How to Use Microsoft® Excel® The Careers in Practice Series approaches Excel from the perspective of making personal and professional quantitative decisions. Personal decisions include big purchases such as homes and automobiles, savings for retirement, and personal budgets. Professional decisions include budgets for managing expenses, merchandise items to markdown or discontinue, and inventory management.

Students are given clear, easy to follow instructions for each skill presented. They are also provided with opportunities to learn additional skills related to the personal or professional objectives presented. For example, students will learn the key terms with respect to home mortgages and understand the impact interest rates have on monthly mortgage payments.

This text also places an emphasis on “what if” scenarios so students gain an appreciation for the computational power of Excel.

Each chapter in How to Use Microsoft® Excel® The Careers in Practice Series has a theme for a specific career or field. An example, or objective, is developed within the theme for each chapter. The objectives are designed to answer key questions or provide insights for decisions that were presented in the theme. Students are instructed to open a follow along file at the beginning of each section and will learn how multiple skills are used together to accomplish an objective.

To help students retain what they learn in your course, and refresh their memory about what they don't, lesson videos are provided to walk the student through each skill in the chapter. The lesson videos are broken down by skill so students can target their viewing to material where they need additional help. This feature will be available for courses starting in Fall of 2012.

Within each objective, students learn to execute specific skills. Breaking the objectives down by skills allows students to focus on each skill and instructors to identify where students are having difficulty. This also makes it possible for students and instructors to go back and research specific skills they need to review or reference at a future point in time.

Refresher boxes are available to students after each objective and contain an abbreviated list of steps presented for each skill.

Additionally, for courses starting in Fall of 2012, each refresher box will have a link to a short demonstration video (this is in addition to the lesson videos), providing students with the option to see a quick demonstration of a skill.

The following describes some key features of this text: Step-by-Step Approach:

Students learn each skill in contained step-by-step modules. These modules are set in the context of either a personal or professional objective. The objective is explained first, and then students are given step-by-step instructions to complete a sample file for the application they are learning.

Custom Screen Graphics:

Detailed annotated pictures show students exactly what they need to do to execute the steps for each skill.

Video Lessons:

All skills presented in the material are demonstrated by the author on professionally-produced videos using chromo key technology (green screen).

Refreshers:

Each skill covered in the material is presented in a “Refresher Box” which contains a list of abbreviated steps. Coordinated with each “Refresher Box” is a “Refresher Video”. These videos are demonstrations of each skill lasting 60 seconds.

“Why” Tip Boxes:

Included in the delivery of skills are tip boxes that explain why it is important for students to master specific skills or execute skills in a certain way.

Integrity Check: Tip boxes show students how the integrity of certain skills or objectives can be compromised. For example, forgetting the negative sign in the PMT argument of the Future Value will produce a negative value.

Mouseless Commands:

Tip boxes that show students how to execute skills without a mouse. This feature includes key board short cuts that utilize control keys or key tip commands on the Ribbon. This feature is presented for most skills presented in the text

Assessment:

The product will offer four levels of assessment for instructors. For each assessment level, students will be provided with clear instructions explaining what is required to successfully complete the assignment.

The four assessment levels are as follows:

LEVEL 1 Skills Review: These are exercises that allow students to practice the skills they learned for a variety of different applications. These exercises provide the same step-by-step instructions that are used when a skill is first learned. LEVEL 2 Skill Competency Exams: This is an exam that requires the student to recognize the skill and execute it without the detailed step-by-step instructions. LEVEL 3 Integrity Analysis: These exercises require students to analyze work that has already been completed, identify problems or errors, and make the necessary corrections. LEVEL 4 Skill Application Exams and Projects: These exercises pose a specific objective to the student. The student must accomplish the objective by deciding which skills are applicable to complete the assignment.

The practical focus of How to Use Microsoft® Excel® The Careers in Practice Series along with the supporting videos, features, and economical choices for your students makes this book destined to be a favorite among students (and teachers) everywhere. Order your free desk copy today.

• Joseph M. Manzo
• Email Joseph M.