Apr 12
Aleesha Martorana
Hey Caleb-‐‑ sorry for the late reply but can I still get in on this training session (despite enrollment closed). any
evening after 5 works for me. Thanks
Apr 26
Caleb X
good news!
the IT department deems Excel training to be worthy of projector use.
i went ahead and reserved it for Tuesday, May 1 at 17.00.
where? it doesn't matter.
a projector means that it's a portable workshop ... i.e. i can bring the show to you!
the location will be determined by:
1. whoever can make that day and time (8-‐‑9 of you said you could)
2. the greater number of people attending who have desktops in one location.
failing all that, we will use the depressingly stark walls of office 4 (which has two desktop bound people already).
the basic outline will be to:
walk you through building a grade sheet from scratch
how to make Excel think for you so you can enjoy more free time
all the cool tools to get you there as fast as possible
i expect this to take an hour, give or take ten minutes.
whoever can't make the show, drop me an email and we'll workout a 1:1 time or if you have an office buddy a 1:2
time for training.
Apr 30
Lee Gumienny
I will be there!
Apr 30
Craig Cocking
Kia ora Caleb
I finish teaching my kindy class at about 5:15pm so will rock in a.s.a.p. after that.
Cheers
Apr 30
Sabrina Louie
Hey Caleb, I can't make it because of my Professors' Clinic. If you could let me know about possibly a second group
time or a 1:1 would be great.
Thanks, Sabrina
Apr 30
Caleb X
after some queries, a destination has been decided upon:
where: Office 4
when: Tuesday, May 1
what: Battlefield Excel
also ... i will speak with the LAD on Tuesday about reserving the projector for a second workshop this week or next
and confirm the next date here as soon as possible.
May 1
John Buckley
Hi Caleb, I don't think I'll be able to make this today. If I could perhaps join with Sabrina and/or any others at an
alternate time/date, that would be awesome. If not, no worries. Thanks for your on-‐‑going help in these matters!
May 1
Daniel Jones
Hi Caleb, how many computer are there in Office 4? I am assuming that you want us to have access to one for the
training?
May 1
Michael Siegler
Sorry, can't make it at 5pm today... I'll try to join in with John and Sabrina if an alternate date gets worked out.
May 1
Daniel Jones
I think I will do it next time when there are more available computers .
May 1
Caleb X
here is an outline of what will be covered today. my goal is to get through parts I, II, and III in about an hour. parts
IV and V more practice on your own / 1:1.
May 1
Caleb X
today's workshop lasted about an hour and half. we covered a lot of really basic stuff and i think those who needed
the most help finally started to get some.
i've told the LAD i want the projector again. the next workshop is:
where: Office 4
when: Thursday, May 3 @ 17.00
what: Battlefield Excel, The Malleable Calculator
we will pick up where we left off today:
sticking our toes into a tidal pool of math and =SUM functions.
i'm reposting the outline for today. we left off on the highlighted sections should anyone new want to come along
Thursday. i'm also posting the demo file. my best advice it to either play around with this or the one you made in
the workshop and get a feel for how things work.
as for workshop dates and times in the future ... i think keeping them on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 17.00 is the
way. anyone who can't make those times ought to seek me out in other blocks. try me:
Mondays 11.00 -‐‑ 14.00
Tuesdays 13.00 -‐‑ 17.00
Thursdays various times between 10.00 and 17.00
i will keep booking/reserving the projector for Tuesdays and Thursdays until the LAD forbids me from using it any
longer.
2007_sample.xlsx (20 KB)
Workshop_Outline__The Basics and a Grade Sheet.doc (40 KB)
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May 2
Craig Cocking
Thanks heaps Caleb. Very informative. Will try to sneak back to another one...
May 7
Caleb X
because of the holiday tomorrow and a prior engagement on Thursday, there will be no proper workshop this week.
i'm sorry about this.
please look me up if you need help either today (i have lounge at 15.00, but am in my office now) or Thursday
between 10.00 and 15.30 (i'll be in my office then as well).
May 14
Caleb X
it's that time again ...
where: Office 4
when: Tuesday, May 15 @ 17.00
what: Borne Excel
there will be one Thursday this week as well, same Bat-‐‑time, maybe different Bat-‐‑Office, depending on need and
want. although, if no one pipes up, it will just be in Office 4 so i don't have to walk as far^
next week i want to take this show on the road. talk among yourselves and decide which Office i should park my
gear in, again, if people don't speak up, nothing will happen and the show will stay in Office 4 :P
i won't be able to do these in week 16, and i will get busier as the semester winds down. if you put this off until the
end, i may not be able to help as much, especially if (gasp!) this ends up being a lounge thing where lots of people
need a lot of help all at once right before everything is due.
i'm just saying ...
for your dabbling pleasure, here is a calculator i made today to expedite the tedious process of grading Quiz 2
(check out that button, that's a first for me):
calculator.xls (30 KB)
May 22
Caleb X
one last workshop bump
Excel Workshop / 1:1 Tutoring
every Tuesday and Thursday at 17.00
either my office or yours^
the remaining days are 5/22, 5/24, 5/29, 5/31, 6/5, 6/7, 6/12, and 6/14
if there are no takers, i'll hang around until 17.30 on those days, then slither on home to work on other things.
May 22
Amber Allen
I plan on coming 5/24
Send a message to the rest of the group.
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