Description
This book is an ideal learning tool for a wide range of learners—the “rookies” will find the clean design easy to follow and focused with only essential information presented, and the “hotshots” will appreciate being able to move quickly through the lessons to find the information they need without reading a lot of text. The design also makes this a great reference after the course is over! See the illustration on the left to learn more about the pedagogical and design elements of a typical lesson.
What’s New in this Edition
• Coverage — This book helps students learn how to use Microsoft Excel 2013 including step-by-step instructions on creating worksheets, working with formulas and functions, and creating charts. Working in the Cloud appendix helps students learn to use SkyDrive to save, share, and manage files in the cloud and to use Office Web Apps.
• New! Learning Outcomes — Each lesson displays a green Learning Outcomes box that lists skills-based or knowledge- based learning goals for which students are accountable. Each Learning Outcome maps to a variety of learning activities and assessments. (See the New! Learning Outcomes section on page xii for more information.)
• New! Updated Design — This edition features many new design improvements to engage students — including larger lesson screenshots with green callouts placed on top, and a refreshed Unit Opener page.
• New! Independent Challenge 4: Explore — This new case-based assessment activity allows students to explore new skills and use creativity to solve a problem or create a project.
Assignments
This book includes a wide variety of high quality assignments you can use for practice and assessment. Assignments include:
• Concepts Review — Multiple choice, matching, and screen identification questions.
• Skills Review — Step-by-step, hands-on review of every skill covered in the unit.
• Independent Challenges 1-3 — Case projects requiring critical thinking and application of the unit skills. The Independent Challenges increase in difficulty. The first one in each unit provides the most hand-holding; the subsequent ones provide less guidance and require more critical thinking and independent problem solving.
• Independent Challenge 4: Explore — Case projects that let students explore new skills that are related to the core skills covered in the unit and are often more open ended, allowing students to use creativity to complete the assignment.
• Visual Workshop — Critical thinking exercises that require students to create a project by looking at a completed solution; they must apply the skills they’ve learned in the unit and use critical thinking skills to create the project from scratch.