TEACHING STRUCTURED SPREADSHEETS MODELLING AND IMPLEMENTATION

Consequences of spreadsheet errors are abundant in the trade press, and academic research demonstrated that about 90% percent of spreadsheets contain at least one error. This is understandable since spreadsheets are being developed by users who have little expertise or ability to do so. Developing a spreadsheet is rarely one’s full occupation: it’s an occasional activity amidst all the other job-related tasks.

Teaching spreadsheets has mostly been centered on teaching the use of a particular program, with its menus, buttons, functions and options. This approach has the unavowed objective of trying to make a spreadsheet expert out of the student. Research has shown that most spreadsheets use only but a few functions or features

We present an overview of the Structured Spreadsheet Modelling and Implementation methodology and explain how it was developed to reduce the possibility of making errors. We also illustrate how it can be included in a course curriculum and discuss different teaching strategies that have already been used, such as traditional lectures and flipped classrooms.