I was able to complete a huge milestone in my project to document student data in more productive ways. I was going to try to use MS Onenote for data tracking, but this option proved to be ineffective in consolidating everything I wanted in one place. However, I think that option can still be explored at a future date. For now, MS Onenote is tabled. 

Nevertheless, using Google Sheets, I was able to continue using my tracking document and worked to add a data validation drop down menu for selecting students and presenting data. To do this, I simply created a facesheet for all students that included a menu for selection. This took a bit of problem solving as the formulas I was trying to use didn’t easily copy over from the document I was using as a template. It took me some time to identify what the formula was doing and where it was drawing data before I realized that I needed to make some changes. Once I figured out how the formula was working, I was able to make incremental modifications and eventually get one measure up and running. That leaves me with 6 or 7 more to go. 3 of those are going to be exact duplicates but of different skills. Those will be easy. The biggest hurdles I have to get over are how to array data that is not numerical: tokens. For some of the items I use terms like IP for in progress. I need to find a formula that will input this information onto the facesheet. 

What I have realized from this project is just how important depth of knowledge of a topic is to problem solving. Because I don’t have a deeper background in Excel or Google Sheets, I am unable to ask questions that would help me arrive at solutions and fixes in a much more efficient manner. Right now, I feel like Dr. Frankenstein if he had no knowledge of anatomy or physiology and tried using car parts instead of body parts to create his monster. 

For some of tonight and most of tomorrow, my focus will need to be on figuring out if it’s possible to query the data in a similar way with text instead of numerical values. I have done something similar in the past with the document that I created for tracking student check-ins. However, this is clumsy and very ineffective for a long term solution. If I can solve this problem, I can change the data collection for the case management sheets to make them more effective as well. Until then, I will use the clumsy system.