Peer Review

Excel Easy

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Oct 25, 2021 by ICT Literacy

Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

The Excel Easy tutorial is a fully illustrated lesson for all Excel users from all perspectives. Excel allows anyone to store, manipulate, and analyze data in well-organized workbooks for personal and professional purposes. It clearly demonstrated the aspect of capturing the audience's basic knowledge and competencies using excel by introducing the basic, which helps a lot to build more confidence in applying concepts from the basic to more advanced stage of learning. Furthermore, the tutorial demonstrates the true craftsmanship of a person who is always looking at the end point of the learning process, thus creating a holistic approach that the person relying on the examples and other extra features can truly benefit and sustain by reviewing and revisiting the lesson at any time. This is completely free to use and accessible to anyone in any discipline regardless of foundation level and any version of Microsoft Excel.

Type of Material:

Tutorial

Recommended Uses:

instructors can assign learners specific feature tutorials as homework, using the sample xls file provided on the website. Then students can practice the feature on their own spreadsheet of data.

Technical Requirements:

Any web browser available to any operating system and in any mobile phone device

Identify Major Learning Goals:

To identify the various components, commands, logical operators of Excel worksheet;
To differentiate formulas and functions, their uses, access and manipulate data using Excel’s database functions;
To enhance and set up conditional and custom formats in analyzing data to generate more useful information; and
To create and use simple and complex macros in Excel and automate efficiently to process huge quantities of relevant data in the shortest time possible.

Target Student Population:

HIgh school
College General Subject Education
Academic Support Services/ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Literacy/Media and Visual Literacies
Workforce Development/Government/private entity

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

basic ICT literacy skills, possibly coding concepts if using the basic programming language

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The tutorial provides a simple step-by-step explanation and directions for 49 clustered features and 300 examples of applications of Excel versions 2007-2019. Illustrations or screenshots of various commands, functions, and so on allow the individual to closely compare/monitor his/her progress on his/her own worksheet. The tutorial was written by an academian, and conues to be updated. The tutorial is self-contained and can be used in several settings and situations. Links work and are accurate.
Concerns:: Based on reviewer experience teaching in my field as well as various general subjects in a web-based educational format. Research-based facts in the introduction portion could help to strengthen the tutorial and provide a future reference point, given that learning Excel is one of the most complex topics across disciplines. Recommendations on integrating an interactive platform or a preformatted example of which the individual can apply while assessing the level of competencies learned from each illustration are greatly appreciated as part of summarizing the concept from basic functions to visual basic for applications.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The learning objectives align with ICT literacy standards in terms of information management and analysis. The program starts with the basics, needing no prior spreadsheet knowledge, Concepts are clustered, and built on prior features. Each feature is explained very cleanly and efficiently. The tutorial also links to other Excel and IT training websites. Other related resources included in the tutorial have a significant impact on how effective this tutorial is for anyone from beginner to advanced Excel manipulators. This type of approach to teaching learning can easily be integrated into any curriculum as part of the computer competencies to be taught in the subject. Furthermore, the examples are applicable for academic and daily life.
Concerns:: Present the learning objectives as well as what to expect in the following sub-tutorial section in the Introduction. Simultaneously, required knowledge must be added as a tool to assess participants' foundation knowledge. Because the learning outcomes have not been clearly depicted, an evaluation/assessment section should be added as a future enhancement feature; this will reinforce Excel concepts and allow to measure individual learning outcomes.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The web-based component of the tutorial provides a dynamic interface that allows users to seamlessly switch between devices and platforms. The format is consistent and clear. It is visually appealing and simple to use, with a simple graphic user interface (GUI) for the consumption of any individual. Sample Excel spreadsheets are downloadable for the user to manipulate. The tutorial is searchable, and help is available through email.
Concerns:: The tutorial does not appear to be accessible., based on using a website accessibility checker. As a suggestion, providing a printable/downloadable version may benefit individuals who do not always have access to the internet. For those who want a glimpse of the objectives/goals for each competency to be demonstrated, an introductory video for each Excel concept may be an excellent idea.

Other Issues and Comments:: This is an excellent comprehensive tutorial on Microsoft Excel. Topics can be used to teach students and individuals in any discipline. In terms of content quality, and based on my personal examination, all of the information is undeniably current/updated and simple to understand.
Creative Commons: