Microsoft Excel Intermediate Level: Graphing & Charts, 3-week Class

This three-week, hands-on class will teach learners how to create Microsoft Excel graphs in order to summarize and analyze data. We'll go beyond pie, bar, and line graphs, and also create area, scatter, and stock map charts. 

I will share my screen so that students can see what I am doing in Excel. Students should use Excel on their laptop or computer in-order to follow along and get hands on experience during class. In order to benefit from this course, students only need a basic understand of Excel, like how to type in cells and select/highlight cells with their cursor/mouse.

During each class, we will pretend we run an online book and movie store. I will upload an Excel file to the classroom and we will use that file during class to create formulas and use data to make decisions for our "business." As time allows, we will also discuss how the formulas and functions can be used in other scenarios.

Week 1: We will look at a scenario where a teacher would like to graph her students progress throughout the year.  We'll create a table that summarizes the data, so that it can be easily turned into a bar graph.

Week 2: We will explore the reasons to use an area graph versus other types of graphs.  We'll look at the music industry and look at the format of music sold by year over the last several decades.  We'll then look at data for the tourism industry and turn that into an area graph.

Week 3: We'll explore the different stock chart options available in Microsoft Excel.  We will look at historical stock information for Microsoft and use the data to create a stock chart with Excel.


In order to maximize class time for all students, please ensure your learner is signed into Excel before class begins. Students do not need much experience with Excel, but should have basic desktop or laptop knowledge, such as the ability to use a mouse, use a keyboard and open a program. They should be able to type in an Excel cell and select it with their mouse or cursor.

This class can be, but does not have to be, taken after any of my "Microsoft for Beginner" or "Microsoft Excel Intermediate" one-time, multi-day, or Flex classes.

Troubleshooting during class:
Occasionally, learners may need additional help in completing a task in Excel. I am able to give students the ability to share their screen so that I can see exactly what they are looking at. Usually, this works very well, and I am able to talk them through the task. (This will not work if the learner is using Excel on a separate device than their Outschool class.) If the learner is still not able to complete the task, they are able to grant me remote access so that I can complete the task for them. This allows us to move and cover all material in the class.  At the end of class, I will revisit the skipped step and further troubleshoot with the learner.