Google Spreadsheets now with chart capabilities

 Google Spreadsheets - now with charts!

Google’s suite of office applications took another step closer to making Microsoft Office all but redundant last week when they announced that Google Spreadsheets can now produce charts from data.

Because of the simplicity of the tools I think that Google Docs & Spreadsheets could be a viable alternative to Microsoft Office for most educational institutions. Of course, I’d recommend that OpenOffice.org remains installed on the network for more complex things and if there’s any problems, but this feature is great! With the upcoming presentations feature, I’d recommend that schools look seriously at getting all their students signed up for a Google Account…

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Posted: 04.21.2007

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  • http://unlear.ning.com Paul McKenzie

    Not yet. I'm in the process of pulling all our resources into a tidy package to share with anyone interested. We're a little busy right now.

    In the second week of May we are having our ICT Week – and this year we will be focusing on a Web2.0 Expo. Parents, teachers and students are being invited to workshops where the grade 4's and 7's will demo a number of Web2.0 tools for schools. These tools include various blogs, wikis, social networks, online video and photo editing, podcasting, OpenOffice, Del.icio.us, Studicio.us, Bubbl.us, Google Suite incl. Sketchup, Firefox…

    The idea is to show stakeholders the educational benefits behind a decent broadband connection. We will be sure to record the entire process and share it with other educators. My wife (also an ICT instructor) and I feel this is the best way (so far) to create some real movement in School2.0.

    Cheers

    Paul

  • http://unlear.ning.com Paul McKenzie

    Couldn’t agree more, Doug.

    Our school is currently in the process of getting all students from grades 4-12 set up with gmail accounts. In the grades where the Google suite has been adopted by the students and staff, communication and collaboration has gone through the roof. The engagement of the students (and dare I say it, the teachers too) has brought success to many facets of learning.

    Some examples include; the posting of class notes (spreads and docs) by students for those who have been away or need a little extra help; peer tutoring using Google Talk for exams…; and even collaborative group work during school hours with students that are at home sick. Of course there are all the other organizational tools such as calendars, homepage, readers, picassa… There are more uses being dreamed up by the students every day.

    It doesn’t stop at Google though; Yahoo’s purchase of my favourite Web2.0 tool, Del.icio.us, among others, should ensure some very healthy competition.

    OpenOffice is great, but seeing as administration “needs” M$ Office (they aren’t quite up to speed with the rest of the school), we will have the old M$ school-wide license for one more year!?!

    As soon as M$ moves from Web1.0 to Web2.0, we should get more choices, or are they too late…

    Paul McKenzie

  • http://www.edtechroundup.com Doug Belshaw

    Great stuff, Paul! Have you (or any of your colleagues/students) blogged about it in any more detail anywhere?

  • http://www.edtechroundup.com Doug Belshaw

    Excellent, I look forward to hearing more!