Contents: — Microsoft Office Series 1

In the Internet Explorer and Outlook Express lesson you start by visiting the web site of Office Pools Pty Ltd, gathering information from the pages and sending an e-mail (to a real address which will send you a reply) requesting information about their pools.

Then you switch to being an employee at Office Pools Pty Ltd and go through the process of creating a spreadsheet to compare the costs of operating a pool. (You can easily adapt this exercise to comparing, say, detailed quotes from two builders to add an extension to your home.) You will turn the data into a graph so it is very easy to see the cost differences (this is also a good way to spot where one builder might have missed things in the quote). You plot a simple work schedule using the spreadsheet (you can use this technique to plan any straight-forward task that is too messy to keep on scraps of paper -- such as selling, buying and moving house).

Then you jump over to the Sales Department at Office Pools where you use Microsoft PowerPoint to create a presentation about installing the pool. (You could do the same thing to give a group of Scouts or Guides an overview of their next trek, or to show how the local park will appear for the next fete.)

Next you will invoke the Magic Happens Here process. You will use a wizard to create a standard letter and convert it to a template for Office Pools staff to use when answering requests for pool information — there is even an address where you can send the letter and one of us will try to reply. (You can use this same wizard to create invitations to a party at your house - the steps you use to draw the company logo are the same ones you can use to create 101 different drawings for the invitation - and you can send everyone the same kind of invitation. Great for fetes and other such occasions.)

And finally, because Office Pools looks like such a great place to work, you will use the Resume wizard to create a very attractive application for a job in their office. (By the way, this type of resume is easy to change and adapt for different types of jobs.)