DataByte
January 2019
- Resolutions Checklist
- Tracker Survey
- Pivot Table Training Recording
- Can't Stop Excelling Video
- Data Project Planning Guide
- VBA Event Details (Jan. 9)
Resolutions Checklist - Excel Download
Pivot Table Training Recording
https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2018-11-16.0849.M.A4727424FAFA25030F2E47C15CA652.vcr&sid=559
Data Project Planning
If you’re receiving this publication, chances are you have been involved in the making of a data project at some point.
For our Data Viewers, you might not even be aware of your role in data projects. You might have been tasked with setting up a survey to be used school-wide. Perhaps you were given what seemed like some pretty strict parameters for creating the questions on your teacher graded assignments, and you mumbled to yourself “Micro-management, anyone?” If that sounds like you, skimming the article below might just soften your heart a bit to the folks who staunchly enforce all those formatting rules.
Now, for our Data Editors and Publishers out there…Remember that time you were the lucky recipient of a hot-mess of data that needed to be processed, and you swore to yourself then and there that you would never again find yourself in the position of clean-up crew for such a disaster? We’ve all been there. Hopefully, we’ve been there only once.
For those of you who are still looking for a better way to manage your data projects, the following questions are for you.
What is the goal of this project? How will the results be shared? And who should receive them?
As Stephen Covey says, begin with the end in mind. Imagine your final product and then make a plan for how to get there. This can help you avoid some serious obstacles along the way. Every data project is borne of a question or set of questions. Use those questions to drive your data planning. Thinking through the questions you hope to answer will help you outline the entire process, from gathering the data, deciding what tools need to be used, planning your layout, and everything in between. Don’t set yourself up for a long and painful, uphill process. Ask yourself these questions at the very beginning stages of any project.
Get Stephen Covey's book here, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
How will you be collecting this data? Who will be collecting the data? What tool will be used for collecting?
Let’s say you are planning a project that will involve some quizzes or surveys that will gather responses which need to be rolled up later for analysis. In order to have clean data to work with, you must control the inputs. Does your collection tool allow you to control the responses? If the answer to a question might be that there are 7 flowers, is there a way for someone to enter “7.0” or “7 flowers” or “seven”? Do you have a grade level field with an open text box that will inevitably result in half of the respondents entering a numerical value and the other half entering their grade level as an ordinal response (3 vs 3rd)? These are the kinds of parameters that might slow down your project a bit at the beginning while you get your tool set up, but it will make up for it in the end when you have consistent and clean data to work with.Or is this raw data you already have in hand that you need to analyze?
Then you might ask yourself, what important factors might be missing? What variables would be good to know when looking at the data? You want to look at trends, but sometimes a data point makes more sense if you break it down a bit. You can that see your 5th graders performed poorly on a particular standard, but is there a subset of these students who made up the bulk of the students who didn’t achieve mastery? Was it all your new students? Mostly your EL kiddos? Adding some extra information to your raw data might help you dig deeper to identify a more manageable take-away.Is this a one-time project, or something that needs to be replicated?
Like controlling your inputs, this is one of those steps that can cost you a bit of time in the beginning, but will pay you back ten-fold in the end. Let’s say you have a raw data set that needs some tweaking or additions. Maybe you have an Omni and you want to add a column that labels each student as New or Returning and then categorize them as ES, MS or HS. It make sense to insert these fields right next to the school enroll date and grade level columns, right? But then when you do this again next week, you have to repeat those same steps. And the next week. And the next. Add in a few more tweaks, and you’ve got a nice little time-thief on your hands! There are a couple of different ways you can take that time back.
- Insert all of your additional columns to the left of your raw data instead, creating what we call a drop-in template. The raw data can be replaced each time you need to generate an updated report. Just make sure the old data gets completely removed, and that your formulas reach as far down on the sheet as your new data set.
- Record a macro for the tasks you need to replicate each time. Once recorded, to recreate your report, you push a button and let Excel do the rest.
Looks DO matter.
It might seem trivial, but things like font size, cell color, and chart style are important considerations when planning your final product.
Now, it’s true not every project needs bells and whistles. Sometimes you really do just need to crank out some numbers quickly and move on with life. But many projects can benefit from those extra touches. Don’t just apply your formatting willy-nilly, though. Poor choices here can make looking over the data a chore. Formatting should help the data, not distract from it. Your internal assessment results are not the place for whimsical fonts. And if your weekly enrollment report looks like an episode of Rainbow Brite, it’s going to be more overwhelming than useful. Thoughtful use of color, however, can help users digest the information more easily than if you give them a bare bones spreadsheet. It can call attention to focus areas. It can visually categorize your students into groups with similar proficiency levels or attendance habits. It can lend some perspective to numbers that might otherwise need some explanation. For example, many might think of 80% to be an “okay” percentage for just about any measurement. It’s definitely on the upper end of the scale of all of things, right? But maybe you’re looking at a mobility rate. In that case, 80% is pretty large chunk of your population to be moving around. Color can help your audience get to that conclusion faster. For more on formatting the look of your project, check out our Style Guide.
VBA to Save Your Day 12-1:30 CST
Ashley's virtual office link: Virtual Office
Snow-much fun to be had in the wonderland of VBA! This is a basics for beginners where you will learn key definitions, install the developer ribbon, and record your first macro. We'll also go through some Excel Tricks that are so cool you'll need to bring your mittens. Hope to see you there!
Wednesday, Jan 9, 2019, 12:00 PM
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RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Your Regional Data Managers
Ashley Ego
HHPA | HA-Ind | HVAM | INDLS | ISIN | ISMI | ISPA | ISWI | MEVA | MGLVA | MVCA | OHVA | WIDCA | WIVA
Email: aego@k12.com
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyego/
Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA
Phone: 337-280-7256
Eric Hasper
Western Region
CAVA (Fresno, Kings, Los Angeles, Maricopa, San Joaquin, San Diego, San Mateo, Sonoma, Sutter), ISCA, iQLA, NVVA, GBVA, NVDCA, NVPA, IDVA, ITCA, ORVA, ISORPH, CVA, ORDCA, WAVA, ISWA
Email: ehasper@k12.com
Website: http://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-hasper-43146568
Location: Phoenix, AZ, USA
Phone: 602-299-3763
Kristina St. Clair
Southern Region
ALVA| ARVA | CASC | FLCCA | FPCSO | GCA | LAVCA | NCVA | SCVCS | TNVA | VAVA |
Email: kstclair@k12.com
Location: Richmond Hill, GA, USA
Phone: (912) 662-3300
Paula Mobley
Central Region
AZVA, ISAZ, CODCA, CPOA, PPOS, IAVA, ISKS, ISKA, KSVA, ISMN, IQMN, MNVA, NMVA, ISOK, OVCA, TOPS, TVAH, UTVA, UTVA-PT, WYVA
Email: pmobley@k12.com
Location: St Paul, TX, USA
Phone: 972-743-0500