Pg 55Briefly introduce the topics that will be covered in this lesson so students are aware of the new skills they will learn. Remind students also that all the information is available in the book as a reference so they don’t need to commit anything to memory or take notes.
Pg 56Objective 2.1Formatting is a common feature that students want to know how to do and what type of formatting is available. Most students will have tried some of the basic formatting such as bold, fonts, size, etc.This is a summary of formatting terms that will come up with formatting characters. Make sure students understand the difference between formatting characters (individual letters/numbers/symbols) versus formatting a paragraph (affects the entire paragraph of text, not just individual characters). Both options are covered in this lesson so students will get a chance to recognize both types.
Pg 56Objective 2.1You may want to open the discussion regarding whether it’s easier to type text first and then apply the formatting, or to apply it as you type. Point out there is no set rule and a lot of it will depend on the individual user’s preferences. Chances are that users will do a combination of both methods as they become more familiar with Word and the shortcut methods available.
Pg 56Objective 2.1The Mini toolbar was new as of Office 2007; for people moving from earlier versions, this is a new feature. Make sure they understand that it appears only immediately after selecting the text; once you move the cursor away from the selection, when you point back at the selection, the Mini toolbar no longer appears unless you reselect the text. You may want to mention that this feature can also be turned off from Options (may become annoying as they become more familiar with formatting features and no longer want to see the Mini toolbar, which can block text behind it).As you go through the demo with students, be sure to include changing the color of text as it usually is a “crowd pleaser”. However, be sure to remind them that color is only valuable or makes an impact if the audience can see it in color. Therefore, use caution when changing colors if the document will not be printed in color or viewed online.The last item works the same as if selecting the Normal style; take note that styles are not covered in this exam level but are discussed in the Expert level. This option is available on the Ribbon, Mini toolbar or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+N (not mentioned in the book).
Pg 57-58Objective 2.1Have a discussion with the class regarding this dialog box and its advantages or disadvantages. One advantage is the additional formatting options not available through the Ribbon or a shortcut method. Some of these features will be discussed in the Expert level so you may also want to do some marketing here for the next level course.Don’t spend a lot of time going over features in the Advanced tab unless time permits and students really want to know. The exam contains questions for basic formatting application.
Pg 58Objective 2.1This option is not discussed in great detail as it can consume a lot of your class time. Introduce it to students (question exists on this in the exam), but allow time to work with this feature only if you have another exercise that includes these options. Allocate the time appropriately for students to play with these options if you plan to include an exercise.
Pg 60Objective 2.4Be sure to provide some examples of when or why you would want to adjust the character spacing, and not just to reduce rivers of space in the document. For instance, this could be set for a title where you want to have an even amount of space between the characters and not use spaces.Use this example to show how character spacing could be used and whether it fits the purpose or not, trying small amounts of space compared to larger amounts between the characters.
Pg 60Objective 2.4Ensure students understand the purpose of each of these fields, although a lot of time and detail isn’t necessary. The exercise for this topic is kept at the basic level so they are introduced to it for future needs as they build their skill sets.
Pg 61Objective 2.1Again, ensure students understand the difference between formatting characters and paragraphs. Formatting is a process that can be applied, causing different effects based on the formatting used or the selected text.As with character formatting, take a few seconds to discuss the features for paragraph formatting, and introduce them here as you will speak to them later in this course. You may want to reiterate how once text is typed, the text must be selected before you can apply any formatting. A hint for them is when they want to change the paragraph formatting, they need only to ensure the cursor is somewhere in that paragraph for the formatting to be applied. For multiple paragraphs, they still need to select some part of each paragraph.
Pg 61-62Objective 2.1This image is provided in the gallery as well in the Extra IR Files folder for you to use, as needed. It is meant as a quick view of how the four different alignment options affect text. Be prepared to provide examples of when you might use each one, especially for the Align Right option (e.g., technical documents, date and case # on legal documents, etc.).
Pg 61-62Objective 2.1For those students who are new to word processing concepts, you may need to spend a bit more time giving examples of what alignment is and when you might need to change the default. For instance, relate to business documents and how most companies use a left alignment as this makes reading long pieces of text easier (your eyes don’t get as tired from reading). Other companies and publications may use justified text to provide a nice even edge at the left and right side but this can lead to rivers of space, as well as the reader getting more tired from reading from edge to edge.Centering text is one feature that most students want to know how to do, and in some cases, students may have done this previously by using tabs or spaces. This is an example of how typing the text first can be handy especially with paragraph formatting – you need only to position the cursor somewhere in that paragraph to apply the alignment option. With character formatting, you would need to select the characters first.Be sure to show them the pros and cons of applying paragraph formatting as you type, versus selecting and applying with existing text.
Pg 62Objective 2.1Ensure you are familiar with the default line spacing that Word sets up for each new document. This setting makes reading the text easier but can cause some confusion for those who are used to single line spacing, and who may want to know how to change the default for all documents. For those who do, encourage them to take the Expert level or show them outside of regular class time used for features covered in this level. The process is not difficult but will require a bit of time as well as a handout that they can take away with them to do in their own environment (included with the Extra IR Files folder in instructor area of our microsite).Be prepared to provide examples of when you might use the different types of line spacing.
Pg 63Objective 2.4Ensure you are aware of the default paragraph spacing for new Word documents (set up as part of the Normal style) and how it affects text if you change the paragraph spacing only (may not affect the text if you leave the spacing at 1.15).Point out the different ways to change the paragraph spacing, giving examples of when you may want or need to have the spacing to be different than the default, e.g., newsletters, using styles with large documents, need the spacing between certain paragraphs to be a bit smaller to fit a line of text on that page, etc.
Pg 64-65Objective 2.3This image is provided in the gallery as well in the Extra IR Files folder for you to use, as required. Use this as an example of how you can use indents to offset parts of text or as an alignment option.If you’ve used CCI Word courseware previously, you will recognize this topic has moved from being with tabs to being included now with formatting paragraphs. This appears to be a better fit for aligning text as well as setting an introduction to how to use indents for automatic lists (covered in the next lesson).
Pg 65Objective 2.3Discuss the different reasons when or why you might set indents on a document, e.g., legal documents that use first line indents for each paragraph, quotes, list items, etc.
Pg 65Objective 2.3Demonstrate how to change the indents using all the methods so students get a chance to decide which works for them. There is no firm method they should use; they will likely do a combination as there may be times when they don’t need specific indent measurements so using the Increase or Decrease Indent option is the faster option. Another example is when they need a precise indent measurement and want to enter it in the Paragraph dialog box instead of trying to find the measurement using Alt while dragging.
Pg 66Objective 2.3Thefirst method here may be the faster way to set paragraph spacing and indents at the same time instead of using the Paragraph dialog box. This is another example of how you can discuss which methods work best for each person, or a combination of methods.
Pg 68Objective 2.1This is a very handy tool that should be demonstrated to students as it can be used with pretty much any formatting type of feature in Word, from simple formatting to styles to Quick Styles. Make sure students understand the difference between a single and a double-click of the Format Painter feature. Students often wonder why they can apply the formatting to one piece of text only – use the visual clue of the paintbrush for the mouse pointer.
Pg 70Briefly review the topics that were covered in this lesson so students are aware of the new skills they learned. Remind students also that all the information is available in the book as a reference.
Pg 70As time permits, go through the questions with students, or choose to assign these for groups or homework review.
