Your students may be able to fumble around on the ribbon in Excel 2007 and find how to insert a column into a spreadsheet, or maybe even a formula.  But do they know what to do with these skills?  Could they use them to create a document that would be useful to them personally or professionally?

 

Course Technology has an answer to these questions: Microsoft Office 2007 In a Flash.  In a Flash is a CD containing 16 videos, approximately 10 minutes each in length, that demonstrate how to use various aspects of Word 2007, Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, and Access 2007.  They cover not only HOW to perform the skills within the applications, but also WHY students would need to know them, and what they might use them for.  By the time students have watched the entire set of videos for an application they will have gained a basic understanding of how to use the software to complete projects such as a personal budget in Excel or a presentation in PowerPoint. 

 

The first lesson for each application gives a basic explanation of how the application works, introduces the project that will be worked on throughout the entire set of videos for that application, and provides examples of how the software is used in various professions. Ken Baldauf, an experienced instructor and Course Technology author, speaks to students in an accessible, engaging manner as he walks through video demonstrations within the actual software.  Let Ken take care of the basics so you can move on to teach what you want!

 

For a full table of contents and to check out a sample video, visit www.course.com/inaflash .  The full CD will be available at the end of December (ISBN: 1-60334-011-4).  Contact your Cengage Learning sales representative for additional information.

 

 

Meredith Falb

Technology Marketing Specialist, Course Technology

 

Jennifer Hankin and I represented Course Technology at the BATEC (Boston Area Advanced Technological Education Connections) Technology Industry Summit on October at the Raytheon's Global Headquarters in Waltham, MA.

 

This day brought together area educators and industry professionals to collaborate, identify common ground and definitions for student achievement, and establish a continuum of IT curricula among institutions. Participants included faculty members from Bunker Hill CC, Middlesex CC, Roxbury CC, UMass Boston, N. Essex CC, Upward Bound, BostonPublic Schools, and local employers, including: Raytheon, Partners Healthcare, Fidelity and others. 

 

The Boston Area Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC) is a National Science Foundation funded project to develop and promote a coordinated, self-sustaining, regional education and workforce development system for IT. More information can be found at http://www.batec.org.

 

BATEC director Deborah Boisvert has participated in our Think Forward initiative through presentations in Boston and across the country to share the work of BATEC with our Course Technolgoy customers. We intend to continue to be involved in the work of this organization to insure that our products help to bring about the best possible learning outcomes.

 

Marie Lee

Executive Editor of New Perspectives, Computer Science, and Programming

 

Let me tell you about the EDUCAUSE trade show that we attended in Seattle, WA in late October.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the show, it attracted 4,300 educators and administrators from across the globe who are in need of technology solutions either for their campus as a whole or for IT-specific classrooms.  We saw lots of faculty who are already familiar with the Course Technology brand stop by our both, but also lots of new faces.  Some new folks stopped by to see demonstrations of SAM, CaseGrader, the Guided Tours or even just the course.com website to help them determine who their sales rep was.  We were raffling off an iPod so that, in and of itself, drew people in!  Other corporate booths included Blackboard, Dell, Microsoft, Apple, Angel, Turning Technologies, Quizdom and so many more.  This was the first time Course Technology attended the show and we learned a lot!

 

For more information about EDUCAUSE, visit http://www.educause.edu .

 

 

Kristin Taggart

Technology Marketing Manager, Course Technology

Welcome to the Course Technology Blog!

 

This time last year, we were all eagerly awaiting the release of Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista.  What was it going to mean for your classes, department, and schools? How were we going to effectively prepare materials for you and your students to learn this brand new software?

 

The release of a new software and a new operating system were not only going to mean changes for our products, but changes to the way that you were going to be teaching the new software.  A year later, I’m happy to say that our books have hit the shelves and students across the country are learning to navigate the new user-interface, among many cool new features.

 

The past year has brought a lot of changes, and as we come upon the anniversary release of the software, the Course Technology blog has undergone some recent changes. We have updated the design, and blog posts will come from across the Course Technology team, providing you with many different angles to keep you abreast of the on-goings not only behind the scenes here in Boston, but also the latest industry and technology news, gadgets, and more.

 

We look forward to your comments, suggestions, and ideas on our blog posts or Course Technology in general.

 

Happy Reading!

 

Cheryl Costantini

Executive Director of Marketing, Course Technology

 

When Microsoft released the Office 2007 system and the Windows Vista operating system, they presented a challenge for computer educators: get up to speed on this new version of Office and the new operating system.

Microsoft has made significant changes to Office 2007 by replacing the familiar menus used to select commands with an entirely new user interface. In addition, innovative tools allow users to accomplish complex tasks with a simple click of the mouse button.

The Windows Vista operating system offers new features that provide a wide variety of capabilities including improved security, better multimedia support, and easier file management.

To become proficient in using and teaching this new software, many instructors may desire formal classroom training. Fortunately, to meet this need, the Shelly Cashman Series Summer Institute will be conducted at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana from July 15 through July 20, 2007.

This institute has been held at major universities each summer for the past 14 years. The purpose of the institute, which is open only to high school, career, community college, and university instructors, is to provide attendees with the technical knowledge and skills necessary to return to the classroom and teach their courses.

Subjects offered at the institute this year include Microsoft Windows Vista, Word 2007, Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Access 2007, Outlook 2007, Visual Basic 2005, Publisher 2007, as well as other courses. These courses run a full day or more and are taught by Shelly Cashman Series authors. You will learn from the experts who wrote the books.

We anticipate a large number of people will want to attend the 2007 Summer Institute and attendance will be limited, so please make plans to enroll as soon as possible.

For more information see http://www.course.com/events/shellycashmaninstitute/ where you can register.

We look forward to seeing you at Indiana University for an exciting week of learning.

Gary and Tom

For those of you who currently use SAM 2003 or SAM XP, you know that you need to install it to your local hard drive using two CD’s, and it takes up over 1 gigabyte of space.  Not anymore!  SAM 2007 can be installed from the Web, no CD’s needed—although a CD option will still be provided for those with slower Internet connections.  The installation size has decreased to 30 megabytes! 

What are you getting when you install SAM 2007?

• SAM Content Player (SCP): This component is similar to a media player, such as Windows Media Player, that renders content.  The SCP will “play” the SAM simulations when the student launches an exam or training assignment.

• Additionally, there is an engine that simulates each application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Windows, Outlook, and the Internet).  This component enables SAM 2007 simulations to allow students to complete tasks using all available pathways (right click menus, the ribbon, shortcut keys, etc.)

What about the website?

The SAM Management System is the web interface portion that users will see upon logging in to SAM 2007 at http://sam2007.course.com.  This is where both students and instructors will manage their sections, exams, training assignments, and reports. 

So what do I need to order?

SAM 2007 will have 3 different delivery options to choose from, based on the needs of your students:

• For users who have high speed internet access, we will offer a keycode-only package.  This is ideal for either standalone purchase or bundling at the bookstore.  The student downloads the components mentioned above from the SAM 2007 website, enters the keycode from the package, and is ready to use SAM 2007.

• Also for users who have high speed internet access, we will offer the option to purchase the keycode electronically via credit card from http://coursedirect.course.com.  The rest of the process will work the same as above.

• For users who may not have high speed Internet access, we will offer the option to install SAM 2007 using a CD, either purchased standalone or bundled at the bookstore.  From here, the user has two additional options:

1. Install the SAM Content Player and engine from the CD, but allow the tasks to be streamed over the web (recommended).
2. Install all components locally to the computer’s hard drive.  This will equate to about 250 megabytes.  This is NOT the recommended method, since the user will not have access to the most recent content.

For more information about SAM 2007, available in June ‘07, contact your Course Technology sales representative.