Developing Spreadsheet Expertise through Guided Modeling Experience

• In Event: Education Cases

Abstract

This case offers guided modeling experience for improving spreadsheet expertise. The spreadsheet experience comprises identifying the modeling requirements from conversation, scanning the data for anomalies, learning to perform operations from documentation, and performing spreadsheet operations. The case includes practice and quiz questions about the modeling, where the quiz questions can serve as an assessment of spreadsheet expertise. The case also includes diagnostic questions for assessing students’ initial proficiency. This approach appears promising in helping students improve their spreadsheet skills as they prepare to enter a work world in which they are taken for granted. The case is suitable for students that can copy cells, create formulas with absolute and relative references, and use built-in functions in formulas. It requires students to develop formulas with IF functions and absolute and relative references across sheets, use Go To Special, record simple macros, and develop a pivot table.

Author

• A Faye Borthick, Georgia State University