Awesome Excel Chart Quick Tips for Web Display

Last week, my colleagues and I created 3 Excel spreadsheets in an effort to highlight some of VCU participants' responses to the EDUCAUSE ECAR Undergraduate Student and Faculty Technology Research Studies Surveys. This division of labor resulted in an unfortunate consequence. Different machines, different data, and different perspectives resulted in different data presentation styles. To standardize the look of the charts, I offered to be the general editor. One set of eyes working on one machine is likely the best way to make the look and language of the charts consistent. This is our first pass at presenting the data. We had wanted to present the data using a more interactive format. For now, we've created a blogpost for each chart and used WordPress's Facet plugin to facilitate a search-mix-and-connect possibility. At this point, our thinking is that, perhaps, once we see what the overall data findings show in this round, we could work on improving the data presentation style.

At first, we were limited by Microsoft's color palette of Chart Styles in Excel. All three of us had agreed on a blue-red-green style because the Student Survey I was working on had 3 columns of data to compare (VCU 2013, VCU 2014 and National Average 2014). Once we uploaded all the images from the 2 surveys, the colors looked pretty dismal on the web. Tom Woodward, my supervisor, suggested we google for some "awesome color palettes for websites" to replace the hideous-looking charts.

A google search led us to the Betterment site with a collection of web color palettes. The palette for us had to allow for high contrast and yet be aesthetically pleasing. #42 - Adam Hartwig's palette it is. Thank you, Mr. Hartwig! [Note: He has a pretty awesome website himself, check it out.]


Creating a Palette in Excel (Mac computer)

I had no idea how to insert Hartwig's palette into Excel's color charts. As far as I could recall, Excel had no option for a user to enter hexadecimal web color codes. Once again, Tom came to the rescue.

On an iMac, double-clicking on the chart area opens up a Format Plot Area window. From there, select Fill > click on the drop-down menu besides Automatic > select More Colors.

Format Chart Area Window

Make sure you are then on the Color wheel tab (see image below). See the Magnifier icon beside the white color box? Click on it and it turns into a color dropper.

Selecting the Correct Color

I had Hartwig's color palette open just beside the color wheel window. I clicked on all 5 colors and they showed up right away on the white little swatch boxes below the color wheel.

Hartwig's Color Palette Shows on My Color Swatch boxes!

Back to my Excel charts with this color palette. At first, I thought this arrangement looked okay, but after applying it to the existing charts, it began to look a bit too bubble-gummy and jaundiced-looking. Especially if I just had 2 columns of data - VCU 2014 and National Average 2014 to compare (yellow and green; yellow and green, ... yuk!). I couldn't tolerate it too long and didn't know how anyone else could.

Pink-Yellow-Green Color Selection

So after I had reformatted all the charts to the pink-yellow-green palette, I decided to switch it to another color arrangement - green, turquoise, black. It seemed to look more professional.

Green-Turquoise-Black Color Selection

Save Your Preferred Chart Style as a Template

How could I change all 70-something charts to the same color palette efficiently? The solution is to save my preferred Chart Style as a template. This option is available under the Chart > Other (Chart Type) menu. Click on the dropdown menu > Scroll to the bottom. See the Save as Template phrase?

Creating a Chart Template in Excel

Once your preferred template(s) is saved, you can click on your existing chart > click on Other > Select your XYZ template and apply it to the hideous chart, and voila! All the settings you had saved in your template apply to your existing chart -- including chart title, text, horizontal and vertical axes and colors. How amazing is this?! 

Even though I was a research assistant in grad school and processed much survey data, I had not once thought of how the chart colors might look set against an entire website. This perspective is new to me. I'm happy to learn time-saving ways to speed up the work process. Thanks Tom and Adam Hartwig!

Wonder, Irresistible Learning and Heroic Imagination

The name game is an intriguing one. Word pantomime or labels? A number of people I know, and in the fields I work closely in, dislike labels. Many believe labels have the potential to subtract value from who they truly are. (Have you heard of the "Label Jars Not People" organization established by Siobhan Brady to reduce mental health stigma?) Yet, human beings like to find pattern in chaos and ways to make sense of the world. So being aware of layers of perception about organizers as starting points (versus sticky unchangeable labels) is necessary in disabling potential communication barriers and the tendency to form misjudgements too quickly.

In the world of paint, Donald Kaufman, a Master Colorist (Elle Decor, September 2012) has this to say:

Color names are extremely dangerous, which is why we use numbers instead. People see color differently because of names. Beige is undervalued because the name has a bad association. Mint sounds like the color of a hospital, but call it "faded eucalyptus" and people love it. 

One of our best sellers is a white we call DKC-5. Mariette Himes Gomez compared it to Chanel No. 5.

The beauty industry is a prime example of fabulous word craft. Think of the names of creams, lipsticks and nail polish (Sephora's Formula X nail polish -- Kapow, Zing, Radioactive, Jolt, Oomph, Turbo, Seismic, Dare Me, etc; Dr. Dennis Gross 20 days to radiance skincare, HUM Runway Ready cream, Philosophy Hope in a Jar...). Alluring?

Kaufman's words connected me to the world of words on learning motivation -- especially short phrases or words that help me to focus learner attention and stimulate curiosity. For instance, I tweeted this in December 2013 and mentioned Yenawine's (2013) book in a March 2014 blogpost:

Permission to ... pic.twitter.com/9K3h5KqsS6
— Yin Wah Kreher (@yinbk) December 27, 2013

In this post, I want to share some more "wonder" and wonderful phrases I've come across recently!

"Wisdom begins in wonder" digital image created by Yin Wah Kreher, 2014. Original quote by Socrates.

Teaching/Learning implications of both phrases:

• In what ways can you give permission to students to wonder?  OR, what sorts of educational strategies challenge students to wonder?
• How does that wonder extend into the development of wisdom? 
• Are teachers prepared to assess and consider wonderment? 

My initial thinking is of course to recommend the Visible Thinking approach (refer to my March blogpost mentioned earlier for See-Think-Wonder). Ritchart's 8 classroom cultural forces would be a good framework to start with. 

As I came across these phrases, I started to sketch out several others I've come across:

Irresistible Learning ETC handdrawn image by Yin Wah Kreher, 2014

Teaching/Learning implications:

• What is irresistible learning? What would students expect from a course that offers irresistible learning? What does it look like?
• How indeed can we make learning IRRESISTIBLE?  
• Do we want to make learning irresistible? Is it attainable?
• The Institute of Play associates irresistible learning with serious games, intentional games, game-based learning and simulations. Are serious games the chief means to foster irresistible learning? Games arguably awaken playfulness and curiosity in learners. By incorporating play elements into learning, serious and intentional games support complex thinking. How do we support serious games and game-based learning in higher ed/schools? 
• Learn more about key Irresistible Learning design principles outlined by Katie Salen, Director of Institute of Play.
• Feedback is something we all crave in our learning journey -- we want teachers, supervisors and loved ones to engage with us. But a Fiesta? What will it look like?

(Hint: Google the word "irresistible" and see what shows up under "Images"! Surprise!?)

Heroic Imagination image hand-drawn by Yin Wah Kreher, 2014.

There is an abundance of advocates on creativity, innovation and imagination lately. I need not belabor the significance of these qualities. But the phrase heroic imagination is a new one to me. The Heroic Imagination Project (HIP) was founded by Dr. Philip Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University. The project website describes HIP as a "nonprofit research-based organization which provides knowledge, tools, strategies, and exercises to individuals and groups to help them to overcome the social and psychological forces which can keep them from taking effective action at crucial moments in their lives" (2013). Everyday heroism is also promoted on their social media and web sites. My guess or hypothesis is that it is powerful imagination (amongst other traits and factors) that propels "ordinary people to do extraordinary acts" of heroism for social justice and positive change. The premise of their argument is, Everyone can be a hero. You can be a hero too. Teaching/Learning Implications: How will you use your imagination heroically?

I can go on and on about a few other phrases; Desirable Difficulties by Robert Bjork and Productive Failure by Manu Kapoor, which I've mentioned in passing in an April 2014 blogpost. There is also Nudge Interventions and Theory (versus Coercion to comply) and many many others. But my blogpost is growing too long.

So I will leave you to “The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
 and all the sweet serenity of books” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) till my next post. Explore the links I've inserted for a start.

Heroic Imagination. You may be afraid, but do it anyway.

References: 

• Irresistible Learning (Source: Institute of Play website)

• Feedback Fiesta (Please let me know if you know the source. I've not been able to track where I got this from.)

• Awakening to Play is mine, I'm quite quite sure.  

• Heroic Imagination (Source: http://heroicimagination.org/welcome/about-us/ and  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWQq0E8ENSc)

Magically Imperfect Groupwork

Team Limitless Project Prototype. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeRIMO3Gwkg

Group work in Tina Seelig's MOOC was a rewarding high-impact learning experience for me. In this post, I describe why it was so. 

We faced quite a few odds. Communication was a significant problem along a few dimensions. Night is day to my team mates. I want to sleep and they want to discuss potential project solutions. We used Whatsapp for synchronous and asynchronous communications after our MOOC message boards failed dismally. [I noticed that Whatsapp is popular with my international friends, but not so among my American friends]. My Whatsapp alerts were buzzing off constantly during those 2 weeks.

Five out of seven of us in the group lived outside of the USA. They do not use English most of the time. We all had fulltime jobs or school. I told my team-mates I could only communicate during pockets of time in a day when I wasn't working or sleeping.

We had different expectations about participation. Based on my earlier experience in this MOOC, I expect to put in about 5 to 10 hours of work per week. On my team members' profiles, I found out that they expect to contribute about 3 to 5 hours. This signaled a mismatch?

Despite these challenges, I deem our group work a success because of a few reasons (commitment, and willingness to work hard), but the top one is WE NEEDED EACH OTHER TO SUCCEED. If I can do everything myself, why would I need to be in a group? Teachers should seriously consider designing assignments where students are interdependent upon each other for success.

Our first group project required that we find a problem that would have a musical solution. We had to brainstorm at least 100 solutions. The second project required us to implement the best solution. We were ambitious - our best solution entailed the following:

• rewriting a song - Jason Mraz's "Make It Mine"
• singing the song
• spinning a story creatively about the solution

All in in less than a week's time.

We got to work in different time zones.

• My Armenian team-mate rewrote the LYRICS with me.

  

  Ani

• Two singers recorded the tune with new lyrics - Aditya from India and Ani from Armenia. It wasn't without challenges -- we tried to find an accompaniment track but the pitch was too high for our male singer! Two audio tunes were recorded but I realized they were in MP4 format, so they had to be converted before I could merge them in the video-production software.
  
• I had to work with our sound engineer, Jeremy, who would merge/edit/mix the audio files from different continents together. I got them to him but sound alone does not a video maketh.

  

  Jeremy
• We needed images. Our Mexican team-mate Jonathan volunteered to take pictures. He took a few black-and-white pictures and that meant the rest of the images we use had to be converted to black-and-white ones.
  
• With the deadline creeping up on us (we each had jobs to do, school to attend), I tried to put everything together. Someone has to coordinate all the work across all the continents and time zones! Without the sound files merged, I couldn't produce the video and it was getting late on my side of the world. I needed help!
• Jeremy, 3 hours behind me, dashed home from school in time and asked how he could help. Help he did with the production of the video after merging the sound files from India and Armenia. After some discussion about video hosting and text overlay, the video was made.
• Ani submitted the assignment. 
• Aditya gave some more feedback to tweak the product for clarity. 
• It was done.  

The end result may not look as sleek as other folks with professional graphic design and video production expertise. But the teamwork process was magical. I am glad to have this learning experience. I will always treasure it. Blogging about it is my way of archiving this with the other major learning experiences in my life. Someday I will look back and read this again with gratitude.

In the most unexpected of ways, my team rose to the challenge. We all brainstormed and came up with ideas (including other members above - Rathna, Arman), bounced them around, took on the roles of image editor, songwriter, storyboarder/script writer, singer, photographer, video editor, sound editor, and came up with this prototype. Sure, it could be more polished but I'm still proud of it. I couldn't do everything myself and that is the secret to group work that works!

Thank you, Team Limitless for the learning experience. This song from Wicked the Musical -- "For Good" -- is dedicated to you all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzrGFQysfYU

Group Work

It is no secret that students hate group work (Check References). Mazella (2007) summarizes it cogently in his blogpost some seven years ago. Students often encounter unmet expectations and vexations:

• Equitable contribution
• Submaximal goal setting
• Lessened contingency between input and outcome
• Lack of evaluation
• Unequal distribution of compensation
• Non-cohesive group

Though widely investigated, the misery of group work continues to plague courses, UNLESS group work is carefully taught, designed, supported and supervised (Check Maryellen Weimer's Teaching Professor blogpost, July 21, 2008). Just telling students to collaborate doesn't mean they know how to collaborate. And upon graduation, inequitable group or committee work in adult working life persists in lowering work morale. In my life (stress, MY life), I've only seen folks in the corporate world fired for not producing high-quality work in teams.

As an advocate for diversity and respect for difference, I'm not ashamed to say that the brightest and fastest students are held back and under-recognized because one single grade is given to all group members, regardless of the subpar or missing contribution by loafers. I get it, people have reasons that surface unexpectedly for not being able to participate or not being able to perform at high levels. I'm not unsympathetic to the reasons for some members' inability to contribute. But to say that everyone puts their share in the till and the same recognition is doled out equally to everyone is unmotivating. Why should high quality and low quality performance be equally rewarded? Why would an accelerated high-performer want to continue working in that environment? To say that brighter students would be challenged when they serve as tutors to the slower is simplistic thinking. It shows a lack of understanding of the struggles of accelerated learners. They don't always want to be the tutors or the persons whose "brains are being picked" or who are being taken advantage of (Read "I don't want to be a Smarty Anymore). As for the slower students, they don't want to work at an accelerated pace or to "raise the bar." Some students are contented with just "getting by" (Checklist mentality). How then shall the twain meet? 

Suffice to say, group work remains high on the list of problems my clients face in trying to teach online to large classes satisfactorily. And I try to do the best I can to help them as they experiment with solutions and not give up on group work entirely.

This brings me to the inspiration for this blogpost. Recently, I participated in two short group projects for Tina Seelig's Creativity MOOC. Since it's my second time around, I had some understanding of how difficult it might be to work with folks from different backgrounds and time zones. I was hesitant to be in a group initially since I didn't need to stress myself unnecessarily to be involved in unpredictable group work. There is no grade given and I only wanted to enjoy the course.

However, I found myself invited to a few groups. I decided to commit to one. The group problems I had anticipated reared their heads early (self-fulfilling prophecy?). I decided to pull out of the team due to health concerns (working when I should be sleeping and vice versa). But a few team members contacted me and asked me to return. So I relented and rejoined the group.

The problems my group faced were heightened by short assignment deadlines and cross-continental work (India, Armenia, Mexico, USA (East and West coast times)). I could slacken and not put in as much work as I did -- after all, it's just a MOOC! -- but I was working with very young people for who I felt I should model strong work ethic and responsibility. My goal is to help others succeed. This is not a high-stakes course for me but I worked really hard because I could see that most people were trying to do the best they could.

Both group projects involved us having to brainstorm and implement solutions. For our second group project, we had an ambitious goal - rewrite a song, sing the song and spin a story creatively about the solution in less than a week's time. BUT we did it. Not everyone was able to contribute at the same level for various reasons. But I was satisfied that we pulled it off. It didn't matter to me that some were able to put in more work than the rest. I'm still proud of our humble efforts because we had to work against a number of odds. We made it because we were dependent on each other for success!

My next blogpost will outline our efforts in greater detail. 

References

Mazella, D. (Sept. 29, 2007). Why do students hate groupwork? [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://long18th.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/why-do-students-hate-groupwork/

Weimer, M. (July 1, 2008). Why students hate groups. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.teachingprofessor.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/why-students-hate-groups

Listening with Care

One of my work duties involves observations of learning interactions in an experimental classroom, the Learning Studio. Until I completed the Listening Differently assignment in the Creativity MOOC, I hadn't realized how I had seen the Learning Studio with my eyes, but hadn't captured a lot of other interactions with my ears. The scope of my observation had been limiting and limited. Julian Treasure's video is a fabulous resource to review (Thanks again, Tina Seelig!). He is right; "we are losing our listening." When novelty ceases to be so, we become desensitized to the familiar. It is not just teachers who don't listen long enough for students to articulate their views; we just don't listen very well in these microwave-paced times. And, we don't teach listening in our schools, not very much. We assume we are effective listeners or that our students will somehow pick that up.

Treasure also touches on two other causes to this listening deficit: we are now able to document sounds and images (text, still and moving); there is so much clamor in our environment, we have to shut out noise from the truly deserving sound bites. To quote Treasure, "The art of conversation is being replaced -- dangerously, I think -- by personal broadcasting" (2011, July, Treasure, TED Global). How then could we improve our listening?

I practiced listening more carefully in the class and was able to capture some interactions I had not noticed in the Learning Studio previously (See mindmap above). The most striking detail I had hitherto omitted -- the hissing sound in the room! I wondered if it came from the sound system not being switched off. How ludicrous that I had missed this detail for an entire semester. Yet, it didn't bother anyone in the room, not the teacher, nor the students. It was screaming at my ears that very afternoon!

Silence. Mixer. Savor. Listening positions. RASA. Check out Treasure's explanation in the video for these five ways.

Captioning and transcript available through TEDGlobal link below.

References:

Treasure, J. (2011, July). 5 ways to listen better [TEDGlobal 2011 Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better

Treasure, J. (2011, July). 5 ways to listen better [TEDGlobal 2011 Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSohjlYQI2A 

What does Vulnerability in Learning Look Like?

The word vulnerability in learning surfaced in a recent discussion about teaching in the open world wide web. It's the topic of my visual journal entry for the day.

My reflections on this topic come in the form of questions as these ideas swirled in my head:

1.  I'm glad that someone has stood up for vulnerability and recognize that it is a valid emotion that should not be frequently stigmatized as being shameful to own. Megan Boler's book (1999), Feeling Power, focuses on the politics of emotions. In it, she discusses how emotions are often sites of social control and political resistance in higher education classrooms. How many teachers and students are aware of this perspective on emotion? Or do more people buy in to Daniel Goldman's (1995) concept of emotional intelligence? Vulnerability is a risky emotion. In discussing a pedagogy of emotions, Boler states that it is not equivalent to confession, a baring of one's soul (1999, p. xviii). It is necessary to self-monitor one's emotions, but emotional management does not trump authenticity. Vulnerability also necessitates the presence of an empathic listener, without which the complex contradictory emotions of shame and rejection emerge when vulnerability is not embraced. How then do we represent truth and live truthfully in ways that engage others in the co-production of truth (Boler, 1999, p. 168)? 

2. "Vulnerability is not weakness," said Brene Brown (TED Talk 2012). Whether vulnerability is weakness or strength, is that not a result over time of how we perceive and process the challenges to learning and learn to assign value to emotion(s)? In the context of changing mindsets or attitudes that require paradigm shifts, how much time do we give learners to process the challenges? Or do we expect instant transformation?

3. To see challenges as "desirable" or failure as "productive" requires intentionality. Today, I was reminded by a colleague of the implicit and unconscious biases that we lug along with us daily. How do we live out in reality, consistently, the desire to be indefatigable about enacting positive change? I read of Myshkin Ingawale, co-founder of Biosense Technologies, and how he iteratively developed a mobile device to diagnose and monitor anemia without the use of needles -- the device did not work until his 33rd attempt. I read of grit, resilience, growth mindset, and all the "non-cognitive" factors we need to press on.  Vulnerability is the "birthplace of creativity and innovation" (Brown in TED Talk, 2012). In practice, how do we foster environments in complex social structures to render the appropriate support? How do we support the flourishing of courage?


References

Bjork, E. L., & Bjork, R. A. (2011). Making things hard on yourself, but in a good way: Creating desirable difficulties to enhance learning. Psychology and the Real World: Essays Illustrating Fundamental Contributions to Society, 56–64. Retrieved from http://bjorklab.psych.ucla.edu/pubs/EBjork_RBjork_2011.pdf.

Boler, M. (1999). Feeling power: Emotions and education. New York: Routledge. 

Brown, B. (2010). The power of vulnerability. [video]. TED Houston. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.

Brown, B. (2012). Listening to shame. [video]. TED Conference. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.

Kapur, M. (2008). Productive failure. Cognition and Instruction, 26(3), 379-424. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07370000802212669 

Vygotsky, L. Zone of proximal development. [Wikipedia]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_proximal_development


Images for collage

Robert Bjork's image from Association for Psychological Science website. Retrieved from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/redesign/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/bjork_robert_web.jpg.

Megan Boler's book image, Feeling power: Emotions and education. Retrieved from Amazon.

Brene Brown TED Houston still. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability

Lev Vygotsky's image from Wikipedia. 

TyRuben Ellingson: Digital Pragmata Brown Bag

Sketch notes 2/24/2014

TyRuben Ellingson delivered an outstanding talk today at the Academic Learning Commons 4100. I took some sketchnotes for reflection. Two major throughlines for this presentation, as I see it, are:

• How do you become really good at doing something?
• What fosters creativity?

I read and think about deep learning and effective learning -- constantly. TyRuben's talk adds to that mashup of ideas from print and nonprint resources. I see a pattern in learning that is necessary for one to become an exquisite and consummate artist (or an expert in any discipline) over time:

• mentoring or apprenticeship - that is, to be in a position where you can closely observe and pick up the skills and practice of an expert (What would this look like in online learning?)
• obsessive lifelong learning
• sharp observation skills; an eye for detail
• a fearless persistence in looking for opportunities
• never ever think you can't (TyRuben, "I don't allow anything to block [my thinking].") 

Mostly, these are habits of mind we need to cultivate, with grit.