3.2 KiB
Week 2 Announcements
Monday: This Week in CSIS 1 — Word Processing & Spreadsheets
Hey everyone -
Week 2. This is the hands-on week — you're going to build things.
This week you'll be able to:
- Create, format, and save a document with proper paragraph styles, headers, and page layout
- Use Find & Replace, spell check, and basic editing tools
- Build a spreadsheet with formulas (SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, IF)
- Explain the difference between relative and absolute cell references
- Create a chart from spreadsheet data
What's due this week (all due Sunday 11:59 PM):
- Practice Quiz (unlimited attempts)
- Discussion: "What was hardest this week? What strategy did you use to figure it out?"
- Real-World Task #1: Create a formatted document (letter or resume)
- Real-World Task #2: Build a personal budget spreadsheet with formulas and a chart
- Weekly Check-In Quiz (2 attempts)
Two assignments this week — start early. The spreadsheet one takes longer than you think.
Readings: OpenStax Ch. 3 (Creating Documents), Ch. 4 (Document Preparation), and Ch. 9 (Spreadsheets). Links are in the Module 2 page.
Monday Demo tonight — I'll build a document and a spreadsheet from scratch, live. This is probably the most useful demo of the whole course. Zoom link in Module 2.
-peter h
Wednesday: Mid-Week Check-In
Hey everyone -
Two tips for this week:
The #1 document formatting mistake: Using the spacebar or Enter key to position things on the page. If you're hitting Enter 15 times to get to a new page, use a Page Break instead (Ctrl+Enter). If you're using spaces to line up columns, use tab stops. The document will look right on your screen but break on someone else's — or when you change one thing and everything shifts.
Spreadsheet formulas: Start every formula with =. If you type SUM(A1:A5) without the equals sign, it's just text. Also — when your formula isn't working, check for typos in cell references. A1 is not the same as A 1.
Question I keep getting: "Can I use Google Docs instead of Word?" Yes. Absolutely. Either one works. The concepts are the same — just the menus look a little different.
Start the budget spreadsheet soon if you haven't. It takes a bit of setup and the formulas can be tricky the first time.
-peter
Friday: Week Wrap-Up
Hey everyone -
Week 2 wrap-up:
Due Sunday 11:59 PM: Both assignments (document + spreadsheet), the discussion, and the quiz.
Common mistakes I'm seeing:
- On the document: not using paragraph styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.). Manually making text big and bold isn't the same thing — styles give your document structure.
- On the spreadsheet: using a calculator to get the answer and then typing it into the cell. The whole point is letting the spreadsheet do the math. Use
=SUM(B2:B10), not=247. - On the quiz: people are confusing "Save" with "Save As." Save overwrites the current file. Save As lets you create a new copy with a different name or format.
Next week: Presentations, databases, and networking. You'll build a short presentation, learn what databases actually are (spoiler: they're everywhere), and find out how your computer talks to the internet. Also — heads up — July 4th is Friday, so enjoy the holiday.
-peter h