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PAST MEETINGS

Thursday, August 15, 2002


 

 

Topic:

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How to Create Short Courses on Long Topics

Rochelle Bungie, Independent Contractor

Tasneem "Tas" Ibrahim
Kutak Rock LLP
1101 Connecticut Avenue (10th Floor)
Suite 1000
Washington, DC
202-828-2400

 
Summary:

All of us are faced with designing creative ways to teach a 4 or 5 hour class in 2 hours. Rochelle used an Outlook 2002 Course Manual to show us how the outline was designed to teach the minimum necessary to get the users started while covering the basics.

Her bottom line for reducing a large topic to a shorten version boils down to:

  • Review your material to pick out essential points or topics that can actually be taught in a short period of time -- 2 or 3 hours.
  • Prepare an introductory PowerPoint presentation that covers the agenda and goals for the class. This is also a great time to show any general screen shots from the program with arrows and call-outs showing standard features such as menu and toolbars.  Rochelle has a sample of her Outlook 2002 presentation (a part of 2002.zip)
  • Prepare information that can be used to show specific points -- for example, in Outlook, have emails, contacts and various appointments placed in the student's Inbox, Calendar, etc.  Use this material to demonstrate what they can expect to see when using Outlook.
  • Class Exercises -- pick ones that are quick and easy to walk together as a class.
  • Class Materials and Handouts -- they should have class information to take with them to review on their on.  Always refer to this information when you are discussing a point or reviewing an exercise.
  • Last but not least, keeping control of the class -- trying not to get off the subject you are trying to teach.
 

 

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