Amber Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Hi, If you had a highschool student that was going to take one computer course for a highschool summer course would you have them take Word or Excel. As far as her interest, she does alot of internet website stuff etc. Not for sure if either would help there. But, the summer program offers either of those two. I know a little about Word but nothing about Excel. Thanks, Amber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 and they have found them both pretty easy to figure out. I would sign them up for an Excel class. It's not as easy to figure out the formulas or the applications. .02 k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 I would say Word. This will be used much more for completing papers in high school and college. Knowing Excel would be especially helpful for science, finance, statistics, etc., applications. Neither are hard to learn on your own if you are willing to use the help feature to look up something when you get stuck. Pegasus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyomarie Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Hi,If you had a highschool student that was going to take one computer course for a highschool summer course would you have them take Word or Excel. As far as her interest, she does alot of internet website stuff etc. Not for sure if either would help there. But, the summer program offers either of those two. I know a little about Word but nothing about Excel. Thanks, Amber Does the student know her way around Word well enough to write a basic paper using such things as headers and footers, adding graphics, etc.? If not, I would start with Word. If so, maybe do the Excel class. By the end of high school, however, ALL students- especially those going on to college- should be able to navigate all the basics of both programs. If they are going to college, they need to be able to use proper formatting for submitting papers and may need Excel for any number of classes ranging from business to chemistry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Just my experience... I took a class in Excel in college and found it invaluable, Word I was able to figure out on my own. I think it depends on what your student will be doing in college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 I think both are valuable but Excel is probably harder to figure out on your own, so I'd take a class in Excel first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Excel is definitely harder. My son (16) uses Word with no instruction at all. When you say she likes website stuff, do you mean she creates them or surfs? If she can create a website, she can certainly figure out Word. She can probably also figure out Excel, but taking a class ensures that she would devote enough time to learning it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paula in PA Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Figuring out all the ins & outs of Word isn't all that difficult. Excel, especially the newest versions, have a lot of extras that you probably wouldn't find for yourself, unless you spent a great deal of time on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in GA Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 nt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Excel. Word is pretty easy to figure out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmen_and_Company Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I vote for Excel so they can learn how to enter formulas in order to make spreadsheets and other data based applications. You can find a book at the library to learn how to use Word application, but Excel is a little harder to understand, but not by much. If Power Point is offered, I'd by-pass Word & Excel and have them take a Power Point class instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 because WORD is much more easy to figure out on their own or with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st_claire Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I agree that given the choice I would chose Excel. But I must say, that one program for an entire summer course isn't much. I used to TA a course that covered these things, and in one semester we did Word, Excel, Power-point, Frontpage, Access, and javascript. Although I would suggest dropping Frontpage for HTML instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandamom Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I vote for Excel so they can learn how to enter formulas in order to make spreadsheets and other data based applications. You can find a book at the library to learn how to use Word application, but Excel is a little harder to understand, but not by much. If Power Point is offered, I'd by-pass Word & Excel and have them take a Power Point class instead. Excel first if they can do a basic research paper. I was also going to suggest Power Point also because the public school systems and private schools around here start teaching that pretty early and I'm seeing that they are using it in college also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikita Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 When I recently checked into our high school graduation requirements (my son is entering gr 9 at home next year) I was really surprised to find that they've dropped gr 9 History and replaced it with an Intro to Business course which essentially teaches Word, Excel, Powerpoint. I know I took typing in high school and it was useful, but that was an elective. This is a required credit for all grade 9 kids now! Nikita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Nikita, Where do you live? thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Get him the Word for Dummies book and have him figure it out on his own. Excel is a little more complicated, and reaching a stage of proficiency is a little more difficult. I would have him look at an Excel for Dummies book and decide whether he can teach it to himself or not, but of the two, I think Excel would be the one I would want to take as a class. It seems to me that the class will move pretty slowly if they work on this one program all summer long. You might do better with a book for each one, and learn them together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikita Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Ontario requires a grade 9 credit in Word/Excel/PP and it seems they dropped grade 9 history in order to make room for that credit. (Others are English, Math, Cdn Geography, French, Science, PE, and a Fine Arts (music or drama.) Nikita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuntPol Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 I would do excel -as the others said Word is easy to learn on your own -my young kids can already navigate word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 Word is pretty easy to figure out on your own but excel has many things that are valuable but not intuitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 I vote for Excel so they can learn how to enter formulas in order to make spreadsheets and other data based applications. You can find a book at the library to learn how to use Word application, but Excel is a little harder to understand, but not by much. If Power Point is offered, I'd by-pass Word & Excel and have them take a Power Point class instead. Carmen, I'd be really interested in hearing why you would say Powerpoint! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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