WRLS Workshop: Tips on Teaching Word and Excel
Lindsay Schmitt, Technology Librarian and Maria Hertel, Reference Librarian
La Crosse Public Library April 17th, 2014
Tips and tricks in Word
· Our most popular questions and their answers – follow along on our class handouts
· Your most popular questions, and hopefully some answers!
Tips and tricks in Excel
· Our most popular questions and their answers – follow along on our class handouts
· Your most popular questions, and hopefully some answers!
Tips and tricks for staff
· Know different document extensions, software versions
· Help button available in all Office software
· Office.com / gcflearnfree.org / Learning Express database (available to all WI residents)
· Any other recommendations?
Alternatives to Word and Excel
· Libre Office/Open Office (free online at www.libreoffice.org and www.openoffice.org)
· Google Drive (free online at drive.google.com, requires gmail account)
· Any others you’ve heard about?
Tips for assisting beginners and informal assistance
· Most basic things you should learn: home and file ribbons
· A lot of patrons come up and say “I’m computer illiterate, computer dummy, etc” – try to counteract that negative language (trying to excuse what they don’t know, but they don’t need to! Don’t need to be ashamed)
· Don’t stereotype
· Learning styles – listening, seeing, doing; learn as you go vs. watch first, then try
· Refer to books / online videos / databases (Learning Express)
· Try to judge what the patron wants to know now – don’t overwhelm w/ too much info
· Think of ways you can give patrons tips without making them feel “stupid” such as: “Here’s a trick I learned” or “sometimes doing ______works for me” or “I’m not sure, let’s see if we can figure it out”
· Patrons are relieved when they see we don’t know everything, or things go wrong for us
· Informality works for us (casual friendly attitude and low level of tech-speak helps)
· Assurances – takes time, experience, and practice
· Practicalities for your library - how much time can you spend with one person?
· Try to anticipate topics most needed for help based on questions you commonly receive
· What do you suggest? What’s been working for you?
Designing and presenting a formal computer class
· How we got started
· Why would you want to offer a computer class?
Practicalities:
· Available space
· Staff time spent preparing for class, preparing handout, teaching, entering statistics
· Staff skills and interest levels – if patron needs exceed this, would you bring someone in to teach?
· Available technology
· What are your overall goals?
· Will you require registration, or have it be first come, first served?
· How will you decide which classes to offer?
· Decide ahead of time regarding staff privacy; ie, do you need a generic email address, generic computer login, etc
· Will your classes need accompanying practice documents, and if so, how will patrons access them?
· Will your classes be mostly individual work, or do you want/need to plan group work?
· How will you accommodate patrons with accessibility concerns?
· Staff and patron login privileges on computers
Tips and tricks:
· Brush up before class!
· Start small
· Ask attendees if they’ve used the software before and what they’re looking to learn
· Explain what you’re going to cover and encourage questions
· Start at the beginning
· Go slowly
· Take breaks
· Review what you’ve covered every so often
· Narrate your actions: double-click the left mouse button… click the right mouse button…
· Provide relevant examples why someone would use a particular tool
· Give attendees time to play
· Be interactive – ask them how they could see using this at home, work, etc.
· Asked a question you can’t immediately answer? Pull the librarian move: “I don’t know, but I can find out”
· If you have more than a few attendees, consider having a helper
· Don’t get hung up on “perfect”; accept imperfections and be willing to update handouts and even class layout as time goes on
· Try to highlight where steps might be different in previous versions of software
· Try not to touch the screen
Teaching anxiety and difficult situations:
· Practice your timing and pacing
· Try a run through with a few regulars
· Decide ahead of time what you’ll do if class runs short/long
· Be confident! (even if you don’t feel confident)
· Rehearse language for difficult situations
o Decide ahead of time: how to handle patrons who want to take the same class every time it’s offered; people who are far behind everyone else; slow typers; off-topic questions or stories; late attendees
Outside assistance:
· Friends of the Library
· High schoolers needing volunteer hours
· Local education or computer science majors
· Library school students
· Retirees / people between two careers
· Community members: volunteer to share skills, get recognized
· Note: If using volunteers as helpers, their level of patience is just as important as their level of tech skills.
Spreading the word:
· Important to market it!
· Who can you share your schedule with?
· Where will your patrons be likely to see your schedule?
Survey says…
· Needs assessment: before and ongoing
· What our surveys look like and our results
· Who to share results with (board, community, mayor, state reports, grants)
What our process looks like – see handout
How to make a handout
· Decide what to include (consider using the first few chapters of a how-to book as a template for what to include in a handout)
· Take screenshots (PrtScn key, then paste. Or Alt + PrtScn for current window); and/or use snipping tool (available on Windows 7)
· Use tools available in Word’s Insert Ribbon (shapes, text boxes, header and footer)
· Know whether you’ll have documents to play with
· Con: takes a lot of time up front
· Pro: anyone can then teach class; standardizes what’s covered in class; can hand out to patrons at the public computers
· Don’t have time? See that another library has a handout you really like? Ask if you can use it/tailor it to your library’s needs.
WRLS Workshop: Tips on Teaching Word and Excel page 1