Web Based Teaching Unit: Basic Microsoft Word (MSword) and
World Wide Web (www) Skills
Software used for design: Macromedia Dreamweaver, Filemaker
Pro, Macromedia Flash, Hot Potatoes, CaptureEze Pro
Audience:
This web based teaching unit is specifically designed for first year composition
students in the 104 or 101 course in order to guide them to use the basic MSword
and www skills in their written assignments but could benefit other students
as well. The skills have been designed independently of any course syllabi for
the convenience of instructors to incorporate them in the teaching and learning
process. Students as well as instructors can use this unit to focus on selected
skills and work at their own pace in and/or out of class time.
Objectives:
i. Students can incorporate the skills learned into their daily assignments
ii. The skills taught are relevant to the needs of the 101/104 students
iii. Students will learn to retrieve knowledge/information from the www
iv. This unit will increase students’ confidence in using computers in
an academic setting
v. Encourages students to be independent learners
vi. Enhances critical and creative thinking skills
Hardware/Software Requirements:
In order to use this teaching unit, one must have the Flash Player and access
to the Internet.
Set-up of this teaching unit:
This is designed to be a self-study unit, although teachers may decide to incorporate
it into their classes, as well.
i. Pre-activity
This activity consists of two quizzes, an MSword skills quiz and a www skills
quiz, which will assess the students’ knowledge to determine if this site
can address their needs. If they score above 75% in any of those quizzes, they
can then refer to the Other Useful Sites page which has links to more advanced
sites on the www.
ii. Tutorials
There are two sets of different tutorials that give students step by step information
on how to use MSword tools and also different ways to use the www.
iii. Post-activity
This is an evaluation to see if the students have mastered the required skills.
It involves the searching the www, formatting the information into a word document,
e-mailing it as an attachment to the instructor and filling in a database.