Anybody familiar with the ACS Markbook program used by the BSSS in the ACT will also be familiar with the output of that program:
The file you’ve downloaded and opened mimics the output of student results in a course. In this case all the information is made up but it highlights the perfect scenario where spreadsheets can be useful. The data in this spreadsheet is presented in a way that is informative but incomplete and not easily manipulated.
All Markbooks get output in the same way and so if that data could automatically be interpreted and reorganised in a more usable way, then it’s a win for the staff using it and a win for students viewing it…spreadsheets to the rescue!
Details of the Spreadsheet
Have a good look over the information in this spreadsheet before we move on, there are some things you should notice:
- Some columns are wider than others…you can resize columns and rows.
- Some cells (individual squares) have been merged together.
- Some cells have different colour backgrounds and fonts.
- There are three task results being reported for each student.
- There are z-scores, standardised scores, overall raw and calculated scores.
All this information is good, but we can make it great…