A brief history of my time with Office...

It feels like I have used Office and especially word all my life but there was obviously a time before it existed and I used it! My first introduction to it, probably like most people, was to word process school work etc. Looking back on it, it seems incredibly simplistic now, as the functionality was not that sophisticated it was just a case of dull non-formatted words on a page that might as well have come out of typewriter.
After using it during my degree, again mainly to word process, I then realised that I would have to improve my skills for administrative work and to use the Office tools in the workplace, and so I took some modules towards an OCR secretarial diploma. This obviously helped with administrative skills using Word, and to use formal layouts in word for letter writing, report writing etc. It was not until later in my working life that I really needed to use Excel and Powerpoint. I am mainly self-taught in both these and have just used them to the point of my purpose at the time and not beyond that. When a previous colleague used to talk about pivot tables I responded with bafflement at what they were- never mind how to do them. I'm sure like many people I suffer from only having used Microsoft tools through lack of availability of any alternative or lack of willingness to try anything else. I do find it accessible and easy to use though- this could be getting too comfortable with what you are used to of course..
I am sure I still have things to discover about the full functionality of these. This is especially true in using them as a teaching resource and having not used referencing functions in Word. In terms of an organisation and planning tool, in previous employment Outlook was a mainstay for this but I think something different will be needed when it comes to teaching. Although it was very useful for setting up reminders it came more into play with arranging meetings which I'm not planning to do anytime soon. My lesson plans, schemes of work etc are all going to be word processed so anything that helps to do it more efficiently is an absolute bonus. I also have never used Publisher so would like to explore what this has to offer. I have also just seen something interesting about what they are intending to do for students- we'll see...

I've spent a bit of time looking through various blogs related to language teaching. I found many interesting ones by current teachers providing advice, resources and general guidance. The most inspirational and relevant one for my teaching at the moment is Literacy, Languages and leadership.
The blog's author is a very experienced Spanish teacher of adults. She has responded directly to other teacher's questions and comments through the blog. As well as this she has posted many links to very useful resources and sites. She also delivers various talks and speeches and is evidently a highly motivational speaker as well as writer. There are posts about insights and advice for teaching adult courses in particular and the specific requirements of adult learners in terms of course content. As well as this there are posts and documents about the use of technology both in the classroom and as a tool for preparation. These include the use of skype in the classroom, tips on using social media and using Scibd.
My other find this week has been Pinterest. It is going to prove a really useful way of keeping any blogs or sites that I come across in one place as well as being a really useful way to find more through connecting with and finding others with similar interests. I have started to compile a 'board' of what I have found so far. I think it will be invaluable in directing me to resources, I have already come across a useful interactive online course for Spanish through my browsing. It is going to be important to use tools of this kind wisely though as I can see it getting to a point of overload with too many things and not knowing where to start!

 

Ok, so far today we've been setting up and customizing our blogs using blogger. I set this up using my existing account. Firstly the amount of windows I ended up having open was a thing I had never seen the like of before! Possibly partly due to my going back and forth between my account and faffing with some settings and then going back to the blog etc. that said it is still not the most user friendly way of customizing as it insists on linking everything back to your google account rather than directly in the blog itself. Having said that I do like the features and what you can put into- links, photos, practically anything. The tool to add gadgets is very straightforward also. I think I'd possibly explore more and find out different features of other websites for blogs just for a point of comparison! No doubt as we get further down the road we'll be seeing lots more things to share

14th Oct 2013

So this is the start of my launch into the blogosphere. I'm going to be sharing my thoughts as I start to teach and learn about and try to get to grips with all sorts of techno wizardry to help me along the way as well including this blog. Any comments gratefully received!