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Old Dominion University

TLED 530
Mindtools Evaluation

Amy C. Lane
September 21, 2014

A spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel is one of the most useful Mindtools that is available to
educators and learners alike. Spreadsheets can be found in almost every software program
that I have ever encountered. Microsoft Excel is available to any consumer for purchase online
or in store and also comes readily installed via Microsoft Office in many new computers. A
spreadsheet works by allowing the user to enter data into a chart of their own creation and
then interprets the data in various ways chosen by the learner, such as percentages and graphs.
The purpose of Microsoft Excel is knowledge construction for learners. David Jonassen states
in Computers as Mindtools for Schools that Mindtools are tools for helping learners organize
and represent what they know (2000). A spreadsheet is designed to do exactly that. The
learner enters the information they already know into the system and the spreadsheet enables
them to organize it in a way that makes the most impact on the individual learner (Jonassen,
2000).
Microsoft Excel is a computer software program so it easily meets the criteria for a computer
based Mindtool. The software for excel is readily available by order via the Microsoft website
or at any major retailer and is very reasonably priced which makes it affordable to any school
system with even the smallest budget. The spreadsheet program facilitates the construction of
knowledge by aiding in constructing information into an organized spreadsheet then converting
the spreadsheet data into an easy to interpret graph such as a pie or bar graph. This allows the
student to understand and represent their knowledge of the content (Jonassen, 2000).
Microsoft Excel is easily generalized into other subjects in any curriculum. A learner could use
this Mindtool to graph the results of an experiment in Science class or to organize a survey

taken in Math class of what genre of music their classmates prefer. There are numerous uses
for a spreadsheet in any subject from physical education to language arts class. Using a
spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel engages learners in higher order thinking by prompting
them to consider what the best way to organize and represent their information may be as well
as allowing them to weed out information that is not relevant to the finished product that they
wish to present. Excel easily prompts transferable learning because it requires the learner to
master skills needed in any subject in the curriculum. For example, a student who has used a
spreadsheet to chard and graph the results of their chemistry experiments can go to Social
Studies class and be able to read and interpret a chart and graph showing the number of
immigrants from each foreign country now living in the United States. Lastly, Microsoft Excel is
easily learnable. It has been around for so long and used by such an eclectic blend of people
that the kinks of the program have been worked out and it has become quite user friendly. I
feel that in one or two uses, most learners could be proficient users of the Excel program
(Jonassen, 2000).
Adding to the examples above of how my chosen Mindtool can be used in the educational
setting, spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel have proven most useful to me, as a teacher, by
allowing my students to easily organize the information they have gathered from surveys,
experiments, etc. Excel then allows the student to graph or chart their data in a way easiest for
them to understand which is most helpful for those students who are visual learners.

References
Jonassen, D. (2000). Computers as Mindtools. Ohio: Prentice.

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