Spreadsheet: Love or Hate?

Like Marmite, I thought you either had to love or hate spreadsheets but I learned recently a hate for them can actually be transformed into a love once shown how to use them efficiently.

I have used spreadsheets a lot in several of my past jobs but until the most recent lecture on mathematics and ICT I have never really used them very effectively. I hated spreadsheets because I feared them. I knew they could be a lot more useful and I always dreaded having to use them as I did not know where to look to improve my skills on this aspect of my ICT knowledge and always found them very frustrating. As much as possible I would avoid spreadsheets and use tables on Word and laboriously write out each value and total using a calculator.

However, since my last lecture I have found out just how easy it is to use spreadsheets. The formulaic language used in spreadsheets which looks so scary is actually quite easy to grasp. I really do not know why I hated them so much and presumed they were so difficult! They are very useful for working out problems and different types of calculations quickly and accurately. Spreadsheets will be a great way to get children interested in Maths problems as when faced with a problem they have to work out without help from a spreadsheet, they may feel a lot more daunted. Plus, they are easy to link with real life examples that are relevant to the children through using real data. Once the children have been shown some simple formulas that they can use, they will hopefully find spreadsheets as useful and easy as I now do and come to love using them!

Learning ICT so far...

I have drastically improved in using Wikis and Blogs and now find myself using them socially as well as for university. Plus, I am also using a blog for Science so I am really starting to consider what ICT resources I can use in different subjects. The resources Wiki that was set up to help provide teaching resources has also helped a lot. I will be doing some work for my placement around the topic of Light and Colour and plan to have a look through to see what I can find to help me plan some lessons. I have also contributed to this and hope to keep adding to it as I find more resources on the web.

As well as this, I have a much better knowledge of how ICT can be used across the curriculum, both through my own reading and the ICT lectures and activities. There is so much scope to involve ICT in almost all activities and subjects that are carried out. In every lesson that I plan I am now considering how I can incorporate ICT. My most important development since I have started this course would have to be my insight into how useful ICT is in the classroom to help with teaching and learning.

However, I do still have a lot to learn about ICT and many goals which I need to achieve or improve on, for example, programming. But if I continue to develop my knowledge as I have over the last couple of months I will certainly make many more leaps in my progress.

ICT in my week at school

As I spent last week in school I thought I would write my Blog about my ICT experiences there. We used three types of ICT resources whilst I was in the classroom:

• We used computers - the school had a computer suite but unfortunately not enough computers for one class to all work on their own computer. They did however have one between two which seemed to work quite well for the tasks we did. From what I could see they also had some interesting and useful software for several different subjects. The main drawback however was that I could see the availability of the suite may become a problem as it also doubled up as a music room.
• There was also an interactive whiteboard in each classroom. In our classroom, it proved to be a great resource and really good fun to use with DVDs and games for the children. I found several different games and a quiz as well as information on the firework code on the internet, which the children were able to play as a class on the whiteboard.
• They also had a CD player which was used to play soft music to calm the children down at the end of the day.

I think that there are a lot more ICT resources at the school, which I look forward to using during my placement!