Sheets: Advanced

These Google Sheets Advanced lessons will cover advanced features of Sheets and prepare
you with a deeper understanding of how they can benefit teaching and learning. With a more
advanced understanding of these tools, you can begin to explore more ways to use data,
charts, and Add-ons to automate tasks and save your time so you can analyze data to inform
instruction and provide feedback to students in the classroom.
You will learn how to:

Calculate and manipulate data with functions

Format data based on conditions

Customize embedded charts

Import data from external sources

Ensure proper data collection using validation

Use pivot tables to summarize large data sets

Use Add-ons to automatically grade quizzes

Use Add-ons to automate emailing students and conduct mail merges

Use Add-ons to generate rubrics to student work

To start, review the Advanced lessons below and conduct all activities. It is recommended
you have another browser or computer screen available to practice the step-by-step exercises.
Lesson 1
Advanced Functions in Sheets (25 mins)
Google Sheets can be used in the classroom for collecting and analyzing data, supporting
learning and assessment. The real-time collaborative features of Sheets can be used for a wide
range of administrative tasks, from charting attendance to tracking and processing staff and
faculty activities and progress throughout the year. By utilizing more advanced features built
into Sheets, including add-ons, you can create a more dynamic teaching and learning
experience.
Featured in this section are some less commonly used functions and formulas, but when used
in your Sheet, can produce some very impressive results. Some of these examples may
require experience in databases and HTML.

All functions
There are hundreds of functions available in Sheets. To see a complete list, click the More
functions link in the
Functions drop-down list or check out the Support Center. These
functions must be hand typed.

Shortcuts for entering functions

Besides inserting formulas from the Insert menu, you can also add formulas by entering
them directly in the cell, starting with the = sign.
Instead of typing long formulas, or if you do not remember the exact syntax, you can use the
autocomplete feature. Just enter the first few characters of the formula you want to use, and a
list of relevant functions automatically appears below the cell you are typing in. To use a
function, just select it from the list and enter the desired values.
The function autocomplete also tells you the necessary values and format to complete the
function.

Additionally, for some functions, autocomplete selects values based on the data in your
spreadsheet.

Translate text and detect language in cells

You can use functions in your Google spreadsheet to translate text and detect the language in
any of the cells.
The translation appears as a comment for the cell. One way you might use this is to study a
selection of foreign language phrases.
Google Translate function
Use this function to translate text from and into one of over 40 languages using Google
Translate:
=GoogleTranslate("text", "source language","target language")
For example:
=GoogleTranslate("Hola, cmo ests?","es","en") translates into "Hi, how are you?"

Note: You can leave out the target language (in this case, "en") and the function automatically
selects the default language of your spreadsheet.
Detect Language function
In addition to translating, you can also use a function to find out what languages is being used
in a cell:
=DetectLanguage("text")
For example:

=DetectLanguage("Hola, cmo ests?") would give "es" as a result.

Split cell text into multiple cells

The Split function is useful for modifying both text and number entries.
It takes two arguments(the first is a string, and the second is a delimiter) and breaks up the
string using the delimiter. If you have ever used a spreadsheet to open a comma-separated
value document, it works much in the same way; separating text based on a given delimiter.
The delimiter for this function does have some restrictions: it cannot be a number or date, but
can be anything that would be parsed as a string in your system. For example, things like ","
or ";" or even characters like "a" will work.
Using the Split function can be useful to parse out information that may exist in a single cell
into multiple for sorting or other purposes. For example, you could split a Name cell into
first and last names using a space as a delimiter. Or you could separate an area code from a
phone number using a parenthesis delimiter.
Some things to note about the Split function:

The delimiter and string cannot be null or empty strings (invalid arg is returned)

If the delimiter does not appear in the string, the whole string is returned

The function takes two args, if one or both are missing or too many args are entered
in, you will get an incorrect number of args error

Here are some examples:

The formula is in A1. Notice in this example, the function split the string based on the
placement of the ! and entered the two parts in two cells, A1 and B1.

The formula is still in A1. There is nothing in B1 because the delimiter (a comma) does not
appear in the string "hello".

The formula is in A1. Here the string is split based on the placement of the semicolon,
returning five cells of data instead of the original 1.

Here A1 is text. The formula is B1, with a function to split the phrase in A1 by spaces. B1
and C1 are the split product.
This type of format can be useful for other types of strings such as names, addresses, phone
numbers, etc.

Combine text into a single cell

If instead of splitting cell data you want to combine them, you can use the concatenate
function or the & operator.
Using these will bring values together into a single cell. This can be useful if you want to take
information that is separate, like an address, and build it into a single cell with a mailing
address label.
If you have a spreadsheet with many email addresses that you will be sending a message, you
could concatenate the email address with a comma so you can easily copy and paste the list
into your email message window.
To use the concatenate function, enter =CONCATENATE(value_1, value_2) into a cell,
where value_1 and value_2 are text or numbers you wish to combine.
Note: If you want to have spaces between your values, you will need to add that in as well.
For example: =CONCATENATE(firstname, , lastname) would take the first value, add a
space, then insert a second value. The final text would appear in the cell with the formula.

To learn more about the CONCATENATE function, check out the Support Center.
Lesson 2
Conditional Formatting (15 mins)

Set up formatting rules for your spreadsheet

1. Highlight the cell or range of cells that you want to apply formatting rules to.

2. From the toolbar, click the Fill color button (shown below), or right-click the cell or
selected range of cells.

3. In the palette drop-down menu or the right-click menu, select Conditional

formatting.
4. In the window that appears, define the conditions for specific text colors and/or cell
background colors.
o

Rules can be based on matching text, checking the date, or evaluating numbers
(less than, greater than, etc)

5. The rules shown above indicate that cells containing 1 will be formatted as cells with
a red background.
You can choose from multiple rules and select up to five for a given cell or range. To remove
a rule, just click the X to the right of that rule.
Notes:

When you specify multiple rules, they are evaluated in the order listed

This means that the first rule found to be true will define the format of the cell or
range

If you copy and paste from a cell or range that has formatting rules, these rules will be
applied when you paste the copied data

If you are importing a spreadsheet, any conditional formatting it contains will not be
imported

Copy cell formatting with format painter

You can apply formatting or conditional formatting rules you have used on one set of cells to
another separate set of cells using the Paint Format tool, where "paint" is used figuratively to
describe copying the formatting rules.
The types of formats that you can paint are style, fonts, number formats and conditional
formatting.
Note: If the range of cells you are painting the formatting across is larger than the source
area, the formatting will tile across the target area.
To paint formatting from one area across another area:
1. Select the range of cells that contain the formatting and/or conditional formatting
rules you would like to paint across another range of cells.

2. Click the Paintbrush toolbar icon.

o

Doing this will enter the spreadsheet into painter mode until you complete
copying the cell formats or click the Paintbrush toolbar icon a second time

Your selection will have a blue border around it

3. Select the range of cells you would like the formatting to be copied across.
4. The cell formatting will then be applied to the range of cells you have selected.
o

This action will override any existing formatting set for the selected cells

The range of cells you want the formatting to be copied across does not need
to be adjacent to your original selection of cells

Lesson 3
Editing and Customizing Chart Data Settings in a Spreadsheet (25 mins)
After you create a chart, you can always go back and change all of the settings - the data
selection, chart type, names, etc.
Note: Please be aware that any user added as a collaborator will be able to edit, add, and
delete charts. Be sure to take this into account when adding students, or other users as
collaborators, as they will have these permissions, which you might not want.

Quick Edit mode

Many chart types allow you to make formatting changes by clicking directly into the chart
itself. Clicking anywhere in a line, area, bar, column, pie or candlestick chart, for example,
will activate Quick Edit mode. You can then hover and click into specific areas of your chart
that you would like to modify.
1. Click the chart title to change its font style, size, and color.
2. Click the horizontal or vertical axis labels to change their font style, size, and color.
3. Click within the chart itself to resize your chart, move it within the chart area, or
adjust the number of grid lines it shows.
4. Click the legend to change its font style and size, modify the colors used for each data
series, or select another position for the legend in the chart area.
5. Click each data series within the chart to change its color, select a different line
thickness or dot size, and modify which axis it belongs to.

When you use Quick Edit, two buttons will appear in the top-left corner of your chart: View
mode and Quick Edit mode. When you click into a chart, you will initially find yourself in
Quick Edit mode. When you are done making changes, click View mode.
Quick Edit is not available for all chart types. Charts that do not allow Quick Edit will not
show the two buttons in the top-left corner, and can be edited only by opening Advanced
Edit mode. Access Advanced Edit mode by clicking the arrow in the top-right corner of your
chart to make further changes.

Advanced Edit mode

To make certain changes to your chart, you will need to use Advanced Edit mode. To access
it, click the arrow in the top-right corner of your chart to expose the advanced edit tabs:

The Start tab allows you to select new data from your spreadsheet

The Chart tab allows you to change your chart type

The Customize tab allows you to make more detailed formatting changes

Combine ranges horizontally/vertically if you are creating a chart from multiple data
ranges

Set minimum and maximum axis values

o

If you are setting a minimum or maximum that cuts off part of your data set,
check the box next to Allow bounds to hide data

Customize your entire chart in the following ways:

o

Smooth eliminates angles in a line chart

Reverse flips the order of your data points

Log scale sets a logarithmic scale to your data

Plot null values includes data points with no given value

Maximize eliminates whitespace and zooms into your chart

Compare mode adds tooltips that show the values of all series at a given point
in your chart

The Customize tab also gives you access to most formatting changes available
through Quick Edit
o

The following options are available in most chart types:

Title text, size, and color

Legend text, size, and color

Location of the legend at the top, bottom, right, or nowhere in your

chart

Font used for text in your chart

Background color for your chart

Charts with axes have the following customization options

o

Axis labels and their text, size, and color

Grid color

Adding a second Y-axis

You can also customize each data series separately

o

Scroll to the last section in the Customize tab to change the color, line
thickness, or point size for your data series

Depending on what type of chart you are working with, some of these customization options
may not be applicable, and so they may not appear as options in the Customize tab.
To resize charts:
1. Place your cursor at the corner of your chart.
o

When positioned correctly the cursor becomes a diagonal, two-way arrow

2. While pressing Ctrl+Shift, click and drag the chart's corner to make the chart larger
or smaller.
Note: If you do not press Ctrl+Shift while resizing, the chart will not scale correctly to the
new size.

Customize charts
Each chart type has a unique set of customization options that allow you to build a chart that
meets your needs. Options available in the Customize tab of a chart change depending on the
chart type.
Once you have entered data into your spreadsheets and selected the range of cells you would
like to display in your chart, go to the Insert menu and select Chart. In an already existing
chart, click your chart, and select from the chart menu. Click the Customize tab of the charts
dialog box, where you will be able to scroll through and set advanced options for your chart.
Customize your entire chart in the following ways:

Smooth eliminates angles in a line chart

Reverse flips the order of your data points

Log scale sets a logarithmic scale to your data

Plot null values includes data points with no given value

Maximize eliminates whitespace and zooms into your chart

Compare mode adds tooltips that show the values of all series at a given point in
your chart

If you are creating a chart from multiple data ranges, the Combine ranges
horizontally/vertically setting will be automatically enabled. This setting tiles your ranges
together. For example, if you created a chart from Columns A, C and E from a large data set,
this setting would place all of those columns next to each other without gaps.
Customize individual data series
You can also customize each data series separately. Scroll to the last section in the
Customize tab to change the color, line thickness or point size for your data series.

Copy and paste charts

You can use the web clipboard to copy and paste charts from a spreadsheet into a document
or drawing.
1. Click the chart name in the upper-right corner of the chart to open the drop-down
menu of actions.

2. Select Copy chart.

3. From your Documents List, open the document or drawing where you would like to
insert the chart, and click where you would like the chart to be inserted.
4. Click Edit > Paste.
5. Your chart will be pasted into the document or drawing as an image, which you can
resize and realign.
Note: You cannot paste charts into another spreadsheet or into a presentation

Publish and export charts

You can export any chart and save it as a .png file. You can then upload this file to any
document or presentation in Google Drive, email it to others, or save it for other purposes.
To save your chart as a .png:
1. Click the Chart drop-down menu in the top-left corner.
2. Select Save image.

3. In the window that appears, select Save to disk and click OK.

4. Your chart will be saved to your local computer.

Instead of exporting and saving a chart to your hard drive, you can also publish a chart to
make it viewable like a webpage. Here are two methods you can use to publish a chart:

Publish both the sheet that contains the chart and the chart itself, then copy and paste
the chart's HTML code into your webpage or blog

Publish the sheet that contains the chart; then include that link in your webpage or
blog

To publish a chart by copying and pasting its HTML:

1. Publish the sheet that contains your chart by clicking Share > Publish to the web as a
webpage.To learn more on how to publish documents, check out the Support Center.
2. In your spreadsheet, click the chart to activate the Chart drop-down menu at the
upper-right corner of the chart's frame.
3. Select Chart > Publish chart, or right-click the chart and select Publish chart.

4. A dialog box appears, asking if you want to let anyone at your domain see the
spreadsheet.
o

This step is required to access the code for the image; if you do not want
others to view your spreadsheet, you can simply not provide them with the
URL

If you do share the URL, please note that anyone accessing your published
spreadsheet will see its content along with the chart

5. Click OK in the dialog box.

6. In the window that appears, copy the HTML code and paste it into the code of your
page or blog.
7. Click Done to close the window.
Lesson 4
Advanced Import Options (5 mins)
Google Sheets has an extensive list of import options available for bringing data into a
Google Spreadsheet. For example, when importing a .csv file, you can create a whole new

spreadsheet, append to the current sheet, add a new sheet to your existing spreadsheet or even
replace your entire spreadsheet with this new version.
A custom delimiters option is also available which allows users to choose what character to
parse the data file with, giving users maximum flexibility when dealing with data files.
The Import dialog is available from the File menu from within Sheets.

The supported file formats for import are .xls, .xlsx, .ods, .csv, .txt, .tsv, and .tab.
Lesson 5
Using Data Validation to Control Information (15 mins)
Data validation helps you control what data you and your collaborators enter in your
spreadsheets. If you have specific requirements for how your content should appear (for
sorting or other analysis), you can make sure other collaborators follow your format.
This is useful to make sure everyone entering information is using the correct input. With
data validation you can:

Validate numbers, dates, and text

Prevent users from entering text that does not match your criteria, or show them a
comment on the cell when the data does not match the validation rule

Add text to the cells you add validation to, to help your collaborators enter the right
type of data

Cell data validation

Data validation makes it easy to constrain the values of an individual cell to a specific range
or list. For example, if you are building a spreadsheet gradebook, you can now limit the
options in the grade column to a select set of values via drop-down lists.

In-cell drop-downs also make input easier by reducing unnecessary typing and errors in
processing. You can create drop-down lists in individual cells through the data validation tool
by validating against a range of cells in your sheet or by creating a custom list.
To create an in-cell drop-down list through validation against a range:
1. Enter data into a range of cells.
o

For example, create a series of grades (A, A-, B+ and so forth) on your
spreadsheet

2. Select the cell(s) you would like to validate.

3. On the Data menu, select Validation.

4. Change Criteria to List from a range.

5. Click on the grid icon and choose your data range by entering the cells manually or
selecting them with your mouse.
6. Choose an action for On invalid data input.
7. Choose Appearance options.
8. Save your Data validation.

9. Click Save and the cell you chose to validate will have a drop-down arrow in it with
the data in your cell range as the potential input values.
o

If you want, you can set a cell to allow invalid data

To create an in-cell drop-down using a custom list:

1. Under the Data menu, select Data Validation.
2. Change the Criteria to Items from a list.
3. Click the button next to the Enter list items option.
4. Enter a set of custom values, separated by commas.
o

For example, you could enter "A, A-, B+, B, B-"

5. Click Save and the cell you selected will have a drop-down list with the values you
entered as potential input values.

To learn more about Data validation, check out the Support Center.
Lesson 6
Creating Pivot Table Reports to Analyze Data (10 mins)
A pivot table report is a dynamic table that lets you interpret data in different ways without
ever having to enter a formula. Pivot table reports are particularly useful when you want to
narrow down a large data set or analyze relationships between data points.
In just a few clicks, you can summarize and analyze a large set of data through different
categorizations and calculations. For example, from a list of students in a college class, you
can get a quick understanding of the the age distribution of and number of science majors in
the class.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you are building a pivot table report:

Always organize your data into columns

o

Column headers become the fields that you add into your pivot table report

Google Sheets will automatically detect a range of cells for your pivot table
o

If you do not manually select a range of cells, Google Sheets will do it for you
and allow you to edit this data range at any point

Drag fields to other categories to change your data analysis quickly and easily

You can create multiple pivot table reports from the same set of data
o

Simply go back to the data source, create a new pivot table report and a new
pivot table report will be created on a separate sheet

Pivot tables created in Microsoft Excel can be uploaded and converted to Google
Sheets, and pivot table reports created in Google Sheets can be downloaded and
converted to Microsoft Excel format

Watch a video on pivot tables in Google Drive

Create a pivot table report

1. Open the spreadsheet that contains the data you would like to use for your pivot table.

If you do not have a data set to use, you can practice using the data in the pivot
table report template and instructions in the How to create a pivot table
report section of the guide

2. From the Data menu, select Pivot table report.

3. A new sheet named Pivot Table 1 opens in your spreadsheet with the Report Editor
open to the right.
4. This sheet contains an empty pivot table report.
5. In the Report Editor, select the fields you would like to appear in the Rows,
Columns, Values, or Filter categories of your pivot table report.
Note: You cannot add the same field to multiple categories of your pivot table report, as it
would create duplicate calculations in the table.
1. To change how data is arranged in the table, you can drag fields to a different
category.
2. Click the X in the top right of a field to remove it from your pivot table report.
Pivot table reports have built-in settings to make it easier for you to analyze your data and to
prevent you from breaking the pivot table report:

The pivot table report will automatically add the values of each row and column into a
grand total
o

Grand total summaries will appear at the right and to the bottom of your pivot
table report

You cannot edit cell values by manually typing new values or by changing formulas
in the pivot table report
o

Doing so would break the connection between the pivot table report and your
original data set

If you have created a pivot table in Microsoft Excel in the past, you can upload that
spreadsheet to Google Sheets. This allows you to continue to analyze your data using Google
Drive no matter where you are signed in. To upload a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that
contains a pivot table, click the File menu, and select Import Select from the import
options, and click the Import button.
This can be an excellent tool to help teachers analyze student data. For example, if you set up
a standards based gradebook, pivot tables can help you know which students have mastered
which standards, and what standards needs to be covered a bit more.
For information on Pivot Table Reports, check out more in the Support Center.
Lesson 7
Managing Class and School Data More Effectively in Sheets with Add-Ons (10 mins)
Teachers can expand the functionality of their spreadsheets with Add-ons, tools built by
developers and made to work seamlessly with Google Apps. Add-ons can accomplish many
tasks, from automatically generating handouts from a spreadsheet, to creating report content

such as charts and bibliographies. You can install an add-on within Google Sheets; you do not
need to install any extra software to your computer. Once they are installed, your add-ons
become available to all of your documents. Your options allow you to activate or deactivate
your installed add-ons for certain documents, as well as uninstall it altogether.

These Google Sheets Add-ons have been created by and for educators:

Flubaroo is an edCode.org project created by teacher and engineer Dave Abouav

autoCrat, Doctopus, and Goobric, were created by educator Andrew Stillman, with the
New Visions for Public Schools CloudLab

As third party Add-ons are created by developers without any expectation of support, we
encourage you to get involved in their respective Google+ communities where educators
share their experiences and support one another in their implementation. These communities
are:
EdCode.org on Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+EdcodeOrg/
autoCrat Google+ Community:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/113214794749756544162
Doctopus (and Goobric) Google+ Community:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/110101771178739680338
To learn how to install and manage add-ons, check out more in the Support Center.
Lesson 8
Using Flubaroo to Automatically Grade Assignments (25 mins)

Flubaroo enables assessment on Google Sheets. It helps in grading multiple choice and fillin-the-blank assignments. It can also be used for streamlined teacher feedback. Other features
include:

Grade distribution graphing

Average score calculation for both the overall assignment and for individual questions

Email options to send feedback to your students

Flubaroo requires the use of a Google Form. Forms are customizable surveys which can be
shared with others.
We will now review the five steps used to create and assess an assignment:
Step 1: Create Your Assignment
1. Go to Google Drive at drive.google.com.
2. Select New, and choose Form.
3. A new tab will open displaying your Google Form editor.
4. Give your Form a title, and select the default option to have all results recorded in an
automatically-generated Google Sheet.
5. The title of the Form will match the name of the Sheet and will be saved in the same
folder in which you have created your Form.

6. Add the questions for your assignment (See the Google Forms lessons for details on
how to customize your questions).
7. Include identifying fields (text boxes) such as first/last name, student ID and email
address (for sending feedback).
8. Click on Choose response destination and select New spreadsheet as the
destination.

9. Once done entering questions, save and close the form.

Step 2: Create an answer key
1. Open up the form as a student would, by selecting View live form from the top menu
of the form editor, or from the menu option Form > Go to live form from within the
response spreadsheet.

2. Complete your assignment with the correct answers and submit it.
3. Enter your own name so you can identify this entry later on as the answer key.
Step 3: Assign your assignment to students
1. Share your form by posting the link to your your class website, or email the link to
your class.

2. As students submit their forms, their responses appear in the spreadsheet.

Step 4: Grade your assignment

1. Open the spreadsheet associated with the form.
2. From the Add-ons menu, click Get add-ons.
3. You will be presented with the Add-ons store.
4. To install Flubaroo, type Flubaroo in the search box at the top, or select the
Education category from the drop-down on the left.
1. Select Flubaroo and click the blue + FREE button.

5. After clicking the button you will be asked to authorize permissions for Flubaroo to
run and access data in your spreadsheet, as well as send emails on your behalf to those
filling out the form.
6. Click the blue Accept button.
7. Once installed, you will see a new menu called Flubaroo underneath the main Addons menu.

8. If you are ready to grade, select Grade Assignment from this menu.
9. Flubaroo will ask you a few questions, such as:
1. If any questions should not be graded
2. Which questions are for the purpose of student identification (e.g. name,
student ID, email)
3. Which submission should be used as the answer key
o Once answered, Flubaroo will grade your assignment.
o This process should take less than a minute.
Step 5: Review grades
The grades created by Flubaroo will be located in an adjacent worksheet called Grades, as
shown:

For each submission, Flubaroo will show which questions were answered correctly(1 point),
incorrectly (0 points), and which were not graded. If less than 60% of students got a question
correct, the question will be highlighted in orange to alert you. Additionally, students who
scored less than 70% on the assignment will be highlighted in red.

The Flubaroo menu offers you the ability to email each student their grades, view a summary
report, or regrade the assignment.

If you choose to email each student their grade, you will be given the option to include an
answer key in the email. You can also include a short message to your students. The email
sent to each student will include their total score, as well as their score for each question.
Note: You will only be able to email students their grades if the original assignment had a
question asking them for their email address.
Choosing View Report shows you a summary report of the grading.The report includes the
distribution of grades (a histogram), and a button to email yourself a copy of the report.

These data reports are great for teachers who need to produce evidence of learning in their
classrooms and shows student progress.
Lesson 9
Using autoCrat to Create Mail Merge Documents for Feedback, Grading, and More (25 mins)
autoCrat adds a document-merging feature to Google Docs. It uses columns of data from a
Google Sheet to create personalized (e.g. merged) Google Docs or PDF attachments. This
mail merge tool can help you send rubrics to students, send parents or faculty/staff sign
required forms, or send documents by email or print certain documents specified by a user.
Recall that you can insert Add-ons into your Sheet by clicking on Add-ons > Get Add-ons
and searching and installing autoCrat.
1. Create your merge template as a Google Doc or Spreadsheet using any formatting you
like, and set placeholder tags using a simple convention, e.g., Dear <<FirstName>>.
Click New > Google Docs or Google Sheets.

2. Prepare the sheet that contains all of the data you want to fill into the Doc.

3. Make sure that all of the fields and headers are up-to-date and in the right columns,
and that any text that will be merged matches the grammar and style of the text in
your Doc.

4. Once you have installed autoCrat, this add-on will walk you through the steps of
matching each column in your Sheet to the tags you have created in your Doc.

Note: The headers for your columns do not have to be the exact same text as the tags
in your Doc, but naming them similarly makes the merging process much easier.
5. Run autoCrat from the Add-ons menu of your Sheet.
6. autoCrat will walk you through matching the fields from your Sheet to the tags in
your Doc.
7. Name the merge job.
8. The example job is named PT Mailing 7-30.
9. Choose from among the various merge settings (PDF or shared Google Doc) and
build a customized email message to recipients using placeholder variables from your
sheet.

10. Customize how you want autoCrat to name your new documents once they have been
merged.
11. The same tags from your merge can be used to name each file, as long as it is
preceded by a $ sign:
o

For example, you can name your file with the <<FirstName>> tag by using
$FirstName

Using the tag $currDate names the new file with the current date whenever
you merge

For example: PTLetter-$firstname-$lastname-$currDate for the student

Andy Appleton, merged on July 31, 2014, will create a document entitled:
PTLetter-Andy-Appleton-2014-07-31

12. autoCrat fills in several columns of links to the merged documents for each row of
data:
o

A Google ID for each document

A direct URL to the Google Doc

A more legible link to the Google Doc (containing the document title) that you
can simply copy and paste in an email

The merge status for that document (whether the merge was completed or
failed, as well as the date and time of the merge)

13. All of the docs will be saved in the same folder as your Sheet.
14. Now open a Doc to see the final result.
15. This one is PTLetter-Andy-Appleton-2014-07-31.

Lesson 10
Using Doctopus for Managing Student Projects in Google Drive (30 mins)
Doctopus helps teachers to mass-copy student projects from a template, manage grading and
feedback, as well as share documents. It is used for scaffolding, organization and assessment.
With Doctopus, you can distribute handouts, organize filing systems and change the viewing
and editing permissions for documents all within Google Drive. Use Doctopus with the

Chrome extension Goobric (described in the next section) to set up rubric-based grading and
automatically email feedback to students.
You can import your class roster in order to set up a class-based filing system on Google
Drive for individual students.
Once installed, you can launch Doctopus from any other Google spreadsheet in your Drive allowing you to easily reuse your rosters and class folders in new assignments.
Step 1: Choose roster(s)
1. Create a new Google Sheet to use with Doctopus.
2. In this example, we will create a roster to create a student assignment filing system on
Drive.
3. Once you have installed Doctopus, select it from the Add-ons menu and go to
Choose Roster for your first step.

4. From Doctopus right-hand menu, select Build a new roster.

5. You can enter or import your roster if you have Haparas Teacher Dashboard or
gClassFolders.
6. You may also create a roster from scratch by selecting [build a new roster] on this
Sheet.

Step 2: Verify/update roster

1. Fill in or copy/paste the student information for your new roster.
2. Do not change Doctopus auto-generated headers: First name, Last name, and Email.
3. When you are done, click on the Refresh button on the right-hand menu to continue.
4. Give your roster a unique name; e.g. Math 202.
5. Click on Save and continue.

6. Decide how you want to share the assignment.

7. Depending on the type, Doctopus will customize the Google Docs sharing
permissions for each file and folder:
Individual - all the same: creates the same separate, individual Doc for each student in
your class.
Individual - differentiated: creates one copy of a Doc for each student based on their
level, as designated in a "Group" column on your roster.
Project groups: creates one shared copy of a Doc for each project group as designated
in the "Group" column on your roster.
Whole class: Creates a SINGLE shared copy of a Doc for your whole class.
8. For this example, we will go with individual - all the same.
Step 3: Set sharing arrangement
1. Set the Whole class access level. Depending on the type(s) of assignments you will be
distributing, you can set how students can access each others assignments:
o

No access: Students cannot access other students' assignments

Allow view only: Students can view each other's assignments; likely to be
slow to run

Allow comment-only: Students can comment each other's assignments; likely

to be slow to run

Allow edit: Students can edit each other's assignments; likely to be slow to
run

2. For this example, we will select No access.

3. Set the Assigned student access level, which allow for either view only, commentonly, or editing privileges.
4. You may also select whether editors may change sharing permissions.
5. If you do not have shared class folders with your students, Doctopus can produce
them for you.
6. Doctopus will use these folders to deliver assignments.
7. Using the checkbox next to Deliver to student folders, you may choose whether you
want Doctopus to deliver the created assignments to any preexisting student folders
you might have.
8. Enter the email addresses of co-teachers to whom you would like to give the right to
edit and assess work for this assignment.
Step 4: Choose assignment template
1. Select a starter template, blank doc, or drive folder containing the assignment
templates that you want to distribute to students.

2. Indicate how you want files named and where you want them organized in Drive.

Now you can choose whether you would like to have Doctopus create a new
folder that will hold all student assignments; if you have a pre-existing folder,
choose it here

The naming convention is the same as autoCrat, where you can have the addon customize file names according to Sheet headers marked by the $ sign

e.g. $lastName, $firstName - Roster for the student Andy Appleton will
create the doc: Appleton, Andy - Roster

3. Run the copy and share process.

o

Doctopus creates columns of information on the newly-created assignments

for each student as well as blank columns where you can fill in your grades
and written feedback

Assignments in My Drive:

New columns in your roster linking to these assignments:

4. Attach a rubric to the assignment and grade student work right in your browser!
5. For a step-by-step guide, go to the next lesson, Using Goobrics for Assessing
Student Work.
6. You can now access Doctopus Assignment Tools to manage student editing rights,
check last-edit time, and transfer ownership back to students once the assignment is
completed.
7. When you have a deadline on completing an assignment, you may also select
Embargo Docs for Grading, which locks all students out of the document for
grading.
8. You can always restore the sharing permissions by clicking on Unembargo Docs for
Revision.

Lesson 11
Using Goobric for Assessing Student Work (25 mins)
As explained earlier, Goobric works with Doctopus to enable grading based on a rubric.
Goobric can be used in conjunction with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and its folder for a
variety of purposes.

Assignment templates

Readings and class reference libraries

Group projects

Student and faculty progress reports

Once a rubric score is submitted, Goobric auto-records scores in your spreadsheet and
automatically provides students instant rubric scores and comments via email. In addition, if
you are working with a Google Doc, Goobric even pastes the filled out rubric into the bottom
of the Doc.

Note: You are always free to comment upon, markup or provide additional feedback directly
on your students assignments created in Doctopus without the use of Goobric.
You will start Goobric straight from your Doctopus roster:
1. In the Add-ons menu, select Doctopus > Assess > Attach Goobric.
2. Alternatively, click on the
Assignment Tools menu.

button in the right-hand Doctopus

Step 1: Install the Goobric Chrome Extension

Goobric will automatically walk you through the following steps:
1. First, it will prompt you to install the Goobric Chrome extension to your Chrome
browser.
2. Click on the link, which will take you to Goobric from the Chrome Web Store.
3. Once it is installed, you will see an eye icon appear next to your address bar.
o

Whenever you are grading an assignment from your Chrome web browser and
want to use Goobric, you can click on this icon

Step 2: Authorize the Goobric web app

Go back to your roster and click on the link in Step 2, which will authorize the Goobric web
app to run in Chrome
Step 3: Create your rubric in a separate Google Sheet

Goobric provides the following guide on creating a rubric for its web app:

1. If you have not already done so, create your rubric for your assignment in a new
Google Sheet and attach it to Goobric. Goobric will then show your selected rubric in
a preview window while it connects it to your roster.

2. You should now be able to use Goobric with the student Drive resources linked from
this Doctopus assignment.
3. Goobric provides the following tips:

A new sheet has been added to this Spreadsheet called "RubricScores" - this is
where all submitted scores will get logged, with username and timestamp

New columns have been added to your roster sheet - these contain formulas
that will calculate either latest or average category scores

To weigh your categories differently, add columns to the roster sheet and use
your own formulas

Remember that you can apply a rubric multiple times, to multiple revisions, if
needed - and you will be able to see either the latest or the average score in
each category

4. Now, if you see your rubric, Goobric has created new columns that will be
automatically populated with your rubric scores.

Open a students completed assignment. Click on the Goobric eye at the right of the address
bar to view your Goobric and score directly from the assignment.
When you fill in your scores, they will be populated in the roster. When you are done, you
may send the rubric to your student and paste it to the bottom of their assignment.

The Doctopus Assignment Tools now shows an option to display the average scores of your
class.

Self-Check Questions

Next

1. To add a function to a cell, you can use the Insert menu, or type __ and your function in the
cell: