Office 2007 - some training courses

Some of you are already using Office 2007, but many have not seen it before. As we are being transferred over to this new version of Office in the next few days, I thought that some help with training and familiarisation would be useful.

The University has Training & Skills Development courses available and here are the 2007 word processing courses .

One of them is an online course, ' Upgrading to Word 2007' which introduces you to the essential changes in Word 2007, enabling you to start using the program quickly. This is a self-enrolment package which you access via your WebCT account.

Microsoft have also produced online tutorials and the 'Get to know Word 2007' course is helpful, as long as you don't mind the voice! The good news is that you can do the course without the voice, as she is only reading aloud the text which is on the screen.

Other resources show you how to do some of the more complicated tasks in Word and this course from Microsoft would be a useful bookmark for help while you are working on a document.

For the other programs in Office 2007 try this introduction and the full list of training resources here should give you most of what you need.

In addition to the training, there are some useful tools to help you while you are using the new programs:

• a download called Search Command will help you to find where things have moved to
• interactive guides, which you can run from the web or download to your PC, to show you how to find 2003 menu commands in Office 2007
• mapping workbooks, which are spreadsheets listing the location of commands in both suites

Essentially, these are three different ways of helping you with the changeover. Try them all and find the one that suits you best.

If you have any other suggestions, please post a comment on the blog.

David

Activinspire Professional has more toys - but hurry!

If you followed the last post and downloaded the personal edition of Activinspire, you can see that it has limits. For example, if you want to add more tools to the toolbar, it won't let you.

[NB - These instructions also work for first time installations of Activinspire]

There is a way to get round this limitation if you already have Activstudio loaded onto your computer. As this version of Activstudio is (or should be) the pro version, you can upgrade to the pro version of the new software, too.

I'll tell you how in a moment, but first a deadline - you have to do this by the end of this month [september 2010].

How to upgrade:

• Open Activstudio to find serial number (toolbar > menu > help > about and make a careful note of the 20 digit number)
• go to Promethean Planet website, and log in
• go to the page where you downloaded the Activinspire software, scroll down to boxes where you can key in the serial number and click 'Validate'
• you will then be given a new serial number - make a note of this
• open Activinspire, key in the serial number and click OK

This should then give you the pro version of Activinspire.

David

New software for Promethean whiteboards

Promethean have issued a new version of the software used on their whiteboards. It's called ActivInspire (now at version 1.4) and it is loaded onto all the classroom PCs and most office PCs at Selly Oak now.

Several teachers have already started to use it, and have found it easy to adapt to. The old software is still on these PCs, so you can continue to use ActivStudio for a while, and any flipcharts that you have designed or used in the past will happily transfer over to ActivInspire.

What's different?

The look for a start - it looks more modern and works like a Windows application. For example it has drop down menus at the top of the screen, which are duplicated on the toolbar for easy use. These menus look and work like ones you have become familiar with in other applications such as Word.

Also, you can configure the program to look and work like Activstudio or Powerpoint when you start using it.

Many of the existing features are still there, but they may be in a different place. For example, the page turner is no longer fixed to the side of the flipchart; it has been integrated into the toolbar, so you can turn pages from wherever you are.

There are new features too. The best way is to go straight to Download (below) and try it out for yourself, or have a look at Training first.

Here is a quick look at what's new in 1.4 (click on 'What's new') and here is a pdf guide to new features

Training

As usual with Promethean, there are free on-line courses to help you:

• a 'migrating to activinspire' course for previous users of Activstudio
• an 'introduction to activinspire' course, designed for new users, but also good for those of you with experience - if you want another certificate to put on your wall, this is the one

If you haven't used their on-line training before, you will need to register first. Then sign in and enrol on the free online ActivInspire course.

Download Personal edition for use at home

Teachers can download a personal version of the software, making it easier to prepare materials in the comfort of your own home. Go to this page and click on the reddish-brown 'Download Version 1.4' button bottom-left of the screen.

From the next page, you can choose a version for Windows, Mac or Linux operating system and then follow the procedure, filling in the form as you go. As you are using this at home (the 'Personal Edition') you can ignore any questions about serial numbers, both software and hardware.

You should end up at this screen message:

Thank you for choosing ActivInspire

You have downloaded ActivInspire Personal Edition.

Once installed you will be given the option to:

1. Run Personal Edition - FREE
2. Run a 60 Day trial of Professional Edition. This will revert to Personal Edition after the 60 Day trial.
3. Ignore this option
4. Ignore this option
   
   
   Choose either option 1 or option 2 and then get to work. Let me know how you get on by adding comments here.
   
   
   David
   
   
   
   

Using the Academic Word List on the EAS programme

I thought it would be useful to post the links we used in the EISU-Selly Oak workshop on 12th February.
Two reasons:

1. It saves having to remember them
2. I'd like staff to post comments, questions and other related links here

The Compleat Lexical Tutor
and some of the more useful pages of lextutor

• concordancers
• vocab profile and
• another vocab profiler developed from the first one
• cloze builders

Haywood's Academic Vocabulary site
and some useful pages from it

• AWL highlighter
• the gapmaker
  
• exercises based on concordance lines

Vocabulary Exercises for the AWL

Please add comments, for example

• about what you discussed in your breakout group on 12th Feb
• about ways in which you have used these sites
• with other links on this topic.

David