Powering Up Powerpoint ( Part 5) --YouTube Videos in PowerPoint -Installing and using the YouTube video add-in for PowerPoint

YouTube Add-in for PowerPoint 2003

You will be asked to place a .ppa file in your PowerPoint folder. You can find the file in the Pickup folder.
Also in the Pickup folder is a copy of the file named beemovie.mpg, in case you have trouble downloading it.

Powering Up Powerpoint (Part 4) --Playing movies from video files

Play movies in Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003 and control how they start and how long they play. As an extra, create buttons to run them.

Everybody likes movies. In PowerPoint, take your audience away with a dramatic movie clip that helps get your point across. Or play film of a dynamic speaker. Or, play something fun just to engage people. There's nothing like the entertainment value and flash of a multimedia show.

In this lesson, work with movie files so you know how to insert them, play them, and set other options for them. For visual impact, create buttons that play, pause, and stop a movie.

After completing this lesson you will be able to:

* Insert a movie, start it the way you want, and work with various movie options.
* Play a movie full-screen and keep it from showing on the slide.
* Create buttons to run a movie.
* Ensure that a movie plays when you present.

Play movies in Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003
Note: If you have trouble downloading the sample movie file named "beemovie.mpg," you can get a copy from the Pickup folder.

Check your final marks online

Your final marks for the year are now posted online.
Report any errors right away.

Period A - http://tinyurl.com/m8c5x5

Period C - http://tinyurl.com/mnc53j

Period G - http://tinyurl.com/mnd42

Powering Up Powerpoint ( Part 3) --Playing sound

Note: You will need earphones to work with sound on the school computers. You may also wish to bring a music CD to experiment with.

Make a sound file play when you want it to, even over several slides, in a Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 presentation. Also learn how to play a CD with your show.

This lesson tells you how to play sounds in a presentation—how to start them and make them play when you want, for as long as you want. Make a sound repeat, and get tips on hiding the sound icon on a slide.

You'll also see how to hit just the right note by playing music from a CD with your slide show.

After completing this lesson you will be able to:

* Insert a sound file and play it continuously in a slide show.
* Play a CD for a slide show and set its tracks.
* Change how a sound starts, make it repeat, and hide its icon.
* Guarantee that your sound will play when you present.

Playing sound in PowerPoint 2003

Reviewing for the final Word test

On the the final Word test you will be asked to show that you know how to use the following features:

• create a form letter and mailing labels using mail merge
  - create a data source document, either in Word or Excel
  - print showing the merge fields, i.e. after the merge fields are inserted and before the main document is merged with the data source document.
  
  
  You should be able to look at a sample of a form letter given to you and decide which parts should be done with merge fields and which parts are "boilerplate" text.
  
  
• styles
  - create a new style or edit an existing style
  
  
  
• macros
  - create a simple macro
  - print the VBA code
  
  
  

Much of the text will be provided for you, so that the test will involve little data entry.


Remember that you are allowed to use the Help menu in Word. Bear in mind that it may be useful to assist you with a sticking point here or there; however, you cannot rely on it for everything, as it would take up too much of your time.

---

One good way to review is to look over your yellow booklet with the files you created while working on the exercises. If you feel unsure about a topic, try one of the exercises again.

Remember, too, that if you look this blog for earlier classes during the year, you will find links to many tutorials online that will be helpful in your review.
mail merge - Sept. 22
styles - Oct. 6
macros - Oct. 17

In addition to those, Microsoft has several online tutorials for a few topics in Word similar to the tutorials we looked at recently for PowerPoint.

Mail merge

Styles

Powering Up Powerpoint ( Part 2) --Animation with time delays - using the timeline

Working with motion paths and timelines is a lot of fun, so do the tutorials and the practice file (The timeline.ppt), be creative and experiment for yourself.

All you need to add to your existing Powerpoint presentation (e.g. Ppt_HannahM.ppt) are two more slides.

• a slide with two animated objects with one of them timed to begin "with previous" and delayed by 1.0 seconds
  
• a slide with three animated objects - use the Advanced Timeline
  
  Be sure to give each slide a descriptive title, such as "Three animated objects - using the Advanced Timeline" and put your name on each slide.
  

In the earlier animations lessons, you learned to control animation timing by playing effects together or one after the other. You also used speed settings such as Fast and Slow.

This lesson discusses additional ways to start animations, mainly by using time delays. A time delay allows you to start an effect a certain number of seconds after another effect has started, and before it finishes. The result is an overlap of effects—they don't have to be completely simultaneous or sequential.

Also, you will learn to use the Advanced Timeline to synchronize animation timings and set animation speed.

After completing this lesson you will be able to:

* Create overlapping effects by using time delays.
* Learn different ways to create time delays, and explore other timing options.
* Use the Advanced Timeline to get a new view of an animation sequence and adjust how effects play together.

Animations III: Time delays and other options – the timeline

Powering Up PowerPoint -- Refresher on basic animation in Powerpoint

Do you need to refresh your knowledge of basic animation in PowerPoint (making text and pictures fly in, bounce, zoom out, etc)? Microsoft has a good tutorial at
Animations I: Preset and custom animation

---

Powering Up Powerpoint - Agenda

Because of difficulties with the economy, this year we will not prepare the group presentation on Canadian companies that was scheduled last September. Instead we will learn some new techniques to improve your skills with PowerPoint.

The advanced techniques for Powerpoint that we will be covering include:


• Animation with motion pathsDiscover uses for motion paths and apply both preset and custom types. - Use paths to move text around on a slide and create a custom entrance effect. - Become skilled at manipulating and editing paths on your slides. - Know about options and tricks you can use with paths.
  
  
• Animation with time delays - using the Timeline - Create overlapping effects by using time delays. - Learn different ways to create time delays, and explore other timing options. - Use the Advanced Timeline to get a new view of an animation sequence and adjust how effects play together.
  
  
• Playing sound - Insert a sound file and play it continuously in a slide show - Play a CD for a slide show and set its tracks - Change how a sound starts, make it repeat, and hide its icon. - Guarantee that your sound will play when you present.
  
  
• Playing movies - Insert a movie, start it the way you want, and work with various movie options. - Play a movie full-screen and keep it from showing on the slide. - Create buttons to run a movie. - Ensure that a movie plays when you present.
  
  
• Linking to live YouTube videos
  
  
• Downloading and converting YouTube videos to use in your presentation
  
  
• Packaging your presentation An easy way to package your presentation files and carry them to present elsewhere or give them to someone else to view. Bundle your presentation, all the files that link to it, related files of your choice, and the PowerPoint Viewer onto a CD or into a shared folder.
  The viewer, which runs presentations on a computer without PowerPoint, is optional. If you don't have a CD burner, package all your files to a folder instead, and copy the folder to a system that has a CD burner, or share it on a server.
  
  We will cover as much of this as we have time for.
  

Topics for the Access test

Sharing Data
• import data from Excel (no field titles)
• import data from Excel (with field titles)
• export data to Excel
• export data to a Word table
• import data from / export data to a delimited text file

Data Validity
• input masks
• validation rules
• lookup fields

Data Access Pages
• create a data access page using the wizard
• change data or add a field in Internet Explorer using a DAP

Relational Databases
• import data from Excel
• create relationships among field in several tables
• create a report with data from several tables
Note: The test will NOT cover Ex. 4, Step 8 (Enforcing Referential Integrity, Cascade Update Related Fields, Cascade Deleted Related Fields).

Dates for final evaluations - Word date changed

The final evaluations (summative tests) will be held on:

Access -- Wed., May 13 / Thur., May 14

Notice change -
Word -- Mon., May 25 / Tues., May 26
Word - Wed., May 27 / Thur., May 28

Correction to yellow booklet

Please note that the section on Data Validity consists of only 10 pages.

The section that follows, 12 pages on Data Access Pages, has an incorrect page header. It should read Data Access Pages (not Data Validity).

The Invisible Web (5): Answer for Chasing Down a Low-Flying Aircraft

CHALLENGE -- What information can you find on the Internet about the Canadian small aircraft with the markings C- something something KH?

---

1. As a search expert, you an ordinary Google-type search (i.e. searching the Visible Web) is probably not going to find this kind of information. You need to find a specialized database.
   
   
2. How will you find the required database? Your first thought is to try Google, not to find the information, but to find the database that might have the information. At Google you search for database canadian aircraft.
   
   
3. Aha! You see something that looks promising, Canadian Civil Aircraft Register.
   
   
4. Going there, you click on Available Marks, then do a search for KH in the field Ending With.
   
   
5. Aha, SUCCESS! You have just used the Invisible Web to find your information.
   
   
6. Who is the owner? Where can you find them?

So what is the Invisible Web (sometimes known as Hidden Web, Deep Web or Deepnet)? Get a clearer idea by looking at the Wikipedia article.

Review of Microsoft Access

Our review of Access is based on two files in the Pickup folder:

1. Double-click on the file named 1_AccessReview_BTTtopics.htm. It contains the topics that you should review, plus links to online tutorials and demos.

NOTE: If you have not worked with Access before, you need to spend extra time becoming familiar with the concepts of a database (e.g. object, field, record, query) and the basics of how to use the program.

2. After you have reviewed the topics from the above file, it refers you to a sample database named NorthWindTraders2003.mdb, which you use for a few practice exercises.

The Invisible Web or Deep Web, Part 8 - a selection of databases

Take a few minutes to browse through some of these databases below to see what they offer. They will give you an idea of what databases you might look for when you want detailed information from the Invisible Web. Can you find other useful or interesting online databases?

• Internet Hockey Database
  
  
• Cricket Database
  
  
• http://www.aucc.ca/can_uni/search/index_e.html. Search for programs at Canadian universities.
  
  
• Organized Crime and Corruption Database
  
  
• Aviation Accident Database
  
  
• Internet Movie Database
  
  
• Chinese Movie Database (in English)
  
  
• Internet Broadway Database
  
  
• World Database of Happiness
  
  
• World Population Database (United Nations)
  
  
• Geographical Names of Canada
  
  
• Deep Sky Database (astronomy)
  
  
• English Verse Drama
  
  
• Celtic Coin Index
  
  
• British Library
  
  
• Chemical Database
  
  
• European Patent Office
  
  
• National Parliaments Database
  
  
• Civil Engineering Database
  
  
• Household Products Database (health & safety)
  
  
• USDA National Nutrient Database
  
  
• Plant Database (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
  
  
• Human Genome Database
  
  
  

The Invisible Web (7): a taste of high-quality, "hidden" information

These exercises give you an introduction to the kind of free information available on the Invisible Web. (Even more information is available when you are willing to for it.)

The aim is to give you a hint of
- the vast variety of information and
- the vast amount of information.

Find answers to at 2-3 of the following databases, whichever look most interesting to you.

1. Legislative Library of Ontario (THIS ONE MIGHT NOT BE WORKING TODAY)
   How many titles on Jarvis Collegiate?
   
   
2. 
   Are Canadian politicians honest? Who is giving them money to run their election campaigns?
   How many individual citizens donated to Olivia Chow's (New Democratic Party candidate for Trinity-Spadina) campaign for 39th General Election and what was their total donations? What was the most from a single individual? How much did she spend on mailing (Canada Post)?
   Elections Canada
   Financial reports for candidate expenses for 39th General Election
   besure to get the report with full details, not just a summary
   
   
   
3. Google health canada adverse drug reaction database
   follow several links - search
   Allegra, Antihistamine used to prevent sneezing, runny nose, itching and watering of the eyes, and other allergic symptoms. Since 1965
   
   
4. You've been offered a very good deal on a used car, a 1997 Honda Accord Sedan. You want to know its safety record. Was there ever a recall on that model? Go to the Transport Canada website, select Quick Links: Vehicle Recalls, then Search the Recalls On-Line Database. What was faulty with this car requiring a recall? What could have happened if the fault was not repaired? On certain vehicles electrical contacts in the ignition switch can degrade due to the high electrical current passing through the switch when the vehicle is started. Worn contacts could cause the engine to stall without warning, increasing the risk of a crash. Correction: Dealers will replace the ignition switch.
   
   
5. 
   At Canada411.com find the telephone listing of someone with the same family name as yourself - in Toronto, if possible. Click on the name to get their address. Find a list of their neighbours.
   
   
6. 
   How easy is it for a person to find you if you give them your telephone number? At Canada411.com use Reverse Phone to look up your own telephone number. Next go to Yahoo Maps or Google Maps or MapQuest and find a map for your address. Find directions for getting to your place from another address, for example, 100 Weston Rd., Toronto, or 45 Mary St., Guelph.
   
   
7. 
   As a part of your job as researcher on a Toronto newspaper, you have been asked to do background research for an article on Toronto inventors. One assignment is to find how many patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office since 1976 have been granted to Toronto inventors or assignees. Carefully read the notes on the page indicating how to form a search correctly. What search syntax do you use? How many results do you get? Find the name of the latest Toronto inventor to receive a U.S. patent.
   
   
   
8. 
   Do you love roller coasters? Did you know there is a Roller Coaster Database? Use Google to find it, then find information on the latest roller coaster under construction at Canada's Wonbderland. What is it called? How fast does it go? How much did it cost to build? When will it open?
   
   
   

The Invisible Web (6): Toronto Public Library -Webpages created on-the-fly

When the present building of Jarvis Collegiate was built in the early 1920s, a booklet of thirty pages was published entitled Jarvis St. Collegiate Institute 1807-1922 : programme of the laying of the corner stone of the new building at Jarvis and Wellesley Street


The Toronto Public Library has a copy of that booklet. Now, you know that you can go to the TPL website and look up book titles, so it should be there, right?

1. First let's try looking for it using Google. You have the title of the book, so do an ordinary Google search for it. Did you find it?
   
   
2. If you didn't find it, maybe you need to be more specific. Repeat the search at Google's Advanced Search page but this time in the box marked "Search within a site or domain" enter the TPL domain: http://catalogue.torontopubliclibrary.ca. Wouldn't it be odd if Google couldn't find the book? For a fact I know it is there.
   
   
3. Could we be wrong? Let's check the TPL site at http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/. Search for the title there.
   Did you find it?
   Which library branch is holding it?
   What was the exact date and time of the laying of the cornerstone of our school?
   
   But here's THE BIG QUESTION - If this webpage is on the Internet, why can't Google find it?
   
   
4. Go back to the Wikpedia article on the Invisible Web. Look at the section entitled Deep Resources. Which of the seven items in the list probably explains why Google couldn't find our TPL page?
   
   
5. As you study the list of seven Deep Resources, can you think of webpages you've seen that might fit any of those categories?
   
   
   

The Invisible Web (4):Chasing Down a Low-Flying Aircraft

A small airplane frightened everyone in your family by flying very low over your building in downtown Toronto (not exactly like the picture above - which, by the way, is a real photo. See
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=873298
or
http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&sa=N&tab=li&q=airport+st+maarten).
You were looking out the window at the time and noticed some of the marking on the side of the fuselage. You saw C- something something KH. You want to contact the owner to complain.

As the computer expert in your family, you go to the Internet to find more information on the aircraft and its owner.

CHALLENGE -- What information can you find on the Internet about the Canadian small aircraft with those markings? Hint: See if you can find the answer on the visible web. If you aren't successful, try adding the word "database" in your search.
(Answer to come later.)

The Invisible Web (3) - two search challenges

---

A.
Go to the Boolean search form for the Canadian Patents database. At most online databases, like this one, you do not have to write your entire Boolean query; the Boolean operators can be chosen from menus.

Try the following four sample searches (answers to be given later in class).

1. -- Find, by list of fifty, the patents that were issued between October 1, 1989, and December 31, 1999, and contain "controller" in the Title field and "Smith" in the Owner field.


2. -- Find the number of patent documents that contain in the Title field the word "tooth" and also "brush" or the word "toothbrush".

3. -- Find the number of Canadian patent documents under the IPC subclass "A63B" or "A63C" which has been laid open in 1999.
Check your answers here - http://patents.ic.gc.ca/cipo/cpd/en/search/boolean/exemple/list.html

---

B.
PowerReporting is an online resource for journalists operated by the prestigious Columbia School of Journalism. It offers a challenging "Web Treasure Hunt" to for its students. The ten-question test goes beyond the kind of searching we cover in our course, but trying the test will open your eyes to new possibilities.

Be sure to spend some time looking for the information before you
(1) look at the Hint, and finally
(2) look at the answer.

Try the Columbia School of Journalism's Web Treasure Hunt.
#1 - 11. #2 - 240 #3 - 5,606

The Invisible Web (2) - what is it?

Introduction
http://www.closerlooksearch.com/invisibleWeb.aspx

Online Powerpoint presentation introducing the Invisible Web
http://www.valleylibrary.ca/wocap/hiden%20web%20presentation/The%20Hidden%20Web.html

Wikipedia article on the Deep Web -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_web

The Invisible Web (1) - introductory exercise

Your grandparents are planning to go on a Caribbean cruise. Their travel agent has found them a very attractive package with a cruise ship leaving Miami, Florida called the Grand Caribe. The package is at the right price, for the right length of time, stopping in all the ports they want. But you remember seeing in the news some time ago reports about mass illnesses on some cruise ship and there was the suggestion that proper health measures were not taken on board the ship.

Find some useful information about the health condition of the cruise ship Grand Caribe. Inspection reports by government health inspectors would be most useful.

Advanced Search Techniques 2 - Boolean operators and Venn diagrams

Use the Websites below to learn about the following topics. Make your own notes.

BOOLEAN OPERATORS (AND, OR, NOT)
COMBINING MULTIPLE OPERATORS
PARENTHESES
NESTING
TRUNCATION
VENN DIAGRAMS

Serious research often requires you to search professional databases. While they allow simple keyword searches such as the kind you use with search engines like Google, they also offer much richer resources for finding information, including field searches and Boolean operators.

A. BOOLEAN OPERATORS

The first thing to learn about is the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT (and sometimes NEAR).

We will introduce Boolean operators briefly in class. Then you should learn more by visiting a number of websites.

1. Begin at the following site and work through the 3-5 minute tutorial on Boolean operators:
   http://lib.colostate.edu/tutorials/boolean_info.html
   
   
2. Continue the same tutorial to the section entitled Advanced Boolean Tutorial (3-5 minutes) at
   http://lib.colostate.edu/tutorials/booleanadv_info.html
   
   
3. Carefully read the summary page at
   http://lib.colostate.edu/howto/others/boolean.html
   
   
4. Work through the four interactive demonstration searches at
   http://writing.colostate.edu/demos/boolean/index.cfm
   
   
5. Learn about parentheses, truncation and wild cards at
   http://www.gv.psu.edu/foweb/lib/boolean_search/parenth.html
   or truncation at http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/library/libtp/instructions/Nursing/truncation.htm and wild cards at http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/library/libtp/instructions/Nursing/wildcard.htm
   
   
6. Learn how to combine Boolean operators, parentheses and truncation to solve difficult search problems at
   http://www.askscott.com/examples.html
   

You may want to watch this video on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGVbHp0jufE. Notice the other YouTube videos listed under "Related Videos."

B. VENN DIAGRAMS

Venn diagrams go hand-in-hand with Boolean operators. In fact, they are just a visual representation of AND, OR & NOT.

1. See the connection between Boolean operators and Venn diagrams by going through the tutorial at
   http://www.lib.lsu.edu/instruction/searching/searching09.html
   A similar presentation is given at
   http://www.gv.psu.edu/foweb/lib/boolean_search/and.html
   
   
2. View the very helpful videos and images for Venn diagrams at
   http://www.lib.washington.edu/uwill/research101/Search07.htm#1
   Similar illustrations are make Venn diagrams clear at
   
   
3. Learn how to use more complex Venn diagrams at
   http://lib.colostate.edu/howto/others/venn.html
   
   
4. Check how well you're doing with this review, which includes test questions at
   http://newterra.chemeketa.edu/library/instruction/tutorials/boolean/boolean.htm
   
   
5. Test your knowledge of Venn diagrams at
   http://www.engr.iupui.edu/%7Eorr/webpages/cpt120/venn/venn/toc.htm
   NOTE: This site uses operators from mathematical set theory, but we can interpret them as follows: the symbol ∩ means AND, the symbol ∪ means OR, the symbol – means NOT.
   Ignore Question #5 with the symbol Δ (if you're curious, it means the symmetric difference of two sets, that is, the set of elements which are in one of either set, but not in both).
   

Some sample test questions are online at
http://tinyurl.com/2gkjxm Our test on search techniques will have some questions like these. WHEN YOU HAVE WRITTEN DOWN YOUR ANSWERS, check them with the correct answers at
http://tinyurl.com/36bscj

Finished your work early? Get broad overview of effective searching at
http://www.askscott.com/tindex.html .

an open source alternative to Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver is currently selling for about $500, so it is not a program that most people have on their home computers. A free, open source alternative is Kompozer at http://kompozer.net/. It may not have all the features and power of Dreamweaver, but you should find it very useful in creating your web pages.

HTML

The URLs for some excellent online help for HTML is on the handout.

In the week of Feb. 23 there will be an open-book assignment where you will create an HTML file.

Week of Feb. 1 - 5

The last topic in our Excel unit is Pivot Tables.
Answers for the Wildcat Bluff small mammal dataset are
2.a.
Ch 84
NA 737
OI 647
PI 8530
Pm 546
R. mon 780
Sh 257.

2. b.
B01 12535, 184
B02 12380
G01 441
G02 952
M01 5637
M02 4714
M03 1792
PD02 4300
R01 8746.

2.c.
Na 9
Pl 31
Pm 2
X 7

2.d.
12583

2. e.
6442


At the start of next week (Feb. 1 to 5) we begin a unit on the Internet by reviewing the basics of wepage creation with HTML.

During the second class of the week there will be an Excel test covering the following:
- VLookup (only 4 marks out of 20)
- data validation
- goal seek
- scenarios
- pivot tables

The last class of the week will return to HTML.

After HTML, we learn webpage creation with Dreamweaver.

Excel - Pivot tables

If your data in Excel is in a list (remember, you've learned what an Excel list is), you can view it and analyze in various ways using pivot tables.

A pivot table is like a cross-tab query in Access.

It is difficult to describe a pivot table in words, but once you've created one and worked with it, the idea is perfectly clear.

Creating and manipulating a pivot table in Excel is very easy, but the results look completely amazing to people who don't know about them. Amaze your friends! Impress your family! Talk about them in job interviews! They really make you look good.

Online Resources

• tinyurl.com/i0th - video demo on pivot tables on our website
  
• two video tutorials on YouTube -     1    ,     2    
  
• pivot table tutorial at Microsoft
  
• 25 Easy Pivot Tables from Microsoft
  
• Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables: A Business Software Tip by J. Carlton Collins, CPA from Microsoft
  
• Pivot table reports - tutorial from Microsoft
  
• Using pivot tables from Windows Skills
  
• 61 tips on Excel Pivot tables from Excel Tips
  
• Excel pivot table fundamentals from Ozgrid.com
  
• video tutorial on pivot tables from Metacafe.com
  

Excel - Goal Seek & Scenarios

Goal Seek
There are lots of demos of Goal Seek for Excel 3002 on YouTube.
YouTube demo 1
YouTube demo 2
YouTube demo 3
YouTube demo 4
YouTube demo 5
YouTube demo 6

Scenarios
Excel's Scenario Manager makes it easy to look at various options in a spreadsheet.
There are a number of steps involved in the process, so work carefully. However, the idea is not complicated. It gives you a way of trying out various numbers in your cells and comparing the differences.

Microsoft has lots of help for scenarios.

• About scenarios - simple explanation of what a scenario is from Microsoft
  
• Check that hunch with Excel "what-if" scenarios video demo from Microsoft
  
• Using scenario manager to evaluate what-if questions from Microsoft
  
• Calculate your sales commission with Excel scenarios - an example of using scenarios from Microsoft
  
• Use the Scenario Manager feature in Excel - another explanation of scenarios from Microsoft
  
• Scenario analysis to test budget assumptions - an example of advanced use of scenarios from Microsoft
  
  

Excel - sorting and filtering

• Excel AutoFilter Makes Spreadsheets More Useful
  
• Filtering in Excel 2003
  
• Excel lists - Microsoft tutorial - teaches sorting and filtering by using the List command
  
  There aren't many video tutorials for sorting and filtering on Youtube -
  
• Sorting data in Excel 2003 - YouTube video tutorial
  
• Excel 2003 Autofilter - YouTube video tutorial
  

Excel - Data validation

• Create an Excel drop-down list
  
  Video tutorials -
  
• Data validation - YouTube video tutorial
  
• Adding an in-cell dropdown menu - YouTube video tutorial
  
• Drop Down List in Excel - YouTube video tutorial
  

Excel - conditional formatting

Using The Excel Conditional Formatting - simple tutorial

Excel - online resources for the VLOOKUP function

• YouTube video - includes downloadable demo worksheet with notes - you have to be tolerant of the speaker's annoying voice
  
• YouTube video - Part 2 of the above video - how to use more than just two columns in a lookup table
  
• YouTube video - Part 3 of the above series
  
• YouTube video - for Excel 2007, but the differences with Excel 2003 are minimal
  
• YouTube video - very complete - shows 12 different examples of the IF function
  

Test - first class next week

The Excel test will be focused on the IF and VLOOKUP functions.

A small number of marks will be given for templates, linking and protection.

This test gives you the opportunity to improve your February report card. (The final day for all marks for that report card is Fri., Jan. 23, so there will be very little after this test.)

STUDYING - One good way to prepare for this test is to use the links on this blog to read several online explanations and view several online video tutorials. Going over similar information from various sources is an excellent way to learn.