More about design

I have re-thought the design of this course and will use screen recordings and PowerPoint to deliver the informtion. I can make the course more interesting but maybe not as elaborate as I had originally hoped due to lack of resources (mainly money) so will have to use exisiting resources and initiative to make this course intersting and motivating.

I have talked about the current course and how it is do this exercise and save it, and there is no varitey! The book does not flow and students get confused and don't know what they are supposed to be doing. At present this course is all face-to-face, I would like to make it more interactive so students don't have to ask for help all the time, as some students don't like to ask for help.

By using screen recordings and links to exercises in PowerPoint the students will learn not only word processing but also navigation around the computer which is important: you have to know where you are saving documents etc. At present it takes students a long time to learn to navigate. I have made some short recordings on how to save files to a floppy disk and how to find files in " My Documents". The students thought these were useful as they could just go back and play them again if they couldn't remember what to do.

I will make a series of screen recordings dealing with each topic: Saving, copying and pasting, editing, making new paragraphs, inserting pictures etc. After the student has viewed the video there will be a link (or the next slide) with the information they require for the exercise: eg go to My Documents and open the file called "What's for dinner tonight?" This file is poorly organsied with words in the wrong place and the punctuation is terrible. See if you can rearrange the words and put the correct puntuation in. Also make the file look more attractive by adding different fonts, colour and perhaps put a few pictures in. You could get the spellchecker to help you? If you are using the spellchecker remember you still have to proof-read your documents.
Then can you please save the file on your floppy disk?

This makes the student think and have some original input. Here we are giving them ideas and suggestions of tools they could use but not giving them instructions.

I would like to add a self-assessment at the end, something like: if you feel confident about cutting and pasting you can carry on to your next exciting assignment. If you would like more practise go to My Documents and open the file called " Who is watering the garden today?"

I think it is a good idea to use exercises which deal with everyday things, people know exactly what is going on & will feel comfortable about using their own ideas to change documents etc.

Comments are welcome.
Cheers,
Vida