Creating Training Materials: The Basics

Transcription

1 Creating Training Materials: The Basics How to Word Like a Boss -Bobbie Williams UTPB Training

2 Cover Pages Various types of formatting can be added to cover pages to make them stand out. See a couple of options below. 1. Adding a border: a. Click on the DESIGN tab, click Page Borders b. In the next window choose the options you wish to use and click OK. Note: Options will allow you to resize the margins of your page border. The Apply to: drop-down menu will allow you to choose which page(s) the border is placed on. 2. Using a template: a. Place your cursor on the page in which you want the template to appear b. Click on the INSERT tab, click Cover Page c. Click on the option you wish to use in the template drop-down menu 8/27/15 1

3 Organizing the Material Keeping the topics in your material organized will prove to create a solid, easily understood final product. Using bullet points, different fonts, other spacing options, and page numbers will assist in this task. 1. Using bullet points: Group together common words or phrases under a subheading with bullet points. a. To insert bullet points, highlight the words or phrases you wish to emphasize 8/27/15 2

4 b. On the HOME tab, click the bullet point icon. All of the highlighted words are now bulleted c. To change the bullet style, click the small arrow by the bullet point icon and choose from the options populated 8/27/15 3

5 2. Using different spacing options: a. To space a paragraph differently, highlight the paragraph and click the paragraph spacing button from the drop-down menu. on the HOME tab. Choose the spacing option you wish to use b. To remove or add space between paragraphs or titles, highlight the paragraph (title included) and click the line/paragraph spacing button on the HOME tab. Choose the spacing option you wish to use from the drop-down menu (either Add or Remove Space). 8/27/15 4

6 Before: After: 3. Adding page numbers to your document: a. Click on the INSERT tab and choose the option you wish to use from the drop-down menu Adding Visual Aids Visual aids are extremely helpful when used in training material, especially with specific instruction. The Snipping Tool that is included with Microsoft Windows is excellent for capturing whole screens, portions of screens, pictures, and anything else that is relevant to your material. 1. Accessing the Snipping Tool: Click on the start button on the taskbar of your computer and then click on the Snipping Tool (you can also right-click on the Snipping Tool and click Pin to Taskbar for easy access). The Snipping Tool menu (see 2a below) and a crosshairs cursor will appear on your screen. 8/27/15 5

7 2. Using the Snipping Tool: a. You can snip a portion of your screen with the crosshairs that populate by leftclicking your mouse and dragging across the area you wish to capture. b. To use the other snipping options, click the drop-down menu on the New button and choose the type of snip that would wish to use. 8/27/15 6

8 c. When using the Snipping Tool to capture open menu options, more steps are needed as the open menu disappears once the Snipping Tool is opened. i. To use the Snipping Tool to capture a shot of an open menu: click the Snipping Tool to open, press Esc on the keyboard, re-open the menu you are trying to snip, press Ctrl and Print Scrn on the keyboard at the same time. This will open the crosshairs of the Snipping Tool again and you can now capture the open menu snip. d. After capturing the snip it will appear in a separate window. From here, you can rightclick on your snip and click copy to paste it into your material or you can click Save As to save the snip to a folder to keep for later use. (Note: if you are immediately pasting the copied snip into a document, you can simply close out of the separate window without saving to eliminate saving an unneeded file.) 3. Formatting Your Snips in Microsoft Word: a. After pasting the snip into your document, you will not be able to move the snip to a desired location until you choose a Layout Option. Click the Layout Options button beside your snip and choose the option that best fits your needs. 8/27/15 7

9 b. Other formatting options are available under the FORMAT tab which appears when you have clicked on the snip. If you wish to use any of the additional formatting options, simply click on the snip prior to clicking any formatting buttons to ensure the options are applied to that particular snip. 4. Adding Shapes to Your Snips: Adding shapes to your snips can assist with communication of instruction for your reader, the most common being a simple circle to designate a section of your snip. a. To add a shape: First click on the snip that you are adding the shape to which will ensure that the shape doesn t disappear to some other location in your document. On the INSERT tab click Shapes and then choose the shape you wish to insert from the drop-down menu. Crosshairs will appear and you can use those to create the shape in whichever size you desire (See the green circle below as an example). 8/27/15 8

10 b. The shape will also need to be formatted unless you like it as is. I want the green circle to be a red, hollow circle to point out where the circle shape is in the Shapes dropdown menu. To format: i. Right-click on the shape to open up more options. You can use the Style, Fill, and Outline options at the top of the menu to format your shape by clicking them and choosing options. 8/27/15 9

11 ii. In my example, under Fill I clicked No Fill and under Outline I clicked the color red and made the Weight a higher point to get a thicker outline. iii. The finished result of the formatted shape is below. 8/27/15 10