[Informatics] Adventures in Libre Office

[Colley, Elizabeth E]

My students had a fun time creating a google doc, with each pair testing out a different 'free' Gantt chart software and posting their results and recommendations.


Liz Colley

Year 7 Assistant Educational Year Level Leader
English and Computing Teacher



From: informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Robert Hind
Sent: Wednesday, 22 March 2017 4:17 PM
To: 'Year 12 VCE Informatics Teachers' Mailing List' <informatics at edulists.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Informatics] Adventures in Libre Office

Attack gerbils indeed!

I would like to point out that

"Gerbils and hamsters are classified as exotic rodents and they not allowed in Australia because they are a threat to the local ecosystem. That is, if they were to escape into the wild, they may start breeding and threaten native flora and fauna." http://www.petpages.com.au/a/lifestyle/why_cant_i_buy_a_gerbil_or_hamster_in_australia

Robert Hind
Ex Traralgon and Ashwood
Retired

________________________________
From: informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au<mailto:informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au> [mailto:informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Mark
Sent: Wednesday, 22 March 2017 3:43 PM
To: Year 12 VCE Informatics Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Informatics] Adventures in Libre Office
Hi James

If I needed a guard animal, I'd get a dog. I would not train a gerbil to attack intruders.

Similarly, if I need to create Gantt charts, I'd use a dedicated Gantt chart tool, and not expect a spreadsheet to do a job for which it is completely inappropriate.

- Does an Excel 2016 Gantt do proper dependency arrows? I can't find that.*
- Does Excel handle milestones automatically when a task's duration is set to zero?
- Importantly, if a task is moved or changed, do other tasks automatically change to accommodate the adjustment - or do you have to manually drag all affected tasks around to reflect the change? The SAC requires chart adjustments to be demonstrated, and manual adjustment of all consequential task changes is a real buzz-kill.
- Can you allocate resources to a task? Will it warn that resources are double-booked? (Not that this is required for Informatics, but it's a very handy feature)
- Is it free?

Far better, dedicated, no-cost Gantt software is easily available.
Why spend weeks training a gerbil to bark and assault strangers?

And yes, I agree that Google apps have much to commend them, but they also lack the features of dedicated tools.

And do Google docs work offline? I remember once sitting in the waiting room of a gerbil training academy that had no wifi, and could not produce a Gantt chart online. It was very distressing.

Mark

* It may explain why - before the 2016 Info exam - VCAA exams' Gantt questions have no dependency arrows or milestone diamonds. I can imagine the old exam-setting group at work:

A: We need to depict a Gantt chart in this IPM exam !
B: Great! Let's show a Gantt chart that lacks all of the most vital features of a real Gantt chart, like the arrows and diamonds!
A: Fantastic! Let's do that thing. But wait! Do you think it might confuse students who have learned what a real Gantt chart looks like?
B: Ha Ha Ha. Yes indeed. But if we downloaded and used real Gantt chart software tool - that would be really - um - free and quick and easy ... But you know Microsoft's slogan: "What the hell. Let's use Excel!"
A: But isn't that like training a gerbil to be an attack animal?
B: Golly. You must be psychic. That analogy won't be raised until March 2017.
A: Jeepers. That's spooky!



On 22 March 2017 at 14:37, Vella, James <jvella at mackillop.vic.edu.au<mailto:jvella at mackillop.vic.edu.au>> wrote:
And I'm guessing the latest version of Libre Calc doesn't allow you to make Gantt charts like Excel 2016 does!

If you're looking for a free productivity suite (with plenty of resources to boot), Google might be the better answer.

JV


--

Mark Kelly

mark at vceit.com<mailto:mark at vceit.com>
http://vceit.com

Powered by angry gerbils.



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