Google Spreadsheets make collaboration easy!!

Recently, the building RTI team had the task of completing a records review to look for students who are in need of additional supports. Essentially, we had an excel spreadsheet full of test data (ISAT, Explore, and PLAN). In the past, the team would have taken the excel spreadsheets, analyzed the data, and then complete an assessment. Each assessment (there are six people on the team) would have to be reassembled and then re-distributed. This process would have required an additional meeting and a lot of data rearrangment.

Instead, we uploaded the excel data into the google spreadsheet. Each team member was invited to edit the form. With that, the team members could analyze the data, indicate which students were a concern with a yes or no in the cell and add any comments as needed. The result was that each person, working at his or her convenience created a complete document that showed consensus on who needed attention. From there, we could identify the students and enter the next phase of the screening process.

Uploading the data was very easy. We saved time and got great results.

I can see this type of use in the future for any type of data analysis that a team has to do. I'm curious if anyone else has used spreadsheets in class settings, and how those activities could adapted to use google spreadsheets.