Introduction
Google provides plenty of great software solutions for regular consumers and tech geeks. However, you may not be aware of Google’s G Suite for Education program and Chromebook’s effectiveness in education in the past few years. Google Sheets is one of the apps provided by the brand for making spreadsheets and has been popular not just among students, but professionals as well. According to Handy, Google Sheets can be really useful for teachers and here’s a few tricks every educator using Google Sheets should know:
Tips & Tricks
- Merge Cells – While you are creating a balance sheet or making a budget, combining cells may be necessary. To merge cells in Google Sheets, you can select the cells you want to merge. Next, click on the Format tab from the top menu and choose Merge Cells. It further allows you options to merge cells horizontally, vertically or create a huge cell from all the selected cells.
- Line Break – Sometimes, a few cells require more data compared to others. To organize your texts in an efficient way, you can add a line break. To add a line break, keep your cursor inside the cell and press Ctrl+Enter to move to the next line without changing to the cell in the next row.
- Add a Chart – Adding charts and graphs to your sheets helps to convey information quickly and efficiently. In Sheets, teachers can customize their own graph or chart with the data already present inside the document. To add a chart, highlight all the relevant data and choose the “chart” option from the Insert tab. Charts can be customized as well from the Recommendations tab before you insert it into your sheet.
- Freeze/Unfreeze Rows and Columns – Sheets can be long and often don’t fit inside the real estate of your screen. However, sometimes you may want to see a certain column or row as you scroll through the document. To freeze a row or column in place, you need to highlight your target column or row and click on the View tab. Under this tab, you will find options like “Freeze” or “Unfreeze”. Clicking on that allows you to further select options that allow you to freeze the number of columns or rows of your choice.
- Formulas – If you don’t want to pull out a physical calculator or a calculator app every so often, formulas can help a lot. You can enter a formula to avoid a calculator. To find out all the functions allowed by Sheets, you can select a cell and enter the “=” sign along with the function you require. This prompts a help box that has a list of all the available functions along with examples that explain their use.
Conclusion
Handy believes that teachers should embrace new technologies that facilitate further democratization of high-quality education. Google Sheets along with G Suite is certainly one of those apps that has active participation in fulfilling that effort for a future that seems brighter.
