ICT and the Roles of the Educator - Activity 7: Spreadsheets as a learning resource

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Activity 7: Spreadsheets as a learning resource

Reading and Reflection: 2 hrs
Group Activity: 2 hrs
Reflection: 30 mins

4 hrs 30 mins

The purpose of this activity is to engage you in some thought and discussion about how spreadsheets can be used as a tool during lesson time.

Before continuing with this activity you should first read the description of a lesson involving the use of the spreadsheet. The lesson describes the interaction between one learner and a teacher. They are using Excel on a Macintosh computer, but the principles would be the same if they were using a computer such as the one you are using. Note that this lesson is a Maths lesson, but the principles of the approach to working with spreadsheets could be applied to any lesson. It is an example using USA statistics, but similar lessons could use statistics for your country.

Group Activity 7

Once you have read the description of a lesson involving the use of the spreadsheet, attempt to answer the following questions. Note that the questions are encouraging you to think about some issues about which you may have little experience or knowledge. The purpose of the questions is to encourage you to think about these issues before discussing them with your group.
Open the question file (click here) and write your answers in the word processor document. (For each question, first delete the words Write your answer here and then type in your own answer) Save the file once you have completed the answers. The questions are:

What, other than the spreadsheet, is the primary resource for this lesson?
What is the main aim of the lesson?
How does the teacher link with what the learner already knows?
How would you describe the teacher's style of teaching?
At what stage of the lesson is the spreadsheet introduced? Do you think that the learner has used a spreadsheet before?
Read about just-in-time learning. Do you think the principle of just-in-time learning has been used by this teacher?
Do you think that this is an effective lesson? How would you improve on it?
Once you have completed answering these questions, save the document called Questions, attach it to e-mail to your tutor (using the subject heading "Using_spreadsheets").

Discuss one of the following questions with your group.

Either
- What are your ideas on how to use spreadsheets as a learning tool in a big group in a computer room ? Participate in an online discussion with your group (using the subject heading "Handling a big group"). Respond to at least two contributions to the discussion.

OR

What are your ideas about how you would use a spreadsheet on one computer in a classroom, when you have about 40 learners in the class? Participate in an online discussion with your group (using the subject heading "One computer classroom "). Respond to at least two contributions to the discussion.
Complete the activity by making reflective comments in your e-diary.

Click here to go to Activity 8- Integrating spreadsheets with learning.

ICT and the Roles of the Educator

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