Microsoft Word

“Perhaps no other technology resource has had as great an impact on education as word processing” (Roblyer and Doering, 2014).

I have been using Microsoft Word (or Word as it is commonly referred to) for many years.  It is a popular application from the Microsoft Office suite of applications which also includes PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Access and OneNote.   My personal use has included typing letters, CVs, assignments, business reports, lesson plans and creating learning and teaching documents.  My business use has included writing reports on performance, investigations, lesson plans, handouts and marking assignments from learners and completing feedback forms.

Word offers such a range of functionality in each of its menu option such as Home, Insert, Design, References and more. I love the fact spell and grammar check underlines any spelling or grammar issues and also the thesaurus.  Better still is the ability to insert graphs, charts, tables, pictures, sound, shapes, equations and more. Another time saver is the number of document templates which are available. Using Word to create documents is great because I can differentiate by using different fonts, colours, spacing to product learning materials for learners of different abilities.

I have used Word to create lesson plans, lesson resources such as assignments, worksheets, quizzes, forms, and created schemes of work.

I can review my work, amend as required, save an original copy, add comments for feedback and track changes.  I can also compare documents which have been resubmitted to check whether feedback and recommended changes have been made.

The majority of learners in further and higher education have to at some point submit an assignment, word processed, double spaced and a particular font, font size and this is done using Word.

One of the benefits of Word is that a document can be placed on a central location such as Moodle and multiple learners can access it, download and read it.  I have emailed out learning documents created using Word to learners in preparation for lessons.  Of course, there is the environmental impact of printing lesson worksheets, evaluation forms, course handouts and so on.

Reference:

Roblyer, M.D, and Doering, A.H. (2014).  Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching 6^th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.