Friday, March 09, 2007

ITM 5: Calculate This!



It's our first full episode of 2007! Among other things, this show focuses on creative uses of spreadsheets.


Downloads
> Quicktime MP4 (16 MB)

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Show Notes:

What time of day is it at the world's largest outdoor, seated Buddha statue in Hong Kong? Post your answers in the comments!

The Holocaust Wiki Project is a history simulation project run by Dan McDowell and his students at West Hills H.S. in the Grossmont Union High School District.

Learn more about wikis on Wikipedia (of course!), or get your own at wikispaces, or host your own wikis on your own webserver using the open-source MediaWiki software.

101 Fun and Relevant Ways to Use Spreadsheets. Thanks to Dr. Alice Christie for posting these great ideas!

Lucie deLaBruere from St. Alban's City School in St. Albans, VT, shares a recent spreadsheet project she did with 5th graders. Thanks Lucie!

You and your students can instantly create, collaborate, and share spreadsheets with Google Docs & Spreadsheets. It's FREE, but every student needs a FREE Google Account before using the tool. A valid email address is required to setup a Google Account. If students don't have one, consider Gmail or use a service like Gaggle.Net if you need safe, filtered email. If your school or district doesn't allow students to have email accounts, then you have two options: fight tooth and nail to give your kids access to email OR setup a series of "generic" email accounts (teachername1@gmail.com, teachername2@gmail.com, etc.) just to activate your Google Accounts. Then have students login directly on the web to access Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

Learn more about ways to use Google Docs and Spreadsheets on the Google Educators website.

How are you using online spreadsheets in your school or district? Add your ideas in the comments for this post. Come on, it's easy. Just click the "comments" in link above. You'll be glad you did!