Tech Inquiry

Week 10 – Reflection!

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I have now finished my term in my technology class where one of my main projects was to do an inquiry on something relating to technology that you wish to learn more about.  I chose to do Excel for my tech inquiry. I chose this because Excel was something I have never known much about, but I know how useful it can be for a variety of different functions. I knew that Excel was not learned overnight and that it takes time to fully understand how it works and to learn how to use its various functions. This is why I thought it would be the perfect thing to do for my inquiry as I had 11 weeks to learn it.

My journey learning Excel has been very educational. It was definitely frustrating at times, as some days I felt like I would never be able to figure out how it works, but once you do understand a function it becomes clear and easy. I have learned a lot of unique features that Excel offers, such as how to enter, sort and filter data, how the formulas work, how to insert tables, how to use charts, and more! I feel much more confident in my ability to use Excel since learning more about it, however, there I still have more to learn. The order I learned each of these functions in was beneficial for me and they built off of each other. This allowed me to gain a better understanding of each function since I knew the other functions you had to use. Within these 11 weeks learning about Excel, I have gained confidence and experience using this program.

One of the highlights of learning Excel for me was the basic tasks and learning how the formulas work when creating a budget spreadsheet. Learning the ins and outs of these formulas allowed me to create an accurate budget spreadsheet easily. This is something that I will use a lot when using Excel because it saves you a lot of time and manual inputting. I think that the formulas (SUM, AVERAGE, etc.) are one of the most used functions by those using Excel, so I wanted to spend a lot of time learning these. I now feel confident in my skills and feel that I can accurately use these formulas.

Overall, I am happy that I chose to learn Excel for my tech inquiry, as it challenged me to learn something that I had absolutely zero knowledge on and something that would be of value to me in my years to come. It was definitely not easy to learn since there is so much involved with an Excel spreadsheet and many different functions, however, there are a ton of great resources available online (linked in each of my blog posts) that were a huge help for me in my learning. I am grateful that I had the opportunity in my technology class to learn Excel because it is a skill I can take away with me and it also allowed me to do a lot of research and writing on the topic. I recommend anyone looking for an extra project who does not already know Excel to learn how to use it. You will be surprised how helpful it can be in your everyday life.

Thanks for reading my journey with using Excel 🙂

Week 9 – Pros and Cons of Excel

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Learning how to use Microsoft over these past 8 weeks, has shown me a lot about the program and how it works. I made my own list of Pros and Cons of Excel using Excels pros and cons template. I added in things that I found were the biggest pros and the biggest cons for me. I ranked them in importance out of 5 (1 being the lowest (not very important) and 5 being the highest (very important)). Below you can see the list I created. In my list, the Pros won! I do think that the Pros of using Excel definitely outweighs the Cons of using it.

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Thanks for reading!

Week 8 – Pros and Cons Function

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Excel has many templates you can choose from for various different activities such as a to-do list, an inventory tracker, a weekly timesheet and much more. After looking through all these templates one in particular really stood out for me, the pros vs. cons template. I like this one because it is useful when deciding between two things, which is a common occurrence in my daily life.

The pros and cons template is different than just making one by hand because you can rate the value/ importance of each item. At the end when you have inputted all your data excel will calculate the values of each one and tell you which one (pros or cons) wins! This function helps you to make a decision but it also provides a place where you can put your thoughts down. It helps you to compare and analyze the data in your list. Here is what the template looks like when you first click on it.

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To use this template you enter items into the item section and enter values under the importance section (scale of 0-10). You enter the value of importance to indicate the weight of each of those items. 10 is the highest importance and 0 is the lowest. Excel calculates the total value of all the items under the pro section and the con section to show you, which one is more important to you. The rating scale is basic but very helpful. You can categorize the items alphabetically to help you organize your list or just put them in whatever order is most helpful for you. I made my own pros and cons list using this template and I found it super helpful and easy to use. I especially like how they calculate the values up to show you which one wins. This made it easy for me to realize which one is more important to me. Here is the beginning of the list I made. Screen Shot 2018-11-15 at 12.11.08 PM.png

Overall, I would highly recommend this Excel template to anyone who likes to make pro and con lists. It is an easy way to observe and value your items.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next weeks post!

References:

https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/pros-and-cons-list.html

Week 7 – Calendar Function

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On Excel, you can create your own calendar from scratch or you can use a pre-built calendar template that Excel provides. There are templates ranging from 12-month calendars, monthly calendars, weekly calendars, and calendars that have notes. They are already formatted for you and you can add in your events right away.

It is easy to use one of these templates, you just need to choose the template you want and then add your schedule into it. You have the option of customizing your calendar by changing the size of the font, the style of the font, and the colors of the calendar. To learn how to use this function, I chose to do a monthly calendar for the month of November. After you select the calendar you want it will go directly onto your worksheet. Below is what it looks like when you first select the calendar. Screen Shot 2018-11-05 at 7.35.17 PM.png

The title will usually say January, so to change this you click on the title and change the formula (shown in the above image in the formula bar) to the correct year, month, and date you want and then press enter and it will update for you. However, the numbers will not be in the correct days of the week (1 will always start on Sunday even if that is not correct) so you will need to re-number the dates. You can change the colors of your calendar by going to themes under the home tab and choose the color scheme you like best. Next, to add events into the calendar, you simply double-click on a date box and type in the event. This is a much easier way to create a calendar in Excel and it saves you a lot of time. These templates still look professional and they keep your events organized well.

I created a calendar for the month of November and added in my important assignments that are due in that month. I found it very straightforward and it produced a well-organized calendar for me that I will definitely be referring to for this busy month! I love that there is an option of getting a template because it saves you a lot of time not having to input all the features of a calendar and for those who like to customize their calendar, you still have the option to do so by changing the theme, color, fonts, and font size. I would definitely recommend using this feature provided by Excel for anyone who likes to create clean looking monthly and yearly calendars in a fast and easy way. Below is a picture of the calendar I created.

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Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next weeks post on the pros and cons function!

References:

https://www.smartsheet.com/blog/easiest-way-make-calendar-excel

 

 

 

Week 6 – Charts

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This week I decided to learn how to use the chart function on excel. Charts allow you to better visualize your data and the relationships between the data.

To add in a chart to your Excel worksheet, you highlight the data on your worksheet that you want to be included, then you click on the charts tab and select the chart of your choice. You have many options of chart types, such as column, line, pie, bar, area, and scatter and within each of these categories there are even more options like 2D or 3D.

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To practice using the charting function, I chose to do a 3D pie chart. Each chart contains multiple different elements – title, axis, labels, a legend, and gridlines. You have the choice of showing these elements or hiding them. You can also choose their location and the formatting of each one. Once you have decided on the chart you want you select it and your data will enter into your chart automatically. From here you can customize your chart and the various different elements by double-clicking on the chart. In my example, I chose to change the background of the chart to make it more fun and chose to show my legend in the top right corner (example shown below). You can adjust the size and the placement of your title and your legend. To fix other layout stuff click on chart layout from here you can choose if you want a title, a legend, labels, etc. For example, if you click the chart title it gives you the option of no title, title at top or title at the bottom if you choose to have a title you click the one you want and it appears on your graph. It will say chart title but you change that by clicking on the text box and then typing in your title. Screen Shot 2018-10-30 at 7.39.55 PM.png

As you can see there are many elements of the graphing function, but once you have played around with it a little it is easy to use and really helps you to clearly visualize your data. This is one function in particular that now I know how to use it, I will use it a lot.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned to learn about the calendar function next week!

References:

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-build-excel-graph

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/create-a-chart-from-start-to-finish-0baf399e-dd61-4e18-8a73-b3fd5d5680c2#OfficeVersion=macOS

Week 5 – Inserting Tables

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Another function in excel that I began to explore this week was the table function. Tables allow you to quickly and easily analyze your data by sorting and filtering your data within the table. You can insert a table into any of your Excel worksheets. Inserting these tables allows for many features that will help you organize your data.

To insert a table into your worksheet, click any single cell inside the dataset then go to the tables tab and from here click on new. There are many different style options that you can choose from. Once you have chosen the one you want you now have a well-organized table. Now that you have created a table you can sort through your data by the category of your choice. After choosing the category you wish to sort your data by you can choose to sort it by ascending or descending. For example, in my table, if I chose to sort my data by names I could choose either A-Z or Z-A. If I were to do it by age I could choose to sort it by highest to lowest, or lowest to highest. In the picture below I sorted my data by age from lowest to highest

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Data Sorted by Age (Youngest – Oldest)

Another function you can do is filtering. You can filter your data within a table. For example, if you wanted to see a specific part of your data then you can specify what you want to see. To do this you click on the arrow next to the category you want to filter by and then click the item you are using to filter your data. By doing this it will show you all the data that has that item in it, but it does not erase your other data, it is still there just hidden. For example, in my worksheet, I filtered my data by the category age and I choose to do 20. This showed me a list of my friends who were 20 (picture is shown below).

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Data Filtered by Age of 20

Lastly, you can also calculate things from your table, such as an average, or a sum, etc. If you had a sales category and wanted to calculate the total amount then you would add in another row and call it total, and at the bottom of the sales category you would write in =SUM and click all the cells you want to include. I practiced this function on my table and calculated the total of everyone’s ages combined (see picture below).

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Sum of Ages Calculated

Overall, I learned a lot of useful tips this week about inserting tables into an Excel worksheet. Once you have created a table there are many functions you can use which allow you to easily analyze, sort and filter your data, which will be of use to me. In these past weeks, I already feel much more confident in my ability to create and effectively use an Excel worksheet

Stay tuned to learn more basic functions of Excel 🙂

References:

https://www.excel-easy.com/data-analysis/tables.html

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/video-create-a-table-bf0ce08b-d012-42ec-8ecf-a2259c9faf3f

 

Week 4 – Creating my own Budget Spreadsheet

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My first three weeks of learning to use excel have taught me a lot about the basics of it and I already feel more confident in my ability to use excel. For this week’s blog post, I have created with my new skills, two budget spreadsheets. One is of my monthly living fees (rent, food, internet, hydro and electricity, my phone, and miscellaneous) and the other is a budget I have created is for a trip to Sweden I may be taking (flights, accommodation, groceries, meals out, transportation, and miscellaneous).

To create these budget spreadsheets I had to use my basic inputting data skills and the formula function. The research I did prior to this helped me to be able to create these spreadsheets as otherwise, I would have manually added together the numbers, instead of just using a formula and making excel do the work for me.

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My Monthly Living Expenses
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Trip to Sweden Expenses

I highly recommend using Excel to anyone who is looking for a fast and fairly easy way to create budgets for themselves and the various expenses they have. With a bit of research, you can learn the basics of Excel and can create your own basic spreadsheet. If you want to use more complicated functions in Excel you definitely need to do quite a lot of research as there are many features Excel has to offer.

Overall, I have really enjoyed learning how to use Excel and have already started to see progress in my understanding. I look forward to learning more about Excel and the other features that will be useful for me.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next weeks blog 🙂

Week 3: Formulas

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This week I learned how to use the formula function on excel. The formulas are one of excels main features and allow for accurate data and time saved for you!

Formulas can be thought of as an equation because they contain multiple steps that lead to a final output. To enter a formula into excel you can start by putting in an equal sign (=). For example, within a cell, you can put =6+9 and it will give you the output. Excel sees this equals sign and recognizes that you are giving it a formula to calculate. Here is a photo of me practicing this function.

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Inputting the data
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After pressing enter – the output

There is more to these formulas than just numbers and addition or subtraction, they can also contain one or more functions. A function is made up of three parts: 1. The name – used to describe what it does, these names are built into excel and there is a SUM function, which adds multiple values together, an AVERAGE function, which averages together multiple values and many more. 2. The arguments – the values you are combining to get your output ex. If you want to find the sum of 7 and 4 the arguments of the function are the numbers 7 and 4. 3. The output – the last part of the function – this is what you get from the calculation – the final product/output. When a formula is entered in a cell it shows the output, so to see the formula you can click on the cell and it will show you the formula in the formula bar.

To see all the formulas that are offered, you can click on the formulas tab and then go to insert where you can choose what category you need and they are given a large list of formulas.

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List of the categories

Select the cell where you want the cell total for and write in the function you want, for example, =SUM to add the values drag from the first cell to the last cell for it to add up those values.

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The formula function on excel is a super helpful tool for budgeting and adding up sales. Formulas are a great tool to help you save time and increase the accuracy of your data. There are many formulas, so I just learned how to use the basic ones that I thought would be most important and useful for me.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next weeks post!

Resources:

https://www.deskbright.com/excel/how-to-use-excel/

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Overview-of-formulas-in-Excel-ecfdc708-9162-49e8-b993-c311f47ca173

^ Helpful tool to learn the basics of excel and has a good video along with it

 

Week 2: Learning how to sort and filter data

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After learning the basics of an Excel workbook, I felt confident enough to go a step further. For this week, I decided to learn how to sort and filter data.

Within your Excel workbook, you can filter your data, which means cutting down a large set of data to a smaller set that satisfies certain criteria you specify. To filter your lists, place your cursor within your data table and then go to the data tab and click on the filter option. This will put drop-down arrows beside the heading of each column and from there you can click on the arrow to open up the filter dialogue to choose what you want to filter your data set too. Press ok for the narrowed down list. This is a very useful tool because none of your data will get erased, the original data set is still there it just filters what you want to see. Once you know how to use this feature it is easy to use!

You can also quickly and easily sort through large sets of data. This function can be used to alphabetize lists, order sales number by value, or screen down lists to a smaller amount of items based on criteria you specify. To sort a list you position your cursor in the header cell of the column that you want to sort then you go to the data tab and click the quick sort button and select the cell that you want to organize your list too. After learning how to use this function I inputted some random things into a workbook to see how it works. It is easy to use and is a helpful time-saving tool. In my example (pictured below) I organized the data by genre.

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Before I sorted my data
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After I sorted my data

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more excel tips next week 🙂

Week 1: Learning how to enter data – cell and workbook basics

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Since I have never used excel before I wanted to start off with the very basics and learn the starting points of the workbook.

Each excel file is called a workbook and you can save, open and close these workbooks. Within a singular workbook, you can create multiple worksheets, which are located at the bottom of the page (shown below). This allows users to have multiple different pages of data within the same workbook.

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A worksheet has a grid that contains rows, columns, and cells (shown below). Rows are along the side and are numbered from 1 onwards, and columns are along the top and labeled by letters starting with A. Where a row and a column intersect is the cell. A cell is referred to by its address – a combination of the column letter and the row number (ex. H5 – cell lies between row 5 and column G). When you want to start inputting your data, you select a cell to insert it. You can also stretch the columns and rows if you want them to be larger by putting the mouse between the two letters (or numbers) and then clicking and dragging your mouse. This will allow that cell to become larger.

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There is also something known as the range, and the range is a group of cells that are next to each other and all together. A range can also be named. It is named by naming the cell in the upper left corner through to the cell in the bottom right corner (ex. L7: N12 – shows a range of cell through L7 to N12).

The research I have done on the basics of the workbook has allowed me to start to gain an understanding of how the program works and knowing the correct terms will be helpful in my weeks to come.

Resources:

https://www.deskbright.com/excel/how-to-use-excel/  – I have found this website really helpful with explaining the basics of excel and it includes pictures which helps me visualize what they are talking about

^ This is a very helpful video for beginners, it explains the basics of the workbook, worksheets, and how to enter data.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned if you want to learn more about excel 🙂