Computer Literacy Guide. for use in a Family Literacy Center

Transcription

1 Computer Literacy Guide for use in a Family Literacy Center

2 ISBN: FAMILY LITERACY CENTERS, INC. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form, including photocopy, without permission in writing from the publisher.

3 CONTENTS TOPIC PAGE Introduction to Computers (PC) Introduction to Computers (MAC) Using the World Wide Web and Using Microsoft Word Using Microsft Excel Using Microsoft PowerPoint

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5 I n t r o d u c t i o n t o C o m p u t e r s PCs and Macs There are many tasks required of a center director in a Family Literacy Center, or for that matter, parents, tutors, and students as well that can be made simpler and better with the help of a personal computer. With it anyone can make newsletters, professional looking letters, reports and proposals, and can track schedules, student progress, and finances much more easily. Personal Computers (PCs,) and the Macintosh (MAC) computer are the most popular types of computers. All of the programs in these tutorials are cross-platformed, meaning that they work with many of the same commands so that if you learn how to do word processing on a PC, it will be very similar to working on a Mac. This tutorial will be PC and Mac based and the programs shown are cross-platformed. You can read only the material that applies to your computer platform, or you may decide to become familiar with both. Information about PCs are on pages 1-10 and about MACs on pages in this manual. At the end of this tutorial you should be able to: (1) turn on and off a computer, (2) know what a desktop is and use the basic features on it, (3) use a mouse, (4) open and close programs, (5) insert and eject floppy disks and a CD-ROM in your computer, (6) use the Help feature. Getting Started on a PC... Here is a picture of a PC computer. Notice the location of the power button that turns it on. on/off button On a PC there are two buttons - one on the monitor that turns it on, typically on the lower right corner of the monitor, and one on the computer. The computer is usually placed either below or on the side of the monitor. Page 1

6 Step 1: Push the power button on the tower or the keyboard once. The computer will start up. It takes a few minutes for the computer to warm up. After a few minutes the screen should look like this on a PC: What you see is called the desktop. The desktop is used as a starting point to navigate, or to get you around on the computer. To navigate the computer we use a mouse to identify and access things which we call opening programs or files. On the desktop you will notice that to the left there are icons which are pictures that represent programs that allow you to do things on the computer. These icons include My Computer and the Recycle Bin. My Computer allows access to programs on the computer; the Recycle Bin is a place to discard unwanted programs and files. Step 2: Place your hand on the mouse and move it around on the table top or mouse pad. As you do so notice that the arrow on your desktop will move. The arrow that is controlled by the mouse is used to access the programs on your desktop. The mouse can also look like an hourglass. Page 2

7 This happens when the computer is thinking or performing some task after an icon has been double-clicked by the mouse. An hourglass means that you cannot click on anything until the computer is done thinking and the hour glass turns back into an arrow. Step 3: If you are working with a PC mouse you will notice that there are two different buttons - one on the right and one on the left. These two buttons do different things. Move the mouse over the My Computer icon and click on it using the button on the left. This identifies the item you just clicked. This means that the computer recognizes this item. Step 4: Click the left button twice with the arrow on the My Computer icon. Double clicking is used to open a program or item or to get the computer to think. Click once on the box with an x in it located on the right side of the window to close it. Page 3

8 Step 5: Move the mouse to the center of the screen. Now click on it using the right button. This opens up a menu that can be used to change settings and create new folders. When on the Internet it allows you to save pictures and other files. Feel free to spend a few minutes exploring the desktop with your mouse. Step 6: Look at your desktop. On the bottom you will notice the toolbar. This is a bar that is also used to access things on your computer. On the bottom right you will notice the clock. There might also be other pictures next to the clock but these are not part of this tutorial. On the bottom left you will notice the button that says Start. This is used to access programs that do not have icons located on the desktop. Page 4

9 To open a program from the Start menu click once on Start. This will cause a pull-up menu to appear. A pull-up menu is used to find things that can be accessed. Notice some of the items on the menu have arrows next to them. That means that another menu will be shown if that item is clicked on. If there is no arrow, then to open it you must double click on its icon. Step 7: Click once on the word Programs. This causes another menu to appear. This menu contains all of the programs available on your computer. If the list is long you might need to scroll up or down to find the program you wish to access. To do this you just place the mouse arrow on the up or down arrow located on the right of the menu. Clicking once on the arrow will cause it to move the list up or down once. Step 8: Double click on the words Microsoft Word. Page 5

10 This will cause the program Microsoft Word to open. Step 9: To close a program, locate the toolbar at the top of your screen. The toolbar should include the word File. Click once on File. When you do this you should see a menu. At the bottom of the menu you will see exit. Click once on exit and it will close the program. When you have successfully closed the program you will see the desktop again. Step 10: To insert a disk, locate your disk drive on your computer. Your disk drive is an opening that is about the size of your disk. Insert the disk by pushing it gently into the drive until it clicks into place. Your computer will then make a noise that indicates that it is reading the disk. A little light also indicates your computer is reading the disk. Step 11: To locate the disk on the desktop, double click on the My Computer icon. This icon will open a window that includes icons for each of the drives of a computer. Drives are just parts of a computer where things are stored. Locate the icon that says 3 1/2 Floppy [A:] below it. Page 6

11 This is the drive that your disk is stored in. Double click on that icon. This will open a window that shows what is on your disk. To open the disk, double click it. Step 12: To eject a disk make sure that all programs using the disk have been exited or closed. Then locate the disk drive and push the button next to it until the disk ejects. Step 13: To insert a CD-ROM locate the CD-ROM drive on your computer. Push the button right below the drive to open the drive up. Once the drive is open, place the CD-ROM into it. Close the drive by pressing the button right below it. Step 14: Usually the Family Literacy CDs will open right away. If it does not open immediately, then double click on My Computer. From the My Computer window, locate the icon that shows a CD, usually the F or G drives. Double click on the icon and the CD should open. Step 15: To eject a CD-ROM make sure that you have exited or closed all programs that use the CD. Then just push the button beneath the drive to open it and remove the CD. Step 16: If you find that you have more questions about using a computer you can use the Help button. Help is a function that lists hundreds of things about computer usage. To find Help click once on the Start button on the bottom left. On the menu that appears you will find the word Help. Double click on the word Help. Page 7

12 A window will appear that has on the right side a Welcome to Help picture. On the left is a list of items in the Help menu. Spend a few seconds scrolling through all the available help options. Above the menu of help options you will see an area to type what you want to learn. For now just type in shutting down. In Windows, you should first select the Search option in the upperleft hand side of the help window. The menu of Help options has highlighted the topic shutting down. Below the words are more options for you to pick the one that you need help with. Click on Shut down your computer or Powering down (depending on the language used by your version of Windows). On the right you will now notice the instructions on how to power down. Help can be used to solve most of your problems. To exit out of help just click on the box on the upper righthand corner with the x in it. Step 18: To shut down the computer click on the word Start on the bottom left of your screen. At the bottom of the pull down menu you will see the words Shut Down. This will cause a small window (its appearance varies according to the year of the Windows System) to come up that has three or Page 8

13 sometimes four options: Standby (we never use this function), Shut down, Restart, and Restart in MS Dos Mode (we never use this function). If you wish to just restart the computer, click on the dot next to the word Restart. This will cause the whole computer to restart and will take you back to the desktop. To completely shut down the computer, click on the dot next to the word Shut down. This will cause the computer to shut down completely on some computers. You may still need to turn off the monitor by pushing the button on the front of the monitor. These are just the basics of a computer but they will be the most important building blocks for computer use. If you are still uncomfortable with computers spend a few minutes exploring. Computers are really durable and they will not break from just clicking on icons. If you find that the computer is not responding correctly just turn the computer off by either pushing the Control, Alt, Delete keys on the keyboard or by holding down the power button for a few seconds. When the computer is off count to 15, and turn it back on. In most cases this will fix your problems. Page 9

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15 Mac Version Getting Started on a MAC Computer... Below is a picture of a Mac computer. Notice the location of the power button that turns it on. (Indicated by the large arrow.) On a Mac the power button looks like this: It is located on the tower (G4), the monitor (imac,) or the keyboard (other models). TOWER IMAC KEYBOARD Step 1: Push the power button on the keyboard once (or monitor). The computer will now start up. It takes a few minutes for the computer to warm up and the computer screen should look like this: Page 11

16 What you see is called the desktop. The desktop is used as a starting point to navigate, (or get around on) the computer. On the desktop you will notice that to the right there are icons or pictures that represent programs. These icons include Mac HD which represents the hard drive on the computer and the Trash icon which indicates a throw away spot. To navigate the computer we use a mouse to identify and access programs which we call opening the programs. Step 2: Place your hand on the mouse and move it around on the table top or mouse pad. As you do so, notice that the arrow on your desktop will move. This arrow is used to access the programs on your desktop. The mouse can also look like a watch face. This happens when the computer is thinking. A watch face means that you cannot click on anything until the computer is done thinking. Step 3: Look at your mouse. You will notice that there is one large button located at the top of it. Move the mouse over the Mac HD icon and click once on the large button. This identifies the item you just clicked. This means that the computer recognizes this item. Clicking once also will open up menus, which will be explained later in the tutorial. Step 4: Click the big button twice on the Mac HD icon. Double clicking is used to open a program or item. Click once on the box located on the left of the window to close it. Feel free to spend a few minutes exploring the desktop with your mouse. Step 5: On the top of the desktop you will notice the tool bar. This is a bar that is also used to access programs on your computer. On the top right you will notice the word Finder. Page 12

17 The Finder is used when you have not exited programs and would like to use them again. The Finder is also used to make sure you have exited all programs before shutting the computer down. On the top left you will notice the words File, Edit, View, Special, and Help. Next to the word File is the apple icon. Single click on the apple icon. This will cause a pull-down menu to show up. A pull-down menu is used to find programs. The items in the pull-down menu under the apple icon are not important for you to learn at this time. Step 6: To open a program double click on the Mac HD icon on the top right of the screen. This causes a menu to appear. This menu contains all of the programs available on your computer. If the list is long you might need to scroll up or down to find the program you wish to access. To do this just place your mouse arrow on the up or down arrow located on the right of the menu. Clicking once on the arrow will cause it to move the list up or down once. Page 13

18 Up Arrow Down Arrow Step 7: Click on the arrow located next to the words Microsoft Office. This will cause a list of all the items in Microsoft Office to appear. Double click on the words Microsoft Word. This opens up the program Microsoft Word. Step 8: To close a program, locate the toolbar at the top of your screen. The toolbar should include the word File. Click once on File. When you do this you should see a menu. At the bottom of the menu you will see the word quit. Click once on quit and it will close the program. Page 14

19 When you have successfully closed the program you will see your desktop again. If you have not successfully closed the program you will be able to find it by clicking once on the word Finder at the top right. Step 9: To insert a disk, locate your disk drive on your computer. Your disk drive is an opening that is about the size of your disk. Insert the disk by pushing it gently into the drive until it clicks into place. Your computer will then make a noise that indicates that it is reading the disk. A little light comes on that also indicates the computer is read ing the disk. Step 10: To locate the disk, look on the desktop. The icon of a disk plus the name of the disk will appear. Double click on the icon of the disk (the image shown is an example of a Zip disk). This will open a window that shows what is on your disk. To open something on your disk just double click on it. Step 11: To eject a disk, make sure that all programs using the disk have been exited or closed. Then drag the disk icon to the Trash located at the bottom right of your screen. Step 12: To insert a CD-ROM locate the CD-ROM drive on your computer. Either push the button just below the drive to open the drive up, or if so equipped, put the disk into the Page 15

20 slot provided. Once the drive is open place the CD-ROM into it. Close the drive by pressing the button right below it. Step 13: To open a Family Literacy CD locate the icon of a CD on your desktop. Double click on it. Step 14: To eject a CD-ROM make sure that you have exited or closed all programs that use the CD. Then drag the icon of the CD to the Trash located at the bottom right of your screen. Step 15: If you find that you have more questions about using a computer you can use the Help button. Help is a function that lists hundreds of things about computer usage. The Help menu is located on the tool bar on your desktop. Click once to get a pull-down menu. On the pull-down menu, click on Help Center. The following screen will appear: A window will appear that has an area for you to type topics you are looking for. Below that is a picture with three topics underlined in Page 16

21 blue. Clicking on one of these will take you to a list of things in the help menu. Click once on Mac Help. Now type in the word shutting down in the area at the top. This will give you a list of topics that relate to what you typed in. Click on the sentence that says Turning off the computer. The instructions on how to shut down your computer are written in the middle of the window. To close the Help window, click on File on the top left of the toolbar. Then click on Quit at the bottom of the pull down menu. Step 16: To shut down the computer, click on the word Special on the toolbar at the top. This will cause a pull-down menu to appear that has four options: Empty trash (used when you have dragged things to the Trash Can on the bottom right of the desktop), Sleep (will put your computer in a mode where it looks off but if you click the mouse it will come back on), Restart, and Shut Down. If you wish to just restart the computer click on the word Restart. This will cause the computer to restart and will take you back to the desktop in a few minutes. To completely shut down the computer, click on the word Shut Down which will cause the computer to shut down completely. These are just the basics of a computer, but they will be the most important building blocks for computer use. If you are still uncomfortable with computers, spend a few minutes exploring. Computers are really durable and they will not break from just clicking on icons. If you find that the computer is not responding correctly or is giving you error messages, just turn the computer off, count to 15, and turn it back on. In most cases this will fix your problems. Pushing Option, Command, Escape at the same time on the keyboard will also help a program shut down. Page 17

22 USING THE WORLD WIDE WEB AND Introduction: Some have regarded the development of the Internet to be as important as the invention of the wheel or the printing press. The Internet contains a wealth of information that can assist you in finding and writing grants, in teaching reading, and in contacting others. In this tutorial you will learn how to (1) set up the Internet on your computer, (2) get around (or navigate ) on the Internet, (3) retrieve and save information, and (4) use . Getting started on the World Wide Web... To use the web you first have to connect to the web. There are many local and national companies available to assist you in accessing the Internet. To find a provider, look in the Yellow Pages under Internet Providers. Once you are connected to the Internet you need to choose a browser a program that allows you to access the information on the Internet. The most popular two are Microsoft Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Both of these can be downloaded from the Internet for free. They are very similar although some things have different names. For example, bookmarks in Netscape are called favorites in Explorer. If there are differences they will be noted in this tutorial. Here are some simple steps to get started: Step 1: Connect to the Internet with help from a phone call to your Internet provider. Step 2: Open up your browser (either Netscape or Explorer,) by double clicking on its icon. On the browser you will see Tool bars at the top. The top toolbar contains the pull down menus that you have used before. Netscape Page 18

23 Explorer In Netscape you have an additional pull down menu that says Communicator. This is the program that comes with Netscape. Below the pull down menus you will see a toolbar that says Back, Forward, etc. These are buttons that can help you as you search information on the Internet. Clicking Back enables you to move back one page to a previous page. This is helpful if you find that the page you just moved is not the one that you want. Clicking Forward allows you to move forward one page that you have already viewed. This helps if you have clicked Back too many times and want to move forward a page. The Stop button is located on different spots in the toolbar on Explorer and Netscape. On Netscape it is located at the end and in Explorer it is located after Forward. Clicking the Stop icon enables you to stop loading a page. This is helpful if a page is taking too long to load or if you clicked the wrong page. The Refresh/ Reload button is different on Netscape and Explorer. On Netscape it is called Reload and on Explorer it is called Refresh but they do the same thing. They are used to have the computer rewrite all the information on the page. This is used when there is an error on the page or if the program tells you to reload the page. The last button that you are going to learn in this tutorial is Home. This button takes you to your home page and is the page that the Internet loads up first. It is a shortcut to get back where you started. You can learn about the other buttons on the computer by clicking on them or by using the Help button. Step 3: Below the toolbar you will notice an area that has followed by other information. This is the location field. It gives you the address of the site you are currently accessing. The address is called the URL or Uniform Resource Locator. This is an address of the sites you will find on the Internet. All pages on the Internet have a URL so that the computer browser can recognize them. Most URLs start with and then end with.com,.net,.org, or.html. To go to a page you can just type in the URL in the location field for the page you want to access. Type in This should open the Family Literacy Center website. Page 19

24 Step 4: To access information on the internet without knowing the URL you have to do a search using a search engine, which is a site that looks through all the web pages known and finds the ones that might have information helpful to your search. Some search engines include: and Type in to start your search. Type in the word Reading and then click Search. This will take you to another page that has a list of all the pages that have something to do with reading. Notice that there are many categories that contain thousands of pages which will take you forever to look at. When you search the Internet you have to remember that there are thousands of pages of information. To reduce the number of pages you will have to sort through, ask yourself the following: What is the question that I want to answer? What topics does it include? What is the general topic? What are specific topics? What are some other things I might want to search to find my answer? Step 5: Notice that on this list of websites from your search that the titles are all blue and underlined. This indicates that they are hyperlinks. Hyperlinks, usually just called links, offer a shortcut to access information on the Internet. When you click on a link it will take you automatically to another web page without the need to type Page 20

25 in its URL. When you place your mouse over a link you will notice that it turns from an arrow to a hand. This always indicates a link. Pictures and graphics can also be links, which are also outlined in blue. If you are unsure, place your mouse arrow over the picture or graphic and if the arrow turns into a hand, then it is a link. Once you have clicked on a link, the link will change colors. Usually it turns from blue to purple. This helps you remember where you have been and the options which have not been accessed. Follow along the path of links below to learn how to use hyperlinks on the Internet. We will begin with the results we got when we entered reading in the search engine at First, click on the Literature category. Then, click on the Authors category. Page 21

26 Third, choose S for all authors whose last names begin with S. Next, pick Shakespeare. Fifth, look at the Shakespeare Festivals. Finally, click on the Utah Shakespearean Festival. All these links lead us to this final destination: Page 22

27 Step 6: When you find a page that you like and would like to access it again later, it is difficult to write down and remember the entire URL. Instead you can bookmark (Netscape) or make it a favorite, (Explorer) which means that you can save the address making it easier to access later. To make a bookmark (favorite) click on Bookmark or Favorite, then click on add. This brings up another window that allows you to change the name of the bookmark to one that you will remember. Once you have a name that you can remember, click OK. You now can find your bookmark by clicking on bookmark or favorite and then scrolling up or down until you find the bookmark that you want. Let go and the URL will automatically be accessed without typing it in the location field. Netscape: Explorer: Step 7: Occasionally you will find a picture that you want to save to use in another document. To do this just right-click on the picture and then click on Save As. This will open up a window that will ask you where to save the picture. Save it to My Documents. On a MAC, click and hold down the mouse button for about one second then click Save this image as and save it in Documents. Step 8: Sometimes you find a website that has information on it that you would like to keep. You can save a website as textonly, (meaning no pictures or links will be saved,) by clicking File and then Save As. Then press the Save button. If you wish to open the saved file you can open it in any word processor. You can also save text by identifying and copying it and then pasting it in a word processing program. Page 23

28 Step 9: Printing from the Internet can be done by clicking on File and then Print. In the print menu click Print. This will print the entire page including pictures. If the page that you are viewing has frames, areas around it do not change although the inside does. Make sure you click on the inside before you try to print. USING Step 1: is a great way to communicate with other people about anything, especially about Family Literacy. There are two types of those that offer a free service, and those which are part of an Internet provider service for which you pay a fee. An example of free is Hotmail or Yahoo. This type of mail allows you a certain amount of space on a provider s server for you to save and send messages. Another kind of is a program that comes with a browser such as Communicator in Netscape or Outlook Express in Microsoft. Both programs are very similar. To start you need to connect to the Internet and open your program. For Netscape, choose your Communicator drop down menu and then click on messenger. Page 24

29 For Microsoft, just open a browser and click on Mail on the browser s toolbar. When the program window opens, you will see a toolbar at the top. Below this on the right is a list of all of the messages you have on your hard drive. Below that is an area where you can read the . To receive , click on Inbox. This will allow the computer to determine if you have any new . To read a new message just click on the new . To send an message, click on New. (The first icon is from Netscape; the second is from Explorer.) Page 25

30 Then type in the address to which you want to send a message. The address usually contains a name followed (The image below represents Netscape.) You can put more than one address in the To: line but make sure there is a comma and a space between each address. In the Subject area you can add a subject to the to tell the reader the basic topic of what you have written. Then in the space below you can type your letter. To send it, just click send. This will now send the message to the address you have typed in. You can also reply to a message. To do this, just click Reply. This will automatically put in the address of the person who sent you the . In the subject line it will say RE: which is where you type in the subject of your response. Then you can type in your message and click on send to send your message back to the person who sent the original message. The Internet is an important tool for a Family Literacy Center. It gives you a way to find additional information and support. Once you have the basics down, spend some time learning the other options available through the Internet and the browser. The best way to do this is just to try it out, and access Help when necessary. will enable you to send out messages quickly. It also allows you another way to communicate with people throughout the world very inexpensively. Page 26

31 MICROSOFT OFFICE (PC AND MAC) MICROSOFT WORD Introduction: Microsoft Word is a word processing unit that can be used for almost anything that involves words, graphics, and pictures. Learning Word helps you write letters (personal and business,) make newsletters, brochures, and design graphics. These instructions are very similar on both PCs and MACs. Any changes for MACs will be noted in parenthesis in this booklet. PC representative images will precede the Mac images. By the end of this tutorial you will be able to: (1) create a new file; (2) save, open and close files; (3) select text; (4) cut, copy, and paste text; (5) use undo and redo; (6) format font size and type; (7) use different alignments and spacing; (8) use a spelling and grammar check; (9) print a document; (10) use Word Help (11) use basic graphic tools and create simple graphic shapes; (12) cut, copy, and paste graphic objects; (13) use text boxes; and (14) group, order, and align objects. For practice you will also create a letter to your tutors telling them about attending a training session. Getting started in Microsoft Word... To open Microsoft Word click on the word Start at the bottom left of your screen. Click once on Programs. Scroll up or down until you find the Microsoft Word icon and click on it. This will open Microsoft Word on your desktop. (On a Mac, double click on Mac HD. Scroll up or down until you find Microsoft Office. Click on the arrow to show the contents. Double click on Microsoft Word. You will see a toolbar at the top of the screen that reads File, Edit, and so on. These are pull down menus that you will learn how to use later. Below that tool bar you will see another toolbar with multiple picture icons. This is the standard toolbar. This toolbar is used so that you can just click on a picture instead of trying to find it on a pull down menu. Page 27

32 Standard Toolbar on a PC: Standard Toolbar on a Mac: Step 1: To open a new document, click on the first icon of the standard toolbar. This icon looks like a piece of paper. Now look at your new document. Move your mouse around on the tabletop or mouse pad. When your mouse is over the new page you will notice that it it looks like a capital I instead of an I-beam. Notice when you move the I-beam outside of the new page it looks like the normal arrow so that you can click on icons. You will notice that your new document also has a flashing straight line called the edit cursor. This line shows you where you can type. Type an introductory letter to your tutors telling them about orientation and training. Step 2: Notice that the edit cursor is now located at the end of your name. If you want to put something in before your name you have to move the edit cursor. Anywhere you click the I-beam on the page the edit cursor will go. You can add to the beginning of your letter by moving your mouse I-beam to the beginning of the letter and clicking once. This will move the edit cursor to the top of your page. Now type in the date. Step 3: Saving the changes in you document is very important. Page 28

33 You should save whatever you have typed every five to ten minutes. You can do this by clicking on the icon of the floppy disk in the toolbar, which is the third picture. A window will come up like this: The top of the window tells you where you are going to save (or store) your document, (or store,) the page. It should say My Documents. If you want to save to a disk, click on the arrow next to where it says My Documents. This arrow will cause a pull down menu to appear. Click on the word that says 3 1/2 Floppy [A:]. In the middle of the save window you will see a list of everything that you have saved. Below that you will see a prompt that says File Name: (On a Mac you will see save the Current Document as with a highlighted word below it). Next to that, type in Letter to Tutors. PC: Macintosh: Page 29

34 This is where you type in the keywords or title of what you wrote so that you can find it again when you need it. Below where you typed in the file name you will see Save as type:. Next to that it should say Word Document. If it does not, then you need to click on the arrow next to the words Word Document. This will cause a pull down menu to appear. Scroll up or down until you find the words Word Document. Now click on the Save button that is located at the bottom right above the cancel button. (On a Mac it is located on the right at the bottom of a list of buttons.) Step 4: Now you are going to close the document you are working on. To do this you need to click on File in the pulldown menus at the top. Now click on the word Close. You have now closed your document, but you will notice that all the toolbars are still at the top of your desktop. This means that Microsoft Word is not closed yet, only your document is closed. Step 5: Now you are going to open a document. To do this you need to click on the second icon in the standard toolbar. Page 30

35 This icon looks like a folder that is almost open. A window that looks like the one below should appear. PC: Macintosh: Page 31

36 The window looks very similar to the one open when we saved the last document. At the top it should say My Document, or the 3 1/2 Floppy [A:] if you saved it there. Below that should be a list of all the items that you have saved. Click once on the file you just saved, Letter to Tutors. You will notice that now the word Letter to Tutors is either highlighted or seen in the box that says, File name:. Click on the button that says, open. It is located on the bottom right hand corner above the cancel button. (On a Mac the top of the window should read Open: Microsoft Word. Below this is a button telling you what folder you are in. Make sure it says the same as it said when you saved the document. Below this is the list of all things that are saved. Click on the word Letter to tutors. Then click on the word Open which is located on the right hand side of the window. This will open the document. Step 6: To make changes, you can select the text and then change it. To do this you need to decide what text needs to be changed. We want to change the date to the address of your Family Literacy Center. To select just the word that we want, you use the mouse and place the I-beam at the start of the word. Now click and continue to press down on the left button of your mouse. Drag you mouse (I-beam) across the whole word. This will cause the whole word to be highlighted. Now you can change the word. Just type in the word that you would like to use in exchange for the one you have highlighted. The old word automatically disappears as you type. Step 7: Now select, or highlight, the second paragraph. Remember you can do this by clicking in front of the first word and dragging down and over until the whole paragraph is highlighted. Now go to the standard toolbar and click on the scissors icon. It is the eighth button over. You can also choose Edit on the top left-hand side of the window. This will bring down the edit menu which reveals the cut option. Mac Cut Icon: PC Edit Menu with Cut selected: Page 32

37 You have now cut the second paragraph from your letter and put it on the clipboard. The clipboard is a holding area for things in case you want to use them again. The clipboard holds only one cut item at a time. We want to use the paragraph in our letter, but we want to make it the last paragraph. To do this you need to move the edit cursor to the end of the current last paragraph. Then push return on the keyboard twice. Now go up to the standard toolbar and click the icon that looks like a clipboard with a piece of paper. This is the paste icon, which allows you to insert an item from the clipboard. The new pasted item will be entered wherever the edit cursor is, so make sure you have the edit cursor where you want something pasted in. Repeat this to put the paragraph back where it started. Step 8: Select the words Family Literacy Center. On the standard toolbar, click on the icon that looks like two pieces of paper (or choose Copy under the Edit menu). You have just copied the words Family Literacy Center and they are now waiting in the clipboard to be pasted somewhere. Paste it to the very top of the letter just above the address. Remember, to paste you have to move the edit cursor to where you want the item pasted before clicking the paste icon. Page 33

38 Step 9: Every now and then when creating a document you will make a mistake, maybe by deleting something or adding too many words. In Word you can undo, or fix, your mistakes. At the end of the letter, write the word teacher. Now highlight the word teacher and push the delete button on your keyboard. To undo the deletion you need to go to the pull down menus and click on the word Edit. Now go down to the word undo and click. You will notice that the word teacher is now back at the bottom of your page. If you decide that you really want to leave things as they were before, you can redo what you have undone. Click on Edit from the pull down menus, and then click on the word Redo. Page 34

39 The word Teacher has now been deleted again. Save the letter again. This is from Step 3. This time the window will not come up but the letter will save it where you saved it the first time. Step 10: Sometimes the font, (or design of the type, is not a style or size that you like. To change the font, you need to highlight the font you would like to change. All the fonts have different names. Let s change the font to a font called Arial. To do that highlight all of the typing. An easy way to do this is to hold down the control button, (on some keyboards it is the ctrl button,) and then push A. (On a Mac you hold down the key with an apple on it and push A. ) Notice on the toolbars that there is another toolbar below the standard toolbar. This is the font toolbar. On the font toolbar the first pull down menu of the toolbar is usually on normal. The second pull down menu tells you the font you are using. Most often it will automatically make the font Times New Roman. To change the font click on the arrow next to the type. From the pull down menu, scroll up or down until you find the word Arial and click on it. PC: Macintosh: This will change everything to Arial type font. You may want to try out many different fonts until you find one you like. Step 11: You may need to make some parts of a document larger or smaller. To do this you need to highlight what you Page 35

40 would like to change. We are going to make the size of the address smaller in this letter. Once you have highlighted the address, go to the font toolbar. You will see a number. That number is the current size of the font you have highlighted. Click on the arrow to get a pull-down menu. Scroll up or down until you find the number 10 and click it. PC: Macintosh: This made your address smaller. Now undo the size change by going to Edit and then Undo in the pull down menus at the top. Step 12: Highlight the words Dear Tutor. Now click the button on the font toolbar that has a B on it. With Bold On: With Bold Off: This causes the text to become bold. You will notice that the icon is pushed down. This means that the bold is still on. To put the text back to normal, click the bold icon again. If you want to italicize the text, click the icon with an I. If you want to underline text, use the icon with the U. Take a few moments to try out the different styles. Make sure that before you continue you unclick them all so that none are left on. Step 13: To make the letter look cleaner, lets move the conclusion to the right. To do this you must change the alignment, or change where it appears. First, highlight the item that you would like to change. Now on the font toolbar you will see four buttons, which look like many lines together. Page 36

41 PC: Macintosh: These are the alignment icons. The first one is the align left. This makes all of your writing naturally start at the left. This icon should be already selected. The second icon is the center icon. This causes all the writing to start in the center. The third icon is the right align icon. This is the one that we are going to use. Click on the right align icon, the third one over. Notice that the words naturally moved over to the right. Step 14: To make the spaces wider between sentences, you must change the spacing. To do this you must first highlight the area that you would like to change - for now highlight the whole letter. Now go up to the pull-down menus at the top and click format. From the format menu, click paragraph. PC: Macintosh: The following window will appear: PC: Macintosh: Page 37

42 Find where it says line spacing in the window. Click on the arrow to get a pull down menu. From this menu, click on double. PC: Macintosh: This will cause the whole letter to space as if you placed a return between every line. Repeat this step to make everything single spaced. Step 15: One of the great features of Microsoft Word is the spelling and grammar check. As you typed the letter you might have some red and green lines beneath words or phrases. These lines indicate spelling or grammar errors. To check these errors click on Tools from the pull down menus. Then click on the word spelling and grammar. PC: Macintosh: Page 38

43 The following window will appear. PC: Macintosh: In the window you will see the sentence with a spelling error highlighted in red or a grammar error highlighted in green. The suggested solution is given below the box with the error. If there is more than one suggestion, click on the suggestion that you want. To change it, click on the button on the left that says Change. If you decided not to change it, click on the button that says Ignore. The checker will then continue on to the next mistake. To stop the spelling and grammar check, click on the Cancel button. After you have completed the spelling and grammar check, save the document again. Step 16: To print the letter, click on the icon that looks like a printer from the standard toolbar. Page 39

44 This will bring up a menu that looks like this: PC: Macintosh: The top box tells the printer that you are using it. The next box asks you how much you would like to print. It automatically is on print all. If you want to print something else you have to specify in the range box that has to be from one section to another one. The box next to that asks you how many copies you would like. For now just print one, but at any other time you may print out as many copies as you need. The other two boxes are not used in this tutorial. After making sure all the information is right, click on the button that says Print and the letter will print. Save and close this document. Page 40

45 Step 17: Basic graphics can also be done on Microsoft Word. To make graphics you need to use the graphics tool bar. The toolbar looks like this: If you do not see the toolbar at the bottom of your page, click on the View in the pull down menu. Then click on Toolbars which will bring up another menu. Click on Drawing. This should have placed the drawing toolbar at the bottom or side of your screen. You will notice that there are a number of icons on this toolbar. Only a few of them will be used for this tutorial. If you would like to know more about them, use Microsoft Word Help button which will be explained later. To create a new document, go to Step 1. Step 18: To create simple graphic objects, just click on the icon. For a rectangle, click on the icon of a rectangle. or Then place your mouse, which now looks like a cross, wherever you would like to place the rectangle. Then click and drag the mouse out until you think the rectangle is big enough. Page 41

46 The rectangle that you have drawn has multiple boxes around the outside. These boxes are handles used to change the location or size of the rectangle after you have drawn it. By clicking and holding one of the handles you can make the rectangle larger or smaller by just moving the mouse. Try making your rectangle smaller and then larger. You can also draw ovals and circles by clicking on the icon with an oval in it. An oval is drawn the same way a rectangle is drawn by moving the mouse to where you want the graphic, then clicking and dragging until it is big enough. Notice the same little rectangles on the oval. These are also used to change the size and shape. This is done like rectangles by just clicking and holding a handle and dragging the mouse. Spend a minute making, enlarging, and shrinking ovals and circles. Lines and lines with arrows can also be made by clicking on the icon, a line or a line with an arrow, and then clicking on the page and dragging it until the line or arrow is big enough. They also use handles. Spend a minute trying out lines and lines with arrows. Step 19: Copying graphic objects are rather easy. Click once on the object you would like to copy. This identifies the object. Now using the icon in the standard toolbar, copy the graphic. Page 42

47 Click on the pasting icon to paste the graphic on the page. Notice the graphic that is pasted is overlapping with the object that was copied. To move the object just click, hold, and drag the object to where you want it. Step 20: To cut an object, click the object once and then click the cut icon on the standard toolbar. Step 21: To make basic shapes you can also use AutoShapes from the graphic toolbar. Click on it and then click on one of the options. This will give you a menu of all the shapes. Click on the shape that you want and then click, hold and drag on the page until the graphic is as big as you would like it. Step 22: When using graphics, text boxes become very important. Text boxes are boxes designed for text and to fit around graphic objects. To create a text box, click on the text box icon in the graphic toolbar, (a piece of paper with lines on it and an A. Then click, hold and drag the mouse until the text box is the size that you want. Page 43

48 The text box should look like this: Now type in some words. You can change these words just as you did in writing a letter. You can change the fonts, make them larger or smaller, or change the alignment. Step 23: There are many graphic ideas that we are not going to use in the tutorial. They include: word art (the big A icon), which makes designs out of words; color and line fill (the next two icons), which can be used to color the line or object by clicking the object and clicking the icon; different line patterns (the next three icons), which allow you to change the ways the lines appear in your shapes; add shadows (the box with a shadow icon), and 3-D effects (the last icon). Spend a few minutes trying these out. Step 24: For all the things that are not covered in this tutorial you can find them in Help in the pull down menus. Click once on Help in the pull down menus above. Page 44

49 Then click on Microsoft Word Help. This will bring up a little picture of either a computer or a paper clip. Along with this picture will be a window asking you what you would like to do. You can choose from any of the options available or write in your own questions. For now just type in Margins and click Search. PC: Macintosh: Now click on the option that will help you the most. Some things you might want help with that were not covered in this tutorial include Additional Toolbars, or Tabs. You can also use Help to assist in finding answers about using graphics like: using and editing pictures, clipart, using text within graphics, changing text orientation, or how to make more advanced shapes and designs. Knowing Microsoft Word allows you to write anything you need for any purpose. The most productive thing you will find that it helps with is writing letters, especially if you need to send the same letter to many people. You already have a letter written and saved to your tutors that you can use when you announce your orientation and training. You can write a similar letter to parents to announce the opening of the Family Literacy Program. You can also use Word to make basic graphic designs for bulletin boards, newsletters, or transparencies. This tutorial represents only the basics of this program. You can do many more things with both words and graphics. Page 45

50 The best way to learn more is to experiment by clicking on things and see what happens. You can also use Help to find answers to questions you might have. Before going on to the next tutorial try more things out in Word until you feel completely comfortable with it. Page 46

51 M I C R O S O F T E X C E L S P R E A D S H E E T P R O G R A M Introduction: Microsoft Excel is a program that allows you to set up spreadsheets. Spreadsheets can be used to keep track of finances, or product inventory, student progress, scheduling, or monitoring. They can also be used to make charts that represent each of these that can be used in various presentations and projects. Getting Started in Microsoft Excel... Open the program called Excel from Microsoft Office. If you don t remember how to open a program refer to Step 6 of the Introduction to Computers portion of this training. Excel is a spreadsheet program that you use to create a database. It is set up in a series of columns, up and down, and rows, left to right. Each column and row has a designated number or letter. The place where a row and column meet is the combination of the letter and number. For example B3 is where column B meets row 3. Step 1: If there is not already a new spreadsheet open, click on the new icon in the standard toolbar to open a new spreadsheet. It looks like a small sheet of white paper. Notice that a spreadsheet is very similar to a database. It contains and uses the same toolbars and the same commands. For example, return moves the selection tool down one cell, while tab moves it over to the right one cell. Empty Spreadsheet on a Macintosh: Page 47

52 Step 2: For this tutorial you are going to make a spreadsheet keeping track of the number of tutors and students in a literacy program. Your spreadsheet should look like this: PC Spreadsheet: Cell A1 should be left blank so just push tab. Type January in B1 and February in C1, remember to push tab in between. Then type Total in D1 and Average in E1. Now fill in the rest of the information so your sheet looks like the one above and then save as Spreadsheet. If you don t remember how to save refer to Step 3 in the Microsoft Word tutorial. Step 3: With spreadsheets you can use the fill function. You can also use AutoFill which fills in cells that are in a sequence. To do this insert two new columns between columns C and D. To do this, click on Column D, then click on Insert from the pull down menus. Then click Column. Page 48

53 Now click on C1. Click and hold the little box on the bottom right corner. Drag this box through E1 and release the mouse. While holding the mouse, the sheet looks like the following: After releasing the mouse, it autofills : Notice the cells have now been filled with March and April. AutoFill is extremely helpful with large amounts of sequential information. Now fill in each of the new columns as shown below. Page 49

54 Step 4: Text on spreadsheets use the same font toolbar as in Word. To bold all of the headings, select the cells and click the Bold icon. To right align all of the months, click the Right Align icon. When you have done this save the spreadsheet. Pressing the two icons above yields text like that pictured below: Step 5: The advantage of spreadsheets is the ablity to do calculations. The calculations can result from simple addition or complex formulas. In this tutorial you will learn only basic calculations. To learn more about calculations you can try them out or use Excel Help. Calculations in Excel are always entered as formulas. This means that each calculation will always begin with an equals sign, =. For simple addition, subtraction, division, or multiplication, you would write = Or you could just type in the cell numbers like = B2 / B3. To try this click in cell B6 and enter =B2 + B3 and push return. Page 50

55 We just added together the number of tutors and students during the month of January. Notice the cell you entered the formula into no longer contains the formula. If you click on the cell you will see that the formula is located in the editing window at the top which allows you to change the formula if you need to. Spend a few minutes trying out different simple formulas. After you are done, enter the formula above and then use the fill function rather than typing it into each cell. To do this click on the first cell. Then click, hold, and drag the bottom right hand corner to the end of the row. Step 6: When trying to use many cells in one equation it gets long and messy. There is a shortcut. To do it click on F2. Type in = Sum (B2:E2) and push return. Notice this adds all cells from B2 to E2. Step 7: Now click on F3. Click on the sum icon, it looks a little like an E. This automatically requests the cells you want to add. Either enter the formula and values for the whole row by typing B2:E2, or click on cell B2 with the mouse and drag it to cell E2. Press return to get the numerical answer. Step 8: To get the average click on G2. Now click on the function icon, it looks like an fx. Page 51

56 This brings up this window: Click all. To the right you will notice a list that includes all the functions available in the spreadsheet. Scroll up or down until you find the word average. Now click OK. This has put =average(b2:f2) in the cell G2. Then this window will appear. (The following two images come from the Macintosh version of Excel, which is essentially the same as a PC). In this window change the cell numbers so they do not include F2 but go through E2. Then click OK. Fill down to G6. At some point you might want to spend time trying out some of the functions available through the function icon. Page 52

57 Step 9: Sometimes you will need to use specialized numbers for things like money or fractions. To do this you need to format the cells. This means you need to change the cells to do what you want. Click on A8 and type in Then select cell A8 again. Now click on Format from the pull down menus. Then click on cells. This window will appear: Page 53

58 Click on the type of number that you want. For now click on currency. Make sure that the area that says decimal places has 2 typed in it. Now click OK. Now you will see that the number you put in has a dollar sign in front of it. Now delete the cell. Step 10: One of the functions that you will use the most in a Family Literacy Center is creating charts that can be used in presentations or for record keeping. To create a chart select all the data that you are going to chart. For this chart select cells A1 E3. This will leave out the totals, goals, and average. Press F11 on the keyboard, very top, to create a generic chart. Page 54

59 To make the chart more interesting click on the Edit Chart icon. A window will appear. Pick a column graph that you like. Then click Next. In the next window click rows then click Next. Page 55

60 Then add what you want each part to be called. For example, the x- axis should be called students and tutors by month and the y-axis should be called total. Then click Next. Click the dot next to the one that says place on 1 st sheet of spreadsheet. Then select Finish. Now your chart will appear on the spreadsheet. Page 56

61 You can now try other different types of charts. If you wish to learn more about charts try them out or use Help. Step 11: The Help function in Excel is the same as the Help function in Word. If you have questions about Help refer back to that tutorial. You can use Help to learn about more functions, borders, shading, sheet styles, formatting and charts. Spreadsheets will become valuable tools for you to use. They make it possible for you to easily track finances and other information automatically. Consider creating charts which can be used in presentations to introduce family literacy to patrons or to potential donors. Page 57

62 Microsoft PowerPoint Introduction: In a Family Literacy Center you may be responsible for creating many presentations to a variety of groups. PowerPoint is a program that assists in creating and presenting information in a way that is both appealing and easy to do. Using PowerPoint you can create presentations that include charts from Excel, or information from the internet or from Word. In this tutorial you will: (1) create a presentation using both a wizard and a blank screen; (2) change and format fonts; (3) add backgrounds; (4) sort slides; and (5) create transitions. Getting Started in Microsoft PowerPoint... To begin open PowerPoint from the Programs menu or from the Mac HD icon. Step 1: On a PC first click on the Start menu. Next, move the mouse to Programs. This will bring up another menu. Choose Microsoft PowerPoint. Page 58

63 On a Macintosh first click on the Mac harddrive icon. Next, locate the Microsoft Office icon and click on the small arrow to its left. This will open up the folder. Choose PowerPoint. This window will appear: PC: Page 59

64 Macintosh: The window gives you four options (in the Mac version it gives many categories on the left and various options within those categories on the right. It should automatically be under Blank Documents, which gives five different options). The first is the AutoContent Wizard. To use this just click the small circle next to the AutoContent and then click OK (on the Mac, this can be found under the category Presentations and the subcategory Content ). This will bring up a number of windows that ask you to pick out designs, structures, and ideas that you like. Once you have answered all of the questions, it will automatically design a presentation. The presentation that is designed can then be edited by clicking on what is currently there and then changing it. This is helpful if you already know what kind of presentation you want and just want to fill in your information. The only disadvantage is that you cannot be as creative in setting up a presentation. AutoContent Wizard on the PC: Page 60

65 The second option is Template (under Presentations and Designs on the Mac). A template is a slide that already has a design on it so that all you have to do is add your own information. This is helpful if you want a colorful or thematically designed presentation. This form enables you to have more freedom in the setup but you still have to make it work with the template. The third option is Blank Presentation (under Blank Documents and PowerPoint Presentation on the Mac). This option enables you to start with blank slides and design your presentation as you want it to be. The last option is to Open an existing presentation ( PowerPoint Presentation on the Mac). This enables you to open any PowerPoint presentation that you have already saved. For this tutorial click on the third option, Blank Presentation. Then click OK. Step 2: This window should now appear. PC: Macintosh: This window gives you all the slide options available. To find out the name of the slide that is currently selected, look to the bottom right corner. For the first slide, double click on the first slide available. This slide is a Title Slide. It is used to introduce the title of your presentation. Page 61

66 In the first textbox, the top box, type in Family Literacy Center. If you would like to change the size and style of the font you can do it exactly the same way as you did in Word and Excel. For now center the title and then change it to a font that you like. PC: Macintosh: Page 62

67 The text box below offers you the opportunity to enter a smaller title. For now click on it and then push delete on the keyboard. You should save your presentation even as you begin. Save the new presentation as FLC Introduction. PC: Page 63

68 Macintosh: Step 3: To make the presentation more appealing you can make the background of the slide a different color or a different background. To do this click on Format from the pull down menu and then click Background. PC: Macintosh: Page 64

69 The window below should appear: PC: Macintosh: Click on the arrow under the slide for a pull down menu. This new menu shows you the colors that have most recently been used and then offers you the choice of More Colors or Fill Effects. Click on More Colors. This gives you a chart that lets you choose a color for the background. Click on Cancel. PC: Macintosh: This brings you back to the original window. Click on Fill Effects. This brings up some ideas for color that appears to get lighter or darker on the page. At the top of the window you will see tabs. Click on the second tab which gives you the ability to pick a pattern for the background. Click on the next tab which gives you the ability to pick a color pattern for the background. Click on the next tab which gives you the ability to pick a picture that you might have saved for the background. Spend a few minutes looking at the different options; then pick one and click OK and then Apply. Page 65

70 PC: Macintosh: After choosing OK, you must select Apply or Apply to all. PC: Macintosh: Notice that the background you decided on is now on the slide. You might want to change the color of your font as a result of the color of your background. Just highlight the font and then click on Format from the pull down menu. Then click Font. PC: Macintosh: Page 66

71 This will open the following window in which you may then pick a color. PC: Macintosh: Step 4: Now it is time for a new slide. To open a new slide click on the new slide icon (it looks like a white slide) or select it from the Insert menu at the top of the screen. Then select the Clip Art and Text slide. PC: Macintosh: Click on the area that says Click for clip art. Then click on Insert from the pull down menu. Click on Picture and then click Clip Art. Page 67

72 PC: Macintosh: This brings up the clip art gallery. It takes a few minutes for the clip art to come up. Clip art is a collection of art that is stored in the hard drive of the computer. PC: Macintosh: Once clip art comes up, spend a few minutes looking at the pictures available. When you have found a picture you would like to add, click Insert. Page 68

73 Step 5: Click on the box that says Click to add text and type in your first entry, then push return. Notice that a bullet appears when you hit return. This is to highlight a new idea. Finish filling in your information. If you run out of room you can either start another slide or enlarge the text box by clicking, holding, and dragging a handle over until it is big enough. Make sure when you do this that you do not enlarge the box so that it goes outside the slide boundary. Step 6: Now insert a new slide. Pick the Blank Slide, the last slide option. Now go up to Insert. You are going to insert one of the pictures that you saved from the internet in an earlier tutorial, or you can get a picture from the internet and save another picture. Click Picture then click From File. PC: Macintosh: A window will appear that looks very similar to the open window used in Word. Click on the picture that you would like to put in your presentation. Page 69

74 Step 7: Insert another blank slide. Now you are going to put in the chart you created from your spreadsheet. Click Insert then Chart. PC: Macintosh: A chart that you did not create will come up. Click on the icon that opens charts, which looks like an open folder that has a chart in it. Then open Spreadsheet. This will open the chart that you created. Step 8: Insert the Title Only slide. Then go down to the graphic toolbar and click on the text box icon. Then click, hold, and drag until the text box is the size that you want. Now you can enter any information that you would like. Save the presentation. Step 9: PowerPoint offers you the ability to view the slides in different ways. These options are located at the bottom left of the screen. Page 70

75 The first button is called the Normal View. This is the view that you have been using to make the slides. This view enables you to write down the notes that you would like to say with each slide. This is especially helpful if you plan to print out the slides. The next button is called the Outline View. This allows you to see the general outline, based on the title and sub-points, of each slide. This is helpful in locating just one slide to edit and to remind you of the material on the slide. The third button is the Slide View and the fourth button is the Slide Sorter View. This button allows you to view all the slides at the same time which will allow you to rearrange the slides. Click on the icon. Now move the second slide to a position after the third slide. To do this click and hold and drag the second slide to a position after the third slide. The fifth button is the Slide Show. This button allows you to view the slide show without any toolbars showing. Step 10: An interesting part of making a presentation in PowerPoint is the transitions. You can move between each slide with automatic effects. For example, one slide could come in quickly from the right while another could have a black out before it comes in. Keep in mind too many transitions might detract from the appearance of the presentation. To apply a transition, click on the slide you want a transition; then click on Slide Show, then Slide Transition. PC: Macintosh: This brings up the slide transition box. Page 71

76 PC: Macintosh: From this box you can you choose a transition. The types of transitions can be found in the effect box. Take a minute to look at all the effects. Once you have clicked on an effect you can decide how quickly or slowly the effect will occur. Just click the circle next to the one you want. Below the Effect box is the Advance box. This allows you to decide if you want to advance the slide automatically or only with a mouse click. You can also add sound to the transition by picking a sound from the Sound box. Once you have completed the transition that you want, click Apply. If you click Apply All then all the slides including ones that you add later will have that transition. Save the document. You have now learned the basics of PowerPoint presentations. There are many more concepts that you can use in creating a presentation. To learn about these go to Help. It functions the same as in the other programs you have learned. With just the basics of PowerPoint you will be able to create presentations that are extremely impressive and informative. Page 72