Learning Microsoft Office 2000 : Deluxe Edition

Rating:
Summary: The Good News and The Bad News
Review: I taught classes of adults with this book. I had many complaints about the fact that it was difficult to follow. Some of the exercises were ambiguous and some were over wrought with typing. It did have poor planning on the organizational side. While it built on the previous exercises, sometimes it was ambitious on some items and lacking on others. A similar amount of time was spent on 'opening' a document as was spent on creating a 'table.' On the positive side, if you already know what you are doing, it was easy to follow. If you already know what you are doing, you probably don't need this book.

Rating:
Summary: Random organization, separates the teaching from the doing
Review: I teach computer applications to 8th graders, and this book is a disappointment to me and my students. It is geared more toward the business worker. The order in which it teaches skills is completely random. For example, it teaches advanced operations such as how to create envelopes and labels before it teaches the most basic functions such as how to format text. It also focuses too much on the Internet capabilities of MS Office 2000 (useless "bloatware" if you ask me).

Another problem is the presentation of the lessons. It lists the steps to complete a task, then has an exercise to be completed. It would be much more helpful if the students were able to DO the steps while the book explains them, THEN have exercises to do on their own. Instead, the book separates the teaching from the doing. This is a very ineffective way to learn.

Finally, the confusing language it sometimes uses doesn't help either. My students constantly ask for clarification. Stay clear of this one. There must be better books out there.

Rating:
Summary: Thankfully there's DDC around!
Review: Mary Wright, Tech Editor: "For the past 7 years, I have been developing and administering computer skills courses to adults who are both educationally and economically disavantaged. It has been extremely challenging to locate computer training textbooks that can be geared to the functionally illiterate. DDC Publishing is the only publishing company that truly understands and meets the computer educational needs of this market."