Introduction to Computers

1. Introduction to Computers Seminar I

2. Parts of the Computer • Personal Computer • a PC (any non-Mac computer) has four major pieces of hardware--keyboard, mouse, monitor, central processing unit (CPU). Macs have the same four components, but use different software for the operating system.

3. Parts of the Computer • Mouse • The mouse allows you to point & click, highlight text, etc. • Use the right click function to access a menu of functions relevant to the text, image or graph you're working on. • You can also use Shft-F10 on the keyboard, if using a mouse is not an option for you.

4. Parts of the Computer • CPU • The central processing unit is the guts of a computer. This schematic gives you some sense of all the stuff inside--hard drive, sound cards, memory cards, etc. Many of us never open the computer to see the inside, but if you want to add memory or upgrade a sound card, you will need to open the computer. It's not hard to add cards and most come with good instructions.

5. Parts of the Computer • Drives • There are several drives that you'll use to save your work. The C: drive is where My Documents is located. It also stores all the programs that make the software run. They do crash, so be sure to backup your work to a second storage device, like a CD or flash drive!

6. Parts of the Computer • Storage Devices • Floppy disks don't hold a lot of information. CD's do. But the most portable storage is a memory card--a flash drive, jump drive, USB key.

7. Parts of the Computer • Printer • Ink jet and laser printers are most common. Save paper! Use Print Preview before printing.

8. Parts of the Computer • Scanner • Scanners allow you to scan a photo, a document, or any flat object. Anything you want to add to a document can be scanned and saved in an image format, like .jpg for a photo or .pdf for an image of text.

9. Parts of the Computer • Speakers • Speakers make audio possible from the Web or a CD. Your PC needs a sound card for speakers to work. Most new PC's come with sound cards installed.

10. Operating System (OS) • Many PC’s use the Windows XP Operating System. It is easy to navigate through the system with the Start Menu, Quick Launch Bar, Taskbar, and Desktop Icons.

11. Microsoft Office • Microsoft Office is a software package of many programs that are useful for everyday office – or school – tasks. Office 2003 includes Access (databases), Excel (spreadsheets), InfoPath (forms), Outlook (email), PowerPoint (presentations), Publisher (publications), and Word (word processing).

12. Word • This is what you see when you first open Word.

13. Word - icons • You can drag your mouse over the icons to see their functions.

14. Word - typing • Type text into the blank white area. • Press Enter to move to the next line. • Use Spell Check to check your spelling.

15. Word – editing text • Hold down the left mouse button while moving the mouse cursor over a word. This highlights the word. • Now, watch the word’s font style change as you press bold, italics and underline.

16. Word – opening documents • In order to see a document that was already created, you need to open it.

17. Word – opening documents Look on the Desktop and double click on the “English seminars” folder. Choose the file WordPractice and open it.

18. Word – editing an existing document • Once you have opened a document, you can begin typing and editing.

19. Word – saving documents • It is important to save your document often.

20. Word – saving documents • As when opening a file, choosing “Save As” brings up a window like this.

21. Word – saving documents • You can change the name of your document to NameWordPractice (example: AlisonWordPractice) • Save it to the “English seminars” folder on the Desktop.

22. Word – formatting practice • Now, practice editing the appearance of the text in the document you have opened. • Click on these icons to change the appearance.

23. Word – formatting practice • Highlight the title of the text. • Click the bold icon.

24. Word – formatting practice • Now, change the font to Times New Roman. • Change the font size to 16.

25. Word – formatting practice • If you make a mistake or do not like the format, you can undo it! • Choose Edit – Undo to undo the last action or Edit – Clear – Formats to undo all formats.

26. Word – formatting practice • The default alignment is left. • Change the alignment of the title to center by highlighting the title and clicking the Center icon.

27. Word - practice • Now, read the text on the document. • Next, read all four of the questions and choose which question is not appropriate for the text. • Highlight that question and its answers. Press the Delete key on the keyboard. • Type in a new question. Remember to include the correct number! • After typing the question, press Enter. Then press Tab, type a. and then the first possible answer. Continue for answers b. and c.

28. Word - practice • You have edited a test you could use with your pupils or use to practice your own English! • Be sure to save your document. Simply click the Save icon.

29. Word - printing • Before you print, preview the document to be sure the format is correct and paper is not wasted.

30. Word - printing • To print your document choose File – Print or simply click the Print icon.

31. Summing up • Today we: • Learned about the basic hardware and software of the computer • Learned about the basic features of Microsoft Word 2003 • Edited a document using Word Information and images in this presentation were taken from Plattsburgh’s tutorials found at http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/carla.hendrix/TechLit/CommInfo/Word/WordMain.html

32. Summing up • Any questions? • At the next seminar we will: • Practice creating documents with pictures and tables in Word. • Learn about PowerPoint and create a mini-presentation.