Cool. You know what would be very good?
When you have run your class and got feedback, write up a little report
and post it here. There are quite a few regulars that would like to
know how it went and would share your interest in how to get newbies
using Word 'correctly'.
I'll second that.
Occasionally I give intermediate/advanced classes at my Apple User Group (I
tried doing basic level, but went nuts keeping it basic).
Nowadays, I often get a friend who likes to co-present with me. Either of us
will do a 2-3 minute intro of a topic, then start asking "Anyone know how to
....?" Then he or I will give some of the answer, then stop while one of the
20-30 members of the audience contributes. At this point the presenter will
really try to elicit ideas from the audience, to get the interaction going.
The co-presenter, after waiting so as not to interrupt the flow and when the
topic is well established, will say "Actually, I do it this way", and will
often "take over" the mouse to demonstrate the alternative method, with
which of course Word is well endowed (the Mac is on two kids' tables,
stacked -- i.e. at chest height, so that's easy).
Usually the original presenter moves on after that, but sometimes there
follows a debate on the relative merits -- which we often, as habitual
stirrers, turn into a good-guy / bad-guy repartee, which can be fun as well
as much better from a learning point of view.
The advantage is that they get a light-hearted presentation of some -- let's
face it -- pretty boring procedures. Steve's great habit of "Let's find
out" and demonstrating as he appears to be discovering the process (and, if
the questioner takes us in areas that we haven't been for years, actually
discovering) balances my more structured, and less patient, approach. Our
presentations are better than the sum of the parts.
Just for variation, we sometimes present sessions with a Mac on one screen
and a PC on the other, and invite non-members of the user group along.
That's *fun*!!
We make the sessions 2 hours long, with two compulsory "stand up and stretch
legs" and one coffee break interspersed. Covering the list you mentioned
would take 5 sessions. Doing it alone, i.e. without the repartee, would take
4.
With less time available, I would always curtail the extent of the content
and, as Elliott suggested. You can always expand, and they wouldn't feel
short-changed and too crammed with wads of imperfectly absorbed info.
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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