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1.1 The Objectives of This Text

Introduction and operating assumptions about this set of tutorials.

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Lakeside Middle School
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121 views4 pages

1.1 The Objectives of This Text

Introduction and operating assumptions about this set of tutorials.

Uploaded by

Lakeside Middle School
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

INTRODUCTION

1.1 THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS TEXT


These tutorials have been designed to introduce teachers and student teachers to the essential
functionality of the Microsoft Office 2007 suite of software applications. The learning objectives
of these tutorials are thus threefold:
• to help the pre-service and in-service teacher acquire the fundamental skills involved in
using the Microsoft Office 2007 suite of productivity programs;
• to help the pre-service and in-service teacher learn how to apply these skills in the context of
the classroom;
• to motivate the pre-service and in-service teacher to go on to learn the more advanced
features of Microsoft Office 2007.

1.2 WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT THIS TEXT?


This is certainly not the only set of Microsoft Office 2007 tutorials available for the education
marketplace. Why, then, will the pre-service or in-service teacher select this text rather than
another? What features set it apart?
• The tutorials go beyond a cookbook approach to Microsoft Office 2007, emphasizing the
concepts behind the keystrokes. On completion of the tutorials the student teacher will
understand the fundamentals of managing a computer-integrated teaching environment.

1
ESSENTIAL Microsoft Office 2007: Tutorials for Teachers
Copyright © Bernard John Poole, 2007. All rights reserved

Students of education will also be introduced, directly or indirectly, to methodologies for


teaching their students essential computing concepts and skills.
• The scope of the material presented in ESSENTIAL Microsoft Office 2007 is intentionally
limited to what can be reasonably covered in 10-15 class hours depending on the computing
abilities of the students. It will thus fit nicely within the context of either a course devoted to
the broader issues of computer literacy for teachers, or a standalone one credit hands-on
course that introduces Microsoft Office 2007.
• All the examples that are worked in the exercises are related to activities that might take
place in K-12 classrooms. At the end of the tutorials, the pre-service or in-service teacher
will take away a set of files that will have direct application in the classroom.
• Proficiency is promoted by frequent reinforcement of skills learned.
• Appropriate exercises at the end of each tutorial provide an opportunity for skill
consolidation.
• Teachers are encouraged throughout the text to build on, and grow beyond, the skills
learned in the tutorials.
• The authors understand the needs of teachers who may not be naturally inclined to get
excited about the latest technology. They have over 40 years experience between them,
teaching at all scholastic levels K through college, including experience teaching various
disciplines in the Arts and the Sciences.

1.3 WHY MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007?


Microsoft Office is among the most commonly used software applications designed to run on
personal computers. It incorporates the Word Processor, the Database, the Spreadsheet,
Drawing/Graphics, Communications and Presentation programs, and allows easy connectivity
between these modules.
In Office 2007 you have a computing environment which will enable you to handle most of
the productivity applications expected of a teaching professional. Furthermore, when you teach
Office 2007 to your students and integrate it into the curriculum, you will enable them to gain
skills in the use of applications expected of the citizen of today’s and tomorrow's world.
The user of these tutorials should be aware that the goal is to learn the ESSENTIALS of the
Office 2007 software. It is beyond the scope of the tutorials to cover all the features of this rich
software suite.
It is the author’s hope that, on completion of the tutorials, students and teachers will be
motivated to venture forth on their own and become proficient in the many quality and
productivity enhancing aspects of this and other computer-based teaching and learning tools.

1.4 THE STATUS OF COMPUTING IN SCHOOLS


The question is no longer: "Should the computer be used in schools?" The question is: "How
should the computer be used in schools?" It is over 20 years since this tool for teaching found its

2
Introduction

way into the K-12 curriculum. If you believed the hoopla, and everything you see and hear in the
media, you would think that most of children in schools were soaking up a large proportion of
their education while seated at a computer keyboard. However, the reality is that the majority of
teachers have not yet had a realistic opportunity to integrate computer-based activities into their
classes.
Staff development and ongoing support are therefore key to successful integration of the
computer into the generally accepted set of aids routinely used by teachers to provide students
with the best possible learning experience. Buchsbaum (1992) quotes the experience of Vera
White, a Washington, DC Jefferson Junior High principal: "Sometimes technology can be
frightening to people who have never had to use anything but a piece of chalk. But give them the
time and space to work by themselves, and they can do it and they enjoy it."
Hence these tutorials.

1.5 TEACHING IS A COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOR


No tutorial in and of itself can teach you anything unless you are committed to the learning
process. Computing is a skill, rather than a body of knowledge. As such, it demands practice in
order to foster and maintain proficiency. As Thomas Edison observed: "The most important
method of education always has consisted of that in which the pupils were urged to actual
performance."
You, the teacher, must be prepared to work at mastering Microsoft Office 2007, as well as
the myriad other examples of educational software that have been developed for your area of
pedagogical expertise. You need to do this if you are to ever feel comfortable using the computer
as a tool for teaching.
In Chapter One of our accompanying text, Education for an Information Age, we argue the
case that, for K-12 students as well as for teachers, modern technologies make a difference when
it comes to improving learning as well as teaching.
All your efforts, then, will yield abundant fruit when you thoughtfully incorporate computer-
based instruction into your curriculum. Your students will partake in that fruitful harvest and you
will touch their future even as you touch your own.

1.6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
They say good teachers are born, not made. Well, here is one teacher who acknowledges an
enormous debt to his own teachers, who have been a source of inspiration and, above all, of ideas.
My teachers, like good teachers everywhere, have had a significant impact on my teaching
commitment, philosophy, and style.
I owe a debt of gratitude to the students at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, especially those who have class-tested the tutorials. Their feedback has been
voluminous and invaluable.
Lorrie Jackson wrote the original Lesson 10 and I am indebted to her for doing that. The
lesson has progressed since then, through various versions and various additions of skills to be
learned. But Lorrie’s spirit still resides therein.
For her help with the art work in the Tudors PowerPoint used to illustrate Lesson 9, I am
grateful to Dr. Netiva Caftori of Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago. I must also thank Lara

3
ESSENTIAL Microsoft Office 2007: Tutorials for Teachers
Copyright © Bernard John Poole, 2007. All rights reserved

E. Eakins of the University of Texas at Austin for her help with the graphics for this PowerPoint
presentation which accompanies the Work Disk.

To all, my heartfelt gratitude.

Life is a work in progress, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank, in anticipation, those
from whom I will continue to draw inspiration and ideas to improve the quality of my teaching
and writing.

Bernard John Poole, August 17, 2007.

REFERENCES
Buchsbaum, Herbert. "Portrait of a Staff Development Program," in Electronic Learning, vol. 11,
no. 7, April 1992.

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