arXiv subjects

Francoise Tort

Publications and source records attributed to Francoise Tort.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2010

Teaching Spreadsheets: Curriculum Design Principles

EuSpRIG concerns direct researchers to revisit spreadsheet education, taking into account error auditing tools, checklists, and good practices. This paper aims at elaborating principles to design a spreadsheet curriculum. It mainly focuses on two important issues. Firstly, it is necessary to establish the spreadsheet invariants to be taught, especially those concerning errors and good practices. Secondly, it is important to take into account the learners' ICT experience, and to encourage them to attitudes that foster self-learning. We suggest key principles for spreadsheet teaching, and we illustrate them with teaching guidelines.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2009

From error detection to behaviour observation: first results from screen capture analysis

This paper deals with errors in using spreadsheets and analysis of automatic recording of user interaction with spreadsheets. After a review of literature devoted to spreadsheet errors, we advocate the importance of going from error detection to interaction behaviour analysis. We explain how we analyze screen captures and give the main results we have obtained using this specific methodology with secondary school students (N=24). Transcription provides general characteristics: time, sequence of performed tasks, unsuccessful attempts and user preferences. Analysis reveals preferred modes of actions (toolbar buttons or menu commands), ways of writing formulas, and typical approaches in searching for solutions. Time, rhythm and density appear to be promising indicators. We think such an approach (to analyze screen captures) could be used with more advanced spreadsheet users.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2008

Overview and main results of the DidaTab project

The DidaTab project (Didactics of Spreadsheet, teaching and learning spreadsheets) is a three year project (2005-2007) funded by the French Ministry of Research and dedicated to the study of personal and classroom uses of spreadsheets in the French context, focussing on the processes of appropriation and uses by secondary school students. In this paper, we present an overview of the project, briefly report the studies performed in the framework of the DidaTab project, and give the main results we obtained. We then explore the new research tracks we intend to develop, more in connection with EuSpRIG. Our main result is that the use of spreadsheet during secondary education (grade 6 to 12) is rather sparse for school work (and even more seldom at home) and that student competencies are weak. Curricula have to be reviewed to include more training of dynamics tabular tools (including databases queries) in order to ensure sufficient mastery of computer tools that have became necessary in many educational activities.

cs.HC↗