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...