Names and class lists in Excel

Easily change formatting of names in Excel sheets

Surname, Forename or Forename Surname? ...or even First name and Surname in separate columns?

We all have our preferences but unfortunately so do the different software packages we use.

This post shares some Excel formulas to quickly and easily switch around the formatting of names.

The formulas used are summarised in the image below:

Click to enlarge

The first formulas search for a comma and return the characters on either the left (for surname) or the right (for first name). Just change the cell reference to point to the cell with Surname, Forename.

For surname:     =LEFT(A2,(FIND(",",A2)-1))

For forename:     =RIGHT(A2,(LEN(A2)-1-FIND(",",A2)))

The next formula will take a forename and a surname from separate cells and join them to Forename Surname:     =B2&" "&C2

If you want to take forenames and surnames from separate cells and output as Surname, Forename use:     =C2&", "&B2

And finally to convert Forename Surname to Surname, Forename:     =RIGHT(D2,(LEN(D2)-FIND(" ",D2)))&", "&LEFT(D2,(FIND(" ",D2))).

Try this out with this example spreadsheet (be aware this is LIVE and shared publicly!)

Visual Bookmarking and Sharing with Pearltrees

Create and share tiled bookmark collections with Pearltrees.

An excellent way to share links and resources with colleagues and students - collaborative lists can even be set up. One of the best features is the ease of sharing bookmarks using Pearltrees, with options to share to Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Reddit at the click of a button...

...and my absolute favourite, the ability to embed your bookmark tiles into a webpage:

ELearning Tools, by wgsbelearning
This can be done on Moodle too, allowing you to share links in a much more attractive and engaging way!

eSkeletons

eSkeletons: an interactive website where you can explore and compare skeletons of mammals using high quality images of specimens.

Just a quick post that may interest the Biologists today.

eSkeletons also provides a variety of printable teaching resources including puzzles and life-size skeletons (although Lord Sugar wouldn't be impressed!).