When creating projects and coursework assignments, students often have to collect and present reams of data. The new wave of education technology tools comes in particularly handy when it comes to displaying this data in the most succinct and coherent way possible, with incredible online tools available to help make the best possible spreadsheets and charts to present findings, from pie charts to scatter graphs…
Student Spreadsheets and Charts
1. Many Eyes
This fantastic site offers students the opportunity to create a variety of unusual graphs and charts, from ‘visualizations’ (like infographics!) to line graphs. Snazzy features like using a map of America to show data related to geographical areas is included, but the program can also be used for simpler data sets like bar graphs and charts.
2. Google docs
Perfect for students, this collaborative tool enables groups to share documents from Microsoft Word files to spreadsheets and then to update them in real time, meaning that students working together can feed into a single spreadsheet in order to centrally collect results and turn them into a single graph or chart to represent a whole project
3. Lucid Chart
A fabulous “online diagramming process”, lucid charts enables students to turn data into any one of a huge number of potential display options, from flow charts to wire frames, mind maps to ‘org charts’. Probably best for older students, the site offers a plethora of advanced capabilities that are suitable from high-level student data handling to real business level graph and chart display.
4. Chartle
Still one of the best online tools for data display and analysis, chortle is simple and easy to use, enabling students to turn collected data into clear, concise visual formats from charts to maps, plots to diagrams. Its one billion annual users are a clear testament to how easy and simple the tool is to use.
5. Edit Grid
Specifically designed with shared spreadsheets in mind, Edit Grid enables multiple users to collaborate on a single spreadsheet, meaning that students are able to feed results and findings into a single spreadsheet. The majority of Excel features are available but the tool also enables students to share, collaborate and publish data through new channels.
(Do be aware that Edit Grid is ending service May 1, 2014, so it may only be a short term solution).
What chart and spreadsheet tools do you use with your students? Let us know in the comments section below!
Image courtesy of Flickr, tompagenet.