Computer Literacy: Microsoft Office Basic Webquest

Introduction | The Task | Resources | The Process | Learning Advice | Conclusion

Introduction

What is computer literacy? That question has been discussed several times in class. Yet there is no clear cut answer to that question. Nationally there is no definition every state adopts a different definition. Most defintions adopted in the United States are just ISTE, NETS, STAR, Milken, AASL/AECT, or ETAC information literacy skills standards. Thought these acronyms are important they are not important to this webquest. Computer literacy for the purposes of the workforce is not what the parts of the computer are called and how they function. In today's society when a person askes if you are computer literate they want to know if you know how to use Microsoft Office's word proccesing program, data entry program, and presentation software.

For many of you this will be the simplest webquest because it will review the basic Microsoft Office software, however this is a quite lengthy excercise that I want everyone to pay attention to. Even though you may know about some features of the Office package it is unlikely that you are a master of the software.

The Task

In this webquest you will be listening to an audio demo of microsoft office then applying the skills you learn on the actual application. By doing this task you will have a proficient understanding of the basic Microsoft Office package. The benifits of now knowing this will better prepare you for your continuing educational career and for a possible job in the future. The task might seem long, but these skills are necessary in today's technologically rich society. Microsoft Powerpoint, Excel and Word are the basic software of that suite. Each of those progams have context specific atributes which are used in almost all types of jobs one way or the other. Each of these audio demos have been hand selected so that even the most experienced user can learn something new and is still simple enough for the less computer literate to understand.

Resources

Microsoft Office is an essential group of software that no students should be without. On this college campus we are privileged to use over five locations housing more than thirty computers each that have this program installed. If you do not own a copy of the software yourself you should use one of the Sinc Sites. If you would like to purchase it, there is a student version available for a small fraction of the price which can be bought at most computer stores like BestBuy and Staples. However, if you feel that you just want to complete the assignment at home you can download a demo from the website listed below. I suggest downloading it from a location that uses cable/dsl internet connection because it will take up to 12 hours on a dial up connection.

Microsoft Office 2003 Standard Edition Demo

The Process

Open Microsoft PowerPoint

  1. Click Here to start the audio demo for PowerPoint.
  2. After the demo is finished, try out what you just heard about the application. If you get lost replay that section of the demo.
  3. When you get to the "Test Yourself" section, type up your answers and email it to me.

Open Microsoft Excel

  1. Click Here to start the audio demo for Excel.
  2. After the demo is finished, try out what you just heard about the application. If you get lost replay that section of the demo.
  3. When you get to the "Test Yourself" section, type up your answers and email it to me.

Open Microsfot Word

  1. Click Here to start the audio demo for Word.
  2. After the demo is finished, try out what you just heard about the application. If you get lost replay that section of the demo.
  3. When you get to the "Test Yourself" section, type up your answers and email it to me.

 

Learning Hints

There are two ways to learn the material.

  1. Go to the link specified and listen to every part of the audio demo, then try to do it on your own.
  2. Go to the link specified and then minimize that window and open up the referenced Microsoft Office Application and follow along with each and every section, the demo will notify you when you need to press next to go on to the next section.

Conclusion

Now you know more about Microsoft Office and are more computer literate than you were before. To test your skills, email me the answers to the "test yourself" portions of the audio demos.

This page written by Edwin Tjoe
Last updated 11/14/04.