Archives - January/ February 2007

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Letter from the Editor

How the New Features in Microsoft^® Word 2007 Will Affect the Classroom

Interviews with Real Teachers: Teaching with Microsoft^® Office™ 2007

Letter from the Editor
Gale Champion

As computer education teachers, you are fully aware of the speed at which new technology developments emerge. There is always a new gadget or software program for you to discover and share with your students and colleagues. We at Glencoe/McGraw-Hill understand the potential challenges you may face in staying up to date with all of these emerging technologies. As a result, we have dedicated this entire issue of Technology Turning Points to introducing teachers to some of the new technology programs on the market today. Our purpose, as always, is to provide teachers and students with quality information that can easily be applied to the classroom.

New Technology from Microsoft^®
Microsoft^® will soon release a new operating system called Windows Vista™. One of the new features that Vista will offer is Instant Search. This feature can help you and your students navigate to your files more efficiently. Rather than going through different folders to find your documents, you can simply type in the file you are looking for and Vista will find it. Our Stay Connected and Technology Solutions features will offer this and additional information on how Vista may affect you and your students.

The new Vista operating system will come with Internet Explorer^® 7 (IE7). IE7 has a streamlined interface so that you and your students can see thumbnails of different pages in a Web site. For more information on IE7, check out the Technology Solutions page of this issue.

Microsoft will soon release Office™ 2007 as well. Office 2007 offers an improved interface and tools that may be helpful for your students. For more information on the new Office 2007, please check out this issue's article and interview in the Teacher Talk feature. The article includes an overview of Word 2007 and how the new features will affect both you and your students in the classroom. The interview is with a Microsoft Master Instructor who offers insight into how the MOS certification will change with the release of Office 2007.

New Technology from Adobe^®
Adobe has recently released Adobe^® Creative Suite^® 2 (CS2). One of the applications CS2 includes is the Adobe^® Photoshop^® CS2. One of the new Photoshop features is the Adobe Bridge which acts as a file browser, simplifying file management. Many of the features in this issue use elements of CS2. The Teacher Created Web Site focuses on ePublishing and how students can use Photoshop, Fireworks^®, Flash^®, Dreamweaver^®, iWeb, and Sketchup^® to manipulate text and photos to enhance print publications and Web sites. The Teacher Created Lesson Plan is a project you can use with your students on their first day of school to introduce desktop publishing tools.

Help All Students Gain Access to New Technology
Another challenge you may face with new technology devices is not having enough for each of your students. You may have a limited number of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), Tablet PCs, digital cameras, etc. so that only a few students can use equipment at one time. This issue's Classroom Tips and Tricks feature provides a teacher's solution to this problem and how you can carry it out in your own classroom.

All of the features in this issue of Technology Turning Points offer useful information about emerging technologies. We also evaluate the impact these new technologies may have on your classroom. We hope you are able to use and apply this information to your own curriculum.

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How the New Features in Microsoft^® Word 2007 Will Affect the Classroom
Dr. Jack E. Johnson, Dean Emeritus, Online Course Teacher, University of West Georgia, Department of Management and Business Systems, Carrollton, GA

Microsoft Word 2007 is loaded with new features that will have an impact on the way students create and edit documents. The purpose of this article is not to discuss all the new features of Word 2007. Instead, this article will focus on how the new features will affect teachers and students who use Word 2007 in their classrooms.

Ribbons
The most significant change in the 2007 release is the appearance of a "ribbon" at the top of the screen. The ribbon replaces the former Menu bar, but is broken up into specific Menus by using a series of tabs. Each tab lists various groups and commands to perform word processing activities. The commands are easier for students to use because they can directly access the command they need, rather than going through a series of dialog boxes, as was required in Word 2003. The commands will be easier for students to use, because they can directly access the command they need, rather than going through a series of dialog boxes to get to the appropriate command as was required in Word 2003. Students who are more comfortable using dialog boxes can still access them in Word 2007 by clicking on a down arrow in the appropriate group command. This feature will help those students who are more comfortable using the dialog boxes because in Word 2007 they can still access dialog boxes by clicking on a down arrow in the appropriate group command.

One ribbon that may be extremely helpful for teachers and students is the Reference ribbon. Inside this ribbon is a group that allows, with one click, an entire document to be formatted to any Reference style (MLA, Chicago, etc.) a student needs. This feature can help students easily format the various bibliographies, citations, footnotes, and table of contents pages they have to create for their classes.

Styles
Another significant change in Word 2007 is the increased use of Styles. A series of default styles appear on the Home tab, but others can be accessed quickly with the Change Style button. With this button, students can change the style set, font, or font color. What students will like best about this feature is that styles have now become a “click and use” concept, which is a tremendous improvement over the application of styles in Word 2003.

New Look
As with previous releases of Microsoft Word, the 2007 revision has a new look. The gray background of Word 2003 has been replaced with a relaxing, soft blue background. The color contrast gives the student a three-dimensional look that is pleasing to the eye.

Zoom Slider
The Zoom slider in 2007 is a wonderful new addition for students to quickly view the entire page of a document or the close-up details of an image. If students are viewing the document in a view other than full page view, the Zoom slider will appear in the bottom right of a Word 2007 screen. To adjust the view of a document, students can simply point to the Zoom button, hold the left mouse button down, and "slide it" to the left or right to decrease or increase the zoom percentage. Or, they can point to the current view percentage on the Zoom slider, hold down the Control key, and use their mouse wheel to increase or decrease the percent view.

Mini Toolbar
The Mini toolbar is an extremely helpful feature in Word 2007. To activate the Mini toolbar, students can either (1) right click on any word in a document or (2) highlight a word and then rest the mouse pointer on that word. When either of these actions is taken, a "Mini toolbar" appears in faded view on the screen. When the mouse pointer is moved to the toolbar, it appears in full display. From the Mini toolbar, students can change fonts, font styles, font sizing, alignment, text color, indent levels, and bullet features. The Mini toolbar allows students to make changes without first having to access any of the commands in the ribbon.

There are many other features that are also included in the Word 2007 package—such as new file-saving formats, the Microsoft Office button, new picture-editing features, and the Format Painter—that are sure to be a hit with students and teachers in all classes. The new features in Word 2007 may take some time to get used to. However, they can lead to a more efficient and productive learning environment for teachers and students.

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Interviews with Real Teachers: Teaching with Microsoft^® Office™ 2007
Erik Amerikaner is a Microsoft Master Instructor who has passed all of the Core/Expert Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) exams for Office 2003 and is an Apple Cut Pro Level One Instructor. He teaches at Westlake High School's Information Technology Academy located in Westlake Village, California. It is a school-within-a-school, consisting of 120 students from 10th to 12th grade. He teaches Microsoft Office Advanced Applications which prepares sophomores for the (MOS) exams. He also teaches Web Design in Dreamweaver, and Introduction to Mass Media/Video Production.

Question: How will the new version of Office affect the MOS exam series?
Erik: Microsoft has designed a new series named the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) and Microsoft Certified Application Professional (MCAP) exams. The exams will be more comprehensive than the MOS exams. In previous versions of Microsoft Office there were Core and Expert exams for each of the Office programs. In Office 2007, the MCAS will test the applicant on features at a knowledge level between Core and Expert. It is designed for student learners of the Office Suite. The MCAP exams will cover in-depth features and real-world applications of each of the Office programs. It is designed for professionals in the Office world.

Question: How are the standards being developed?
Erik: Microsoft has contracted with ProCert Labs to develop and certify the course materials and certification exams. Publishers will submit their course material to ProCert Labs to receive the ‘Gold Seal' of approval for the course material. This approval is similar to the MOS Approved Seal in previous Office versions. The certification exams will follow the same approval process and are expected to be released in Spring 2007.

Question: How will schools transition to the new Office?
Erik: Schools will need to review their long-range hardware and software goals. Microsoft Office 2007 will ideally work best on the Windows Vista operating system. This may require new hardware and infrastructure. They will need funding to make this occur. Technology funding is scarce, so schools will have to determine their priorities. In California, the Microsoft settlement funds could be used for purchasing Office 2007.

Question: Will Office 2007 work with older operating systems?
Erik: According to the Microsoft Office Web site, Office 2007 can be installed on Windows XP SP-2. However to experience all the features and benefits of Office 2007, Microsoft is recommending upgrading to Vista. Currently, Office 2007 will need to be installed on Vista to permit MCAP exams.

Question: How will Office 2007 interact with older versions of Office?
Erik: Office 2007 uses a new default file, for example: Word is .docx. The new file extension will not 'open' in earlier versions of Word. Users can save their work in .doc which covers Word 97-2003. Many of the features in Office 2007 will not be compatible with earlier versions of Office.

Question: What about collaboration between computer users?
Erik: Microsoft is encouraging users to collaborate on documents even more than before. In my classroom, we use project based learning to have student teams collaborate on projects. The new version of Office will emphasize collaboration across the applications.

Question: Would you recommend immediate switching to Office 2007?
Erik: Schools may want to wait a few months for Microsoft to test out the product. Also, wait for major publishers such as, Glencoe to release their learning materials and software to support Office 2007.

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