excel with your gradesheets

G&A Secret Sharer

23 August 2012

Objectives

1. Download the grade book from BB

2. Highlight every other line to make it easier to read

3. Change the direction of the headers

4. Shrink the sheet to fit on one page

5. Keep your GA in the cloud on Microsoft’s SkyDrive

Or in Google Documents

6. Excel can enter the days that the class meets automatically

1. Download the grade book from BB

Click Grade Center in the Control Panel

Click Work Offine, then Download

Be sure Full Grade Center is selected, then click Submit.

Now click DOWNLOAD

Either choose the Save File or Open with Microsoft Excel option and then click OK.

When you see this warning click Yes.

The downloaded file opens in Excel

Click File and then give this file a name and choose where you want to save the file

In Save as Type choose Excel Workbook (*.xlsx).

BB adds a number for each column like 17380 for the Tokens column.

You can now use this file.

2. Highlight every other line to make it easier to read

Select row 10, then right click and choose Format Cells

Choose a Background Color then click OK

Now row 9 has white background color and row 10 has a grey background

Select Rows 9 and 10, then click the Format Painter icon

Then select the remaining rows below row 10 and formatting is copied

3. Change the direction of the headers

Select the row

Right click the selected row and choose Format Cells

Select the Alignment tab

Under Orientation, click the red diamond and drag up

Once the red diamond is at the top, click OK

Now the headers can be shrunk to save space

Select all by clicking the Select All button

Then double-click right column border of any of selected columns

The columns shrink to fit the data

4. Shrink the sheet to fit on one page

Click the Page Layout button to switch to Page Layout view.

Here the columns won’t fit all one page-notice the page break line.

In the Scale to Fit group, in the Width box, select 1 page, and in Height box, select Automatic.

Now the columns are on one page but changing the orientation to landscape is better

Select Landscape under Orientation in the Page Setup Group

Click File, then Print to see how it will look when printed

5. Keep your GA in the cloud

Or in Goggle Drive

6. Excel can enter the days that the class meets automatically.

1. Enter first day of class

2. For classes that meet weekly enter: =c8+7

then hit enter on the keyboard.

Highlight the first 2 dates and place cursor in lower right corner

As you drag the mouse to the right the dates are entered for you!

Other suggestions

Use one Excel file for all your courses each semester

Create worksheets for each class in one file.

1. Get to know Excel 2010: Create your first spreadsheet

2. Figure out dates: Microsoft Training Course

1. Video: Add or subtract units of time

2. Video: Format a worksheet

3. Video: Calculate the difference between two times

4. Video: Fit all columns on a single printed page

Can you say FREE?

1. Microsoft SkyDrive

2. Office 365

3. Microsoft Live@edu

4. Google Drive

5. Google Apps for Higher Education