Class Descriptions
These are classes the Training Team has offered in the past and may offer in the future. Class length and intended audience are listed next to the description, but most classes can be customized for different audience types.
View our fall 2007 training class schedule.
Microsoft Office |
Miscellaneous |
Microsoft Office
Access
Intro to Microsoft Access
(students or faculty/staff, 2 - 3 hours)
Microsoft Access is the database application that comes
as part of Microsoft Office. This class will introduce you
to the basic concepts of creating databases and working with
the data in existing databases. Topics covered in this class
include creating tables, linking tables together, creating
queries to pull data from tables, using the reports wizard,
and creating basic data entry forms.
Excel
Excel: Just the Basics
(students, 2 hours)
Never opened Excel? Haven’t used Excel since 1997? This
is the class for you! This course is intended for those with
little to no Excel experience to help you become more
familiar with Excel before classes begin. We’ll cover
introductory topics such as navigating the Excel interface,
understanding how to use basic formulas and functions,
formatting cells, and other basic Excel tools.
Beginning Excel
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
This course is intended for those who need to refresh
their basic Excel skills or have never used Excel before.
We'll cover navigating the Excel interface, creating basic
formulas, using basic functions, sorting, freezing panes,
and formatting.
Excel Formulas & Functions
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Excel offers a huge variety of memorized formulas which it calls
“functions.” This intermediate class discusses how to create your own
formulas, how to use Excel’s Function tools, and a variety of Excel’s
functions including comparison functions, financial functions, and date
functions.
What If...? Excel Goal Seek & Solver
(students or faculty/staff, 1 1/2 - 2 hours)
Excel has several "what if" tools, to help you answer your "what if...?"
questions. This class covers Goal Seek, which allows you to determine a
starting figure based on what you want your end result to be, and
Solver, which allows you to find the optimal solution given your
constraints.
Excel Keyboard
Shortcuts
(students, 1 hour)
Keeping your hands off the mouse can help you be more efficient in
Excel. In this class, we'll cover some of the most commonly used
keyboard shortcuts in Excel and go through exercises to help you see
them in action.
Excel Functions
(students, 2 hours)
Functions, functions, and more functions! There are lots and lots of
functions in Excel; we won't cover all of them, but we will cover some of the
most helpful and give you a strong foundation for learning others. We'll cover
logical functions, lookup functions, financial functions, text functions, date
functions, and more. Content may vary based on input from students.
Getting More from Excel - Functions, Features, & Keyboard
Shortcuts
(students, 1 1/2 - 2 hours)
This class teaches a variety of skills not covered in our other Excel
classes. Topics include, but are not limited to, naming cells, logical
functions, lookup functions, financial functions, concatenation, data
validation, protection, and keyboard shortcuts. If there is anything you
want to learn about Excel that you have not seen offered in another
class, email us and we'll try to include it in
this class.
Excel Formatting
(students or faculty/staff, 1 1/2 - 2 hours)
Make your spreadsheet sharp with these
skills. We'll go from basics to advanced, including formatting cells,
auto-formatting, conditional formatting, drawing borders, fill colors,
formatting shortcuts, group editing, and views.
Excel Pivot Tables
(students or faculty/staff, 1 1/2 - 2 hours)
Learn how to use pivot tables in Excel to summarize and customize large
amounts of data. An incredibly useful tool!
MPA Excel I (Beginners)
(MPA
students, 2 hours)
Employers and students returning from internships say that good Excel
skills are essential to gaining a step up when you enter the business
world. In this class, we'll cover the essentials of organizing your
data, including but not limited to working with worksheets, formatting,
sorting, filtering, hiding and grouping, and basic functions. We'll also
use keyboard shortcuts throughout the class to help you learn the
fastest way to work with your spreadsheets.
MPA Excel II (Intermediate/Advanced)
(MPA students,
2 1/2 hours)
Employers and students returning from internships say that good Excel
skills are essential to gaining a step up when you enter the business
world. In this class, we'll cover the essentials to manipulating your
data, including COUNTIF, SUMIF, logical functions, VLOOKUP, and pivot
tables. We'll also use keyboard shortcuts throughout the class to help
you learn the fastest way to work with your spreadsheets. Other topics
may be covered, time permitting.
Excel Magic with Arrays
(students, 1 1/2 hours)
Arrays, also known as CSE functions, are a powerful tool in Excel.
Arrays allow you to perform functions on a group of cells at once,
instead of as individual numbers. If you think SumIf and CountIf are
handy functions, you'll love CSE functions (how about making an
AverageIf function?). We'll talk about how to do this and some other
handy things you can do with arrays.
Prereq: This course requires you to be
comfortable with using functions in Excel. If you're not already
comfortable with functions, we recommend attending Getting More from
Excel before this session.
Working with Excel Charts
(students or faculty/staff, 1 1/2 hours)
Learn how to make a variety of charts using Excel's chart functionality.
Excel I for Undergraduates - Organizing
Your Data
(BBA students, 2 hours)
Employers and students returning from internships say that good Excel
skills are essential to gaining a step up when you enter the business
world. In this class, we'll cover the essentials of organizing your
data, including but not limited to working with worksheets, formatting,
sorting, filtering, hiding and grouping, and basic functions. We'll also
use keyboard shortcuts throughout the class to help you learn the
fastest way to work with your spreadsheets.
Excel II for Undergraduates -
Manipulating Your Data
(BBA students, 2 hours)
Employers and students returning from internships say that good Excel
skills are essential to gaining a step up when you enter the business
world. In this class, we'll cover the essentials to manipulating your
data, including COUNTIF, SUMIF, logical functions, VLOOKUP, and pivot
tables. We'll also use keyboard shortcuts throughout the class to help
you learn the fastest way to work with your spreadsheets. Other topics
may be covered, time permitting.
Advanced Excel
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
We offered
Beginning Excel this summer; now it’s time for some more advanced skills! In
this class, we’ll cover some of Excel’s features to protect your data,
conditional formatting to make certain data stand out, separating text such as
names from one column to multiple columns, and matching data from one table to
another (Vlookup). This class assumes you are comfortable with basic formulas
and functions.
Getting Familiar with Excel
2007
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Explore the new layout and features of Excel 2007. This class covers using
the Office 2007 ribbon, new functionality, basic formulas and functions, and new
formatting options. Time permitting, charting may be covered.
Excel Text
& Date Functions
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Among Excel’s hundreds of functions, are many functions for manipulating text
and dates. In this class, you will learn how to change whether text is in upper
case, lower case, or proper case. You will combine text from two cells into one
cell, and separate text into columns. You will also learn how to add and
subtract dates, and how to calculate someone’s age from their birthday. More
skills will be covered, if time permits.
FrontPage
FrontPage for Student Organizations
(student organization webmasters, 2 hours)
This FrontPage class is designed specifically for webmasters of student
organizations. We’ll teach you how to update your website with current
information. Skills taught will include replacing text and images,
creating new pages, and using the existing navigation structure and page
layouts. This class assumes your organization has an existing website.
FrontPage for Faculty
(faculty and TAs, 2 hours)
This class focuses on updating a faculty member's existing website that
they use for professional and classroom purposes. In this class, we'll
show you how to update your contact information and images, post your CV
and other documents, and link to important websites, such as Blackboard.
Outlook
Outlook @ McCombs
(students, 2 hours)
Learn about tools and functionality specific to the McCombs School of
Business. We'll cover the Global Address List, reserving study rooms and
the technology training lab, setting up meeting requests with your study
group, and other handy Outlook skills.
Outlook: Managing Your Mailbox
(students or faculty/staff, 1 1/2 - 2 hours)
Learn how to organize your
mailbox and keep it clean so that it remains under your mailbox limit.
We'll discuss using folders, archiving, rules, Mailbox Cleanup, and
more.
Outlook: Calendar, Contacts, & Tasks
(students or faculty/staff, 1 - 1 1/2 hours)
Harness the advanced features available in Outlook. We'll discuss
in-depth how to use your calendar, contacts, and tasks effectively.
You'll learn how to take advantage of some options, including coloring
calendar items, assign tasks to others, and create personal distribution
lists.
Outlook In-Depth
(students or faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Outlook is a feature-rich product, and this class is designed to help
you discover which features will make your life easier, as well as
helping you keep your mailbox from reaching its size limit. Topics
covered include managing your mailbox size, using Rules, using advanced
Contact features, getting the most out of your calendar, and some
advanced Outlook options.
Getting Familiar with
Outlook 2007
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
This class introduces you to the new interface, layout, and features of Outlook
2007. We'll cover keyboard shortcuts and using Outlook effectively,
working with multiple calendars, using the "To Do Bar", and expanded options in
Contacts.
PowerPoint
Beginning PowerPoint
(students or faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Learn how to navigate the basic interface of PowerPoint, create a simple
but effective presentation, and run your slideshow.
PowerPoint Refresher
(students or faculty/staff, 1 hour)
You’ve used PowerPoint before, but it was a long time ago on an older
version. This class will help remind you of the basics and prepare you
for the Advanced PowerPoint session.
Advanced PowerPoint / Mastering PowerPoint
(students or faculty/staff, 2 hours)
If you’re already comfortable with the basics of PowerPoint but want to
find out how to make your presentation have more pizzazz, this is the
class for you. We’ll cover inserting charts, sounds, and videos;
animating text, objects, and charts; creating custom shows; and other
advanced features to improve your slide show and handouts.
Mastering PowerPoint for Undergraduates
(BBA students, 2 hours)
Employers and students returning from internships say that second only
to Excel, PowerPoint is the most important software to master. This
class will help you take your basic PowerPoint knowledge to the next
level. We’ll cover inserting charts, sounds, and videos; animating text,
objects, and charts; creating custom shows; and other advanced features
to improve your slide show and handouts.
PowerPoint for Academic Presentations
(faculty, 2 hours)
Learn skills that help you create and run an effective academic
presentation, including incorporating Excel and Word files, useful
keyboard shortcuts, and jumping around your presentation easily.
PowerPoint in the Classroom
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Discover ways to make
PowerPoint more useful for you and for your students in your classroom
setting. We'll discuss how to gain students' attention, increase student
participation, and make your presentation more dynamic. This class is
based on
DIIA's Teaching with PowerPoint class.
Making Your Own PowerPoint Template
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
Create your own customized template for use in your presentations, using
the images, text layout, and logos you want.
Designing Dynamic PowerPoint
Presentations
(faculty/staff or students, 2 hours)
This class will cover the skills you will need to create a great
PowerPoint presentation. Are your presentations usually full of bullets
and tend to put people to sleep? This class will discuss more dynamic
ways of presenting your information so that your audience remains
engaged and focused.
Presenting Dynamic PowerPoint
Presentations
(faculty/staff or students, 2 hours)
This class will focus on how to get and keep the attention of your
audience. We will cover getting your audience involved, the rehearsal
timings feature, using PowerPoint’s presentation tools, and more
elements of designing a good presentation.
Prerequisite: Creating
Dynamic PowerPoint Presentations or an intermediate comfort level with
PowerPoint
PowerPoint Graphics & Animations
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Bullets. Bullets. Bullets. Is your PowerPoint presentation full of
bullets but lacking interesting graphics and animation? In this class, we
discuss how visual representations of information are better for communicating
with PowerPoint than lists of bullets. Then we delve in to the Drawing toolbar
and the AutoShapes library to create audience-engaging graphics, charts and
flowcharts. Next, we use Custom Animation to make our graphics come to life, as
well as controlling what and when the audience sees particular information.
Finally, we conclude by discussing design resources to use when selecting
graphics to represent text, particularly in PowerPoint.
Getting Familiar with
PowerPoint 2007
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Explore the new layout and features of PowerPoint 2007. This class covers using
the Office 2007 ribbon, new slide layout and formatting options, transitions,
SmartArt and other new options.
Project
Introduction to Project
(students or faculty/staff, 2 - 2 1/2 hours)
Learn the basics of Microsoft’s project management software Project
2003. This class requires a familiarity with project management basics
but requires no experience with MS Project. This class will cover the
basics of starting your project by defining your working calendar,
adding and organizing tasks, adding and assigning resources, tracking
your project, and reporting on your project.
Publisher
Intro to Publisher
(facutly/staff, 2 hours)
Do you have to design
flyers often, and find yourself growing frustrated with the options Word gives
you? Do you wish there was an easier way to lay out text on the page? Learn
about Publisher, the software created specifically to help you create
professional looking documents and marketing materials. We’ll show you the
basics of how to use this software and how to take advantage of its many
predesigned templates.
Visio
Introduction to Visio
(students or faculty/staff, 1 1/2 hours)
Learn the basics of Visio, Microsoft's
diagramming software package. We'll spend some time working with Visio's
ready-to-use templates, including flowcharts, block diagrams,
organizational charts, and project schedules.
Word
Advanced Features
(students or faculty/staff, 2 hours)
This class teaches some advanced features in Word, including tables of
contents, indexes, templates, forms, styles, and tracking changes.
Page Layout
(students or faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Learn about tables, tab stops, columns, page orientation, margins, and
headers & footers.
Mail Merge
(students or faculty/staff, 1 - 1 1/2 hours)
Do you have a lot of emails you need to send out to clients? Or need to
print labels for those event invitations you’re sending out? Learn how to use MS Word’s Mail Merge feature to
make the process a snap! This class covers pulling contact info from
Excel and Outlook Contacts; creating labels, letters, emails; and using
an advanced feature to personalize your text.
Getting Familiar with Word
2007
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
This class introduces you to the new interface, layout, and features of Word
2007. We will cover using the new styles, formatting, and tab stops.
Miscellaneous
Keyboard Shortcuts I & II
(students or faculty/staff, 1 - 1 1/2 hours)
These classes show you the most helpful keyboard shortcuts for various
applications. Keyboard Shortcuts I covers Word, Excel, and Windows.
Keyboard Shortcuts II covers Outlook and Internet Explorer.
Intro to RGEN
(staff, 2 hours)
This class is designed for staff members who
are new to the RGEN software tool. Topics covered include pulling a
single student record, creating profiles, running reports for multiple
student records, viewing datasets, and helpful Excel functions you can
use to filter, sort, and manipulate the data.
SharePoint
(staff, 2 hours)
SharePoint is a Microsoft service that allows departments to collaborate
online, making it easy for groups to share documents, create a team
calendar, share tasks, and more. SharePoint websites are being rolled
out to departments upon request, given the restrictions of Computer
Services project availability. As part of your department's SharePoint
rollout, the Training Team will work with you to develop a customized
training class for your staff.
Computing Safely
(students or faculty/staff, 1 hour)
This class on safety focuses on how to
protect yourself and your computer from the evils of the Internet. We'll
discuss Windows security updates, anti-virus software, spyware blockers,
secure passwords, firewalls, secure shopping, and the importance of
backing up regularly. This class is a lecture, not hands-on.
Computer Maintenance
(faculty/staff, 1 1/2 hours)
Is your computer running slowly? Do you find you’re running out of file
storage space? Is your keyboard full of crumbs and your monitor covered
in fingerprints? Learn what you can do to keep your desktop computer in
good shape, including installing Windows security updates, disk cleanup,
disk defragmenting, and backing up regularly.
Notebook Maintenance & Security
(students, 1 1/2 hours)
Learn to take care of your notebook computer so that you’ll reduce your
chances of needing Tech Support. This class will also help you prepare
for a quick recovery if your computer does fail you. Learn how to back
up your files, run disk defragmenter, clean junk off your computer, and
more.
Great Tips from your Friends
(faculty/staff, 1 1/2 hours)
Benefit from the experience of your co-workers! The Training Team wants
to know what you find most useful when using Microsoft Office or Microsoft
Windows. What tips or techniques make your daily life a little better and your
work a little easier? The best tips will be taught in Great Tips From Your
Friends, presented by The Technology Training Team. Submit a tip by emailing
trainers@mccombs.utexas.edu (the submission deadline is Friday, July 27). If
we use your tip, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win Tiff’s Treats for your
department!
My Site
(students, 1 hour)
All McCombs students are provided with online storage called MySites. Learn how
to upload and download files, share files with your McCombs classmates, check
out files so only one person can work on a file at a time, and turn on
versioning control.
Backing Up Your Data
(faculty/staff, 1 1/2 hours)
You have
files. Important files. Files that could make you cry if you lost them. The
spreadsheet you’ve been creating for 3 months to track departmental spending;
the photo of your niece at the lake; your favorite song that you just downloaded
from iTunes. Learn how to back up your files so you won’t lose them to a crashed
hard drive or other computer calamity.
Basic Image Editing
(faculty/staff, 2 hours)
Images are a great way to
add “oomph” to documents and presentations. In this class, you’ll learn how to
add and resize images, add emphasis marks, blur personal info, and use the
Office Drawing toolbar.
Happy Mondays!
Happy Mondays is our series of 1-hour classes offered to faculty & staff on Mondays so that you can learn the skill on Monday and then practice and implement it during the week. Rather than focus on a specific Microsoft application, these classes cover a useful skill. Happy Mondays usually include a treat!
10 Random Tips to Increase Productivity
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
An assortment of skills that will help you customize your programs and
help you accomplish more in a smaller amount of time.
Ask the Trainers
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
The trainers will be available to answer
your questions about programs in the
COE. If
we do not know the answer, we will find it for you!
Backing Up Data
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
Learn how to save copies of your files for just-in-case situations.
Customizing Office Toolbars
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
Set up your toolbars to contain the tools you regularly use.
Computer Maintenance
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
Learn what you can do to keep your
desktop computer in good shape, including installing Windows security
updates, disk cleanup, disk defragmenting, and backing up regularly.
Files! Files! Files!
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
In this class, we will cover how to
work with files, with extra focus on moving large files around. The
topics in this class will be using WinZip to package several files
together; aving to your Home Drive and accessing it from outside the
Business School; using UT’s WebSpace to share files with others;
writing files to CD; and using a USB Flash Drive.
Google Searches
(faculty/staff, 1 - 1 1/2 hours)
The World Wide Web contains billions of web pages, literally. How do you
find the exact information you’re looking for? Search engines are an
easy and fast way to find the information that you need. Google is the
leading search engine in the industry, and in this class, we’ll learn
how to create the most effective Google searches for the solutions you
require. Topics will include simple searches, advanced searches,
examining the search results page, and other online search resources.
Keyboard Shortcuts
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
This class shows you the most helpful keyboard shortcuts for various
applications. Keyboard Shortcuts covers Word, Excel, and Windows.
More Keyboard Shortcuts
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
This class shows you the most helpful keyboard shortcuts for various
applications. More Keyboard Shortcuts covers Outlook and Internet
Explorer.
Making Your Own PowerPoint Template
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
Create your own customized template for use in your presentations, using
the images, text layout, and logos you want.
Screen Captures
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
Learn how to capture images of your screen, edit them, and insert them
into documents.
Word Mail Merge
(faculty/staff, 1 hour)
Do you have a lot of emails you need to send out to clients wishing them
Happy Holidays? Or need to print labels for all those Holiday cards
you’re sending out? Learn how to use MS Word’s Mail Merge feature to
make the process a snap! Time permitting, we'll cover pulling contact
info from Excel and Outlook Contacts; creating labels, letters, emails;
and using an advanced feature to personalize your text.
Manipulating Images in Paint & Office
(faculty/staff, 1 1/2 hours)
This class will cover using the drawing toolbar in PowerPoint and Word,
and using Microsoft Paint. You will learn about using the drawing
toolbar to add emphasis to your document or presentation, spicing up a
document with images, creating diagrams, and taking screen captures and
modifying them in Paint.
