Welcome to Computer Applications class! This class will help you to learn how to utilize the most used business and academic software. Currently, this includes the latest Microsoft Office 360 programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Google Docs (Docs and Sheets), Google Drive (cloud storing and retrieval software), as well as Google Chrome browser (search techniques). Students are also given a license to install the latest Microsoft Office products for use at home. There will be a separate information sheet on how to do this. The software license can be used while the student is enrolled in Rio Hondo Prep. Let s start by placing a link to Word on your taskbar (the bottom of the screen). This assignment assumes you are using Windows 10 or higher; if not, the instructions are close to the same. Click on the Windows logo on the bottom left of your screen. It looks like this: Scroll down the programs to the letter W and locate the Word program. Click and drag (left mouse button) to your taskbar. You might want to do the same for Excel and PowerPoint. The icon on the taskbar should look something like this: To start Word, click on the icon. A startup screen with a bunch of templates will appear (after a few seconds of loading). These templates can be helpful if you are looking for templates for special projects for now, they re just in the way. Enter Ctrl-N to start with a new, blank document. The default settings for Word are less than ideal. You will want to change it so that Word is easier to use. In the upper right corner, click on the File menu. Then click on Options. Next, click on display. You will want to check the paragraph marks, tab characters and Object anchors. You will be using these three items a lot to help you format your documents in this class and in future projects. Yes, it looks a little weird to have those paragraph marks all over your document, but
they will come in handy since all formatting to any paragraph is connected to that mark. Those marks will not appear when you export your document to PDF or if you print your document. OK, let s get started! In a new Word document, type a few paragraphs about one of the following topics: 1. Your favorite TV series or show and why 2. A Coaching or Playing experience 3. A review of any movie you saw recently When done with your document, save it as 2-1.doc in your system folder. Your document should contain 1 or 2 paragraphs, and have between 100-200 words (you can get a count of how many words are in your document by looking at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen). Spelling and Grammar Checking While typing, you may see red or green squiggly lines appear under a word or a group of words. A red line indicates the word may be misspelled. Obviously, if you type in a name, or a word that is not used commonly, the word may be spelled correctly, but the program doesn t recognize it. To correct a word, place your cursor over it and right click the mouse. A suggestion of the correct spelling is displayed at the top. To correct the word, click on the suggestion. Ignore All means the program will ignore the underlined word throughout the document. Add will add the word to the dictionary. Use this option only if you are sure the word is spelled correctly. AutoCorrect is an autocorrecting feature which we will discuss at a later date. A blue (or green on older versions) squiggly underline indicates the program thinks there is a grammatical error. Again, right click to see your options. A word about your grade on an assignment: The instructor grades on accuracy and effort. When the assignment says to type 100-200 words, it means just that. If you only type 75 words, your grade will not be as good.
Horton s Theory of Mice Usage Anytime you use the mouse instead of the keyboard, you are wasting time. Mousedependency equals poor productivity. Now that you have your document typed, spell and grammar checked and saved, it s time to learn a few keyboard shortcuts which will really save you time if you use them.
Go back to the Computer Applications website, download and open the Word document 2-1A. You will be filling in what each keyboard shortcut does. Make sure your cursor is at the beginning of the article you typed (don t use that mouse! Use Ctrl-Home instead!). As you use each of the keyboard shortcuts, record what happens in document 2-1A. You will be emailing 2-1A at the end of the assignment. (down arrow) Home End Ctrl-Home Ctrl-End All of the shortcuts above are navigation shortcuts, and it turns out there a lot more of them. These are the most common however. The trick is to remember these so that you get in the habit of leaving that plastic black rodent (the mouse) alone and save time in the process! Let s move on to some other keyboard shortcuts. By the way, these shortcuts can be used in ALL Microsoft programs, as well as most other programs that you use.
Use the shortcuts listed below and record what happens when you use them (you may already know some of them). You may have to hit [Esc] to cancel some of them. Ctrl-N Ctrl-O Ctrl-S (hit [Esc] to cancel). Ctrl-P (hit [Esc] to cancel) Alt-A Ctrl-F (hit [Esc] to cancel) Ctrl-H (hit [Esc] to cancel) Ctrl-G (hit [Esc] to cancel) Record all your answers in Word document 2-1A. Email the worksheet (2-1A.doc) along with your writing (2-1.doc) to phorton@rhprep.org (subject is compapp 2-2 lastname). Attach BOTH files to this single email.