Tips for Teaching Microsoft Office Programs
For the past few weeks my 3-5 students have been working on a PowerPoint project. My students and I have been repeating "Insert- Picture- Clipart" in our sleep, I've been saying it so much. I have looked into getting Scholastic Keys- an interface to make Word, PowerPoint, and Excel more kid friendly, but for $30 a license I figured we would make do.
One of the things I liked most about Scholastic Keys was the simplified enlarged toolbar icons. This may be old news to you all, but not to me! Yesterday I was playing around with customizing the toolbar and found the option to have "Large Icons". After I selected the toolbars I wanted to use, I then removed the buttons I knew my students wouldn't be using (such as "Mail Recipient" or "Permission", etc.) I left the most common- font style, font size, font color, add picture, add clipart, align, etc. I think this will make it easier for me and the students while working in these programs.
Take a look at the transformation: (Click to enlarge or see attachments)
Before
After
Two of my older students (5th) tried it yesterday and said it was so much easier. I changed the toolbars on 28 machines today and I am pooped!
Hope this helps some of you! And while we are at it, do you have any tips for teaching the Office programs?
One of the things I liked most about Scholastic Keys was the simplified enlarged toolbar icons. This may be old news to you all, but not to me! Yesterday I was playing around with customizing the toolbar and found the option to have "Large Icons". After I selected the toolbars I wanted to use, I then removed the buttons I knew my students wouldn't be using (such as "Mail Recipient" or "Permission", etc.) I left the most common- font style, font size, font color, add picture, add clipart, align, etc. I think this will make it easier for me and the students while working in these programs.
Take a look at the transformation: (Click to enlarge or see attachments)
Before
After
Two of my older students (5th) tried it yesterday and said it was so much easier. I changed the toolbars on 28 machines today and I am pooped!
Hope this helps some of you! And while we are at it, do you have any tips for teaching the Office programs?
- Attachments:
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toolbar1.jpg, 74 KB -
toolbar2.jpg, 85 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lorraine on
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Hi Amber,
Thanks for the tip! I recommend Janet Caughlin's book series http://www.workshopbooks.com/ for some creative ideas.
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Permalink Reply by George Somers on -
Great idea! I'll try this on my Macs when I get back into my Lab.
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