A Case Study of Computer-based Problem Solving Skill Development by Using Spreadsheet Software

Recently many enterprises are promoting their workers to gain advanced skills of using Excel in conjunction with Visual Basic Application (VBA, for short), which is a program development framework of Excel for creating VBA programs (called macros) that performs routine tasks automatically. In Japan there are many vocational schools providing Excel VBA training courses. However, these courses don't develop sufficient problem-solving skill which is essential for learners who want to develop Excel VBA based applications. The objective of this paper is to introduce an on-going education project that develops Excel VBA based problem-solving skill for students who are not major in computer science. The course design and education support of the project are discussed. Furthermore, experience learned from the project is also introduced.