Which Microsoft?

[Lisa O`Brien]

New Year, new me and all that. [ Happy New Year everyone on here too]. Want to do a couple of cheap, online courses offered by Reed, to build up my worthless CV. But I know nothing at all about all the different Microsoft packages. There is one they offer called Microsoft Office Essentials for £16, that takes a total of 67 hours to complete. It includes Access, Excel, Outlook, Power Point, Publisher and Word. If you want them to send you a hard copy of your certificate if you are successful after your online test, you pay an additional £39. You have up to 12 months to keep going back and accessing your work or redoing part of it if you wish. What do people think of this? Is it a waste of time, or a worthwhile set of qualifications to have? Should I be doing each one individually rather than all together like this? Would value people's opinions as I haven't got a clue !! Thanks.

[Fiz]

Happy New Year to you too, Lisa. I don’t know but I wish you the best of luck. I’m sure someone here will know. 

[Jan McNulty]

£16 sounds something of a bargain!

 

It would be commonplace to do all the elements of Office together.  

 

As I have moved over to Apple I can't comment on the current state of Office.  Before I escaped from work I was able to do the European Computer Driving License but as a friend pointed out once Office has been updated what you have paid your hard-earned money for is out of date.  If you are not familiar with the products it would be worth doing (IMHO) but it could be handy for your CV to produce documents periodically to show you are adept at using the products.

 

Happy New Year!

[Lisa O`Brien]

Thank you x

[Balletfanp]

Most admin related posts ask for proficiency with the Microsoft Office package as it's what most offices use unless they have a specific reason to use Apple. Yes, it gets updated every few years, but the changes are usually pretty minimal, and if you have basic knowledge of the package already, aren't difficult to take on board. I would go for it.

[Lisa O`Brien]

Thank you Balletfan x

[SMabbutt]

I've just had a look  at the Reed site and there is a course called Certified Microsoft Office Essentials - CPD Certified & IAO Approved for £25 which has exactly the same modules, with modular exams and lifetime acces plus a tutor available. The downloaded certificate is free and a hard copy cots from £9 so it looks like a cheaper option. Plus you get an NUS extra card giving you various discounts. I've only had quick look, but if everything else checks out this looks like you would get the same skills and if you want the certificate it could work out even cheaper with extra perks.

Edited January 2, 2018 by SMabbutt
missing words

[alison]

I'd guess that Access and Publisher probably aren't so vital, but presumably you can't pick and choose.  Sounds like a good course, and I could do with an update on several, if someone would like to publish the URL?

[Lisa O`Brien]

54 minutes ago, SMabbutt said:

I've just had a look  at the Reed site and there is a course called Certified Microsoft Office Essentials - CPD Certified & IAO Approved for £25 which has exactly the same modules, with modular exams and lifetime acces plus a tutor available. The downloaded certificate is free and a hard copy cots from £9 so it looks like a cheaper option. Plus you get an NUS extra card giving you various discounts. I've only had quick look, but if everything else checks out this looks like you would get the same skills and if you want the certificate it could work out even cheaper with extra perks.

Many thanks, SMabbutt !

[Lisa O`Brien]

40 minutes ago, alison said:

I'd guess that Access and Publisher probably aren't so vital, but presumably you can't pick and choose.  Sounds like a good course, and I could do with an update on several, if someone would like to publish the URL?

 

40 minutes ago, alison said:

I'd guess that Access and Publisher probably aren't so vital, but presumably you can't pick and choose.  Sounds like a good course, and I could do with an update on several, if someone would like to publish the URL?

https://www.reed.co.uk/courses There are lots in different subjects. [ Some courses they offer seem quite mad and bizarre, but each to their own I guess ] !!  EDIT. Sorry, I just clicked on my own link and it doesn't work. Drat. They are all to be found on the Reed website though so it should be easy enough.

Edited January 2, 2018 by Lisa O`Brien
Removed the full stop so hopefully the link will now work.

[SMabbutt]

The offer on the £25 course looks to end today unfortunately.

[alison]

12 minutes ago, Lisa O`Brien said:

 

https://www.reed.co.uk/courses. There are lots in different subjects. [ Some courses they offer seem quite mad and bizarre, but each to their own I guess ] !!  EDIT. Sorry, I just clicked on my own link and it doesn't work. Drat.

 

That's because you've added a full stop to the URL   It works without it.

[Lisa O`Brien]

1 minute ago, alison said:

 

That's because you've added a full stop to the URL   It works without it.

Oh he, he, thanks. I'm such a goof at these things !!

[taxi4ballet]

Word and Outlook, followed by Excel are the three main ones to concentrate on, the others aren't used in a general office quite so much. Does the course fee actually include a copy of the software, or do they assume you already have it on your device?

[alison]

At that price, it'd have to be a pirated copy ...

 

I have a spare trial copy of Office 365 sitting around somewhere: the stupid laptop I bought has such a small C: drive that I can't fit it on there!

[Lisa O`Brien]

12 hours ago, taxi4ballet said:

Word and Outlook, followed by Excel are the three main ones to concentrate on, the others aren't used in a general office quite so much. Does the course fee actually include a copy of the software, or do they assume you already have it on your device?

No mention of it including the software too. I doubt it. But if once you have paid for your course and you have access to it online for 12 months, is it essential to actually have your own anyway? Or is that a really stupid question? I don't even know if I will ever need them. I wanted the skills and knowledge to be able to write that on my CV.  Do you think i'd need to buy my own copies eventually?

[meadowblythe]

If you have access to the internet, you don't need your own copies - indeed, there are many free alternatives available.  A fair few schools are going over completely to the Google suite of programmes as they don't have to pay licence fees, and they are very easy to use.

[taxi4ballet]

On 03/01/2018 at 13:28, meadowblythe said:

If you have access to the internet, you don't need your own copies - indeed, there are many free alternatives available.  A fair few schools are going over completely to the Google suite of programmes as they don't have to pay licence fees, and they are very easy to use.

Having (in my professional capacity) tried a few of the alternatives to Excel, they really don't cut the mustard for accounting purposes. Also, most accounts software packages have a facility to download/upload to Excel, and most financial people use Excel. If you have a spreadsheet created by another program then you have issues with accessing the data, importing it, manipulating it and sending it back to the originator. They aren't compatible.

[meadowblythe]

True, but with all due respect to Lisa, if she is looking at a fairly entry level set of courses, learning the basics and the standard shortcuts will work fairly well on most things.  I'm not sure she's starting with professional accounting packages.

 

Now, back in the days when none of these newfangled packages existed and we all used direct programming ...

[alison]

If Northern Ireland is like England, you could quite conceivably practice on computers in your local library.

 

BTW, thanks for the tip-off - I've signed up as well

[Lisa O`Brien]

Wonder if someone can help?  I joined my local college's Essential Skills Level 2 in ICT. [ City and Guilds Level 2]. I'm doing the English too [ called Literacy], seeing how almost immediately after my CSE and O Level certificates were issued to me in 1984 I tore them up, thinking I would never need them for anything, and therefore have no evidence of a single academic qualification to my name. Have contacted both my old school and the local education authority, who told me all records are destroyed after 25 years. So that's that then. Each course is once a week for two and a half hours each week and lasts for 16 weeks and is completely free for everyone. The ICT course covers Microsoft Office and all that that entails; including Access, Word, Outlook, etc. I spoke to the woman who runs the course on the phone and she thought Level 1 would be too basic for me as it covers; "How to switch on a computer", among other things. I told her I used the internet daily, sent emails to people, shopped online, uploaded videos to You Tube, etc. She said going into Level 2 would be far more beneficial. But i'm not so sure. Had the first lesson last week, and I felt completely out of my depth. Everyone bar me had just finished the Level 1. The tutor, who teaches both, was whizzing through everything at breakneck speed, assuming prior knowledge of everything. For the others, it was all still fresh in their memories, but for me I was floundering a bit. It didn't help as I forever kept having to change over my glasses, from ones to read what she had written on the blackboard, to my other pair for writing. She was speaking very quickly, writing something down on the blackboard, and then we had to copy it and do what she instructed on the computer. I spent the entire time, literally taking one pair of glasses off and putting the other pair on, then back again, every 30 seconds or so. By the end of the lesson I had practically driven myself nuts with it !!  [ As it happened, I had an opticians appointment the following day; the first time in nearly three years, and I have ordered Varifocals, who the optician assures me will make life easier, having just the one pair]. Anyway, despite everything, I enjoyed it. We have an Assignment to do, which is arranging and booking an imaginary holiday, wherever we like, for at least ten people. We have to arrange accommodation, organise an itinary, etc. Most people are going to arrange somewhere they have already been to, and know the names of hotels etc. So I am doing the same. I'm booking a trip to Japan for us all, flying from Belfast to Paris and staying there for two nights first, and have booked the whole trip for three weeks, from the first week in April, to coincide with the Cherry Blossom Festivals in Japan. [ I've put down the names of friends and family members]. The problem is, and this is where I am asking the good people on here for help is this. On every website I have looked on, every airline will only allow me to "book" for a maximum of nine people at a time. What should I do, in this imaginary scenario, to book and reserve airline seats for more than nine people? The task setter obviously knows that a maximum of nine people can be booked at a time, which I guess is the reason they have asked us to arrange the entire holiday, flights included for at least ten people. I know you have to ask for a Group Booking. But how do I go about doing this? By email? By phone? Bearing in mind this is all fictitious, of course, and I won't actually be contacting anybody. But nowhere will allow me to book flights for more than nine people. Wondering if people had any ideas therefore how I would contact them to arrange a group booking and incorporate this into the Assignment?  Thanks !

 

 

[Jan McNulty]

I’ve never booked for more than 3 people but could you be sneaky and book 2 groups of 5 on the same flights?

[Lisa O`Brien]

Ooh, worth a try. Thanks Jan x

[Anon2]

Lisa expect your varifocals to take some getting used to, try to practice using them as much as possible before your next lecture. I still find it hard to suddenly focus on a distant monitor if I’ve been concentrating on the computer screen. 

My family likened me to a cat trying to focus when I got my first pair, I was moving my head trying to focus rather than my eyes - turned out the lens had been made incorrectly hence the ongoing problems beyond the learning to use. 

[Lisa O`Brien]

6 hours ago, Jane said:

Lisa expect your varifocals to take some getting used to, try to practice using them as much as possible before your next lecture. I still find it hard to suddenly focus on a distant monitor if I’ve been concentrating on the computer screen. 

My family likened me to a cat trying to focus when I got my first pair, I was moving my head trying to focus rather than my eyes - turned out the lens had been made incorrectly hence the ongoing problems beyond the learning to use. 

Thanks for the heads up Jane. Yes, I have a feeling they will take some time to adapt to. I'm going to hang on to my old ones; just in case !!

[SMabbutt]

Having had a very quick google for "flight group booking how to" there are links to booking agencies and specific airlines with information about how to arrange a booking for 10 or more pople. For example Ryanair ask you to contact by phone or email and thry will sort it out. If you have found flights for your itinrary with a specific airline just add the airline name to the search and you should get to see how they manage this. Or you could just go to agency like netflights or flightcentre and check out their procedure. You could be very cheeky and make an enquiry for the flights and get a quote etc to show in your assignment, but you might risk getting stuck on a mailing list.

[Lisa O`Brien]

16 hours ago, SMabbutt said:

Having had a very quick google for "flight group booking how to" there are links to booking agencies and specific airlines with information about how to arrange a booking for 10 or more pople. For example Ryanair ask you to contact by phone or email and thry will sort it out. If you have found flights for your itinrary with a specific airline just add the airline name to the search and you should get to see how they manage this. Or you could just go to agency like netflights or flightcentre and check out their procedure. You could be very cheeky and make an enquiry for the flights and get a quote etc to show in your assignment, but you might risk getting stuck on a mailing list.

Many thanks for this, S. Very helpful.

[Lisa O`Brien]

I'm coming along ( slowly ) with my Essential Skills Level 2 in IT course. We have finished Microsoft Word, and are now studying Excel, which at this early stage, I find much easier. The whole course is going to be presented in an e-portfolio to be marked. Years ago students chose to do whichever subject they wanted, and the tutor said they found it difficult to mark across the board. One person would be doing the whole thing on breeds of dogs while someone else would be doing Indian recipes. So now everyone has to plan a holiday for 10 people to where ever you wish, for as long as you wish. I am "organising" a trip to Paris for a few days, then on to Japan for a fortnight for myself and nine others. Just wondered if anyone knew what I am missing? We were told the course would cover 6 Microsoft packages. 1) Word, 2) Excel, 3) Access, 4) Power Point, 5) Outlook. Does anyone know what the sixth "thing" is we will be studying? We're off for two weeks now, and i've looked online , but can't find out what it is. Everywhere i've searched it just says something along the lines of, "Level 2 which includes Excel, Access and Power Point, etc". What is the other? Don't want to email our tutor and ask (annoy) her over the holidays, as it's hardly urgent. It's just driving me nuts , that's all. Thanks.

[RMM1]

Publisher ?

[Lisa O`Brien]

26 minutes ago, RMM1 said:

Publisher ?

YES ! Thank you, RM. I found it so thought I had deleted my comment, but obviously not !! Cheers, anyway.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Lisa O`Brien

[meadowblythe]

Hi Lisa

 

Sounds like you are having fun with your course - hope life is good for you.

 

Meadowblythe

[Lisa O`Brien]

11 hours ago, meadowblythe said:

Hi Lisa

 

Sounds like you are having fun with your course - hope life is good for you.

 

Meadowblythe

Thanks, Meadowblythe. Yes, they're both enjoyable. In the Literacy, it can be a bit disconcerting as there's a couple of really loud ladies, who talk incessantly. I find it really off putting and try desperately hard to filter out their conversations while i'm composing an imaginary letter or whatever. Guess i'm used to the quiet, and background noise while I work is something that i'll just have to get used to. The English teacher wants to put us all in for the exam on 26 April. However i'm reluctant to take it then, as we will have had no lesson for the previous three weeks, and I don't like the idea of going into it "cold". Plus, if I were to fail it, I know it would really knock my self-confidence. So I told her I would rather wait, and take it two months later. Plus, the exam is free, but if you have to re-take it, you have to pay a fee of £25. It's not a lot, but what with having to pay and knowing the knock an initial fail would cause me, i'd rather take it later than sooner. I don't think there's an exam for the IT. This e-portfolio on the holiday we have to organise is going to be marked. At least I hope there's not going to be an IT exam. I'm coming along with it, but maybe because i'm 50, and so much of the terminology is brand new to me, it takes a while for it to sink in. I find that if I don't look over the IT work during the week, by the time it comes round to Tuesday night's IT class again, it takes me ages to even remember what we did in the previous lesson,LOL. I just call it "old fart syndrome ". ( MODS, hope i'm allowed to say fart).

Edited April 4, 2018 by Lisa O`Brien