Thomson Courseware Microsoft Office 2007 i
Running Head: THOMSON COURSEWARE MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007
Thomson Courseware Microsoft Office 2007:
Assignment 2A
Prepared by David J. Horgan for
AIL 605: Interactive Multimedia Technology
September 18, 2008
Thomson Courseware Microsoft Office 2007 1
Thomson Courseware’s Microsoft® Office 2007
Thomson Courseware’s Microsoft® Office 2007 (MS Office 2007) online companion is
a free, online interactive web tutorial put out by Thomson Course Technology. This website
provides online drill exercises through the use of flashcards, crossword puzzles, built-in practice
assessments, and an online game entitled the Wheel of Terms (based on the design of the popular
game show, Wheel of Fortune). The materials would be used in an introductory computer
concepts course or an MS Office Applications course. The intended audience for this course is
first-year college students and business professionals.
Thomson Courseware’s MS Office online companion consists of six learning modules
pertaining to the MS Office application software: (a) Word, (b) Excel, (c) Access, (d)
PowerPoint, (e) Outlook, (f) Publisher, and (g) Integration. The learning modules pertaining to
Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint applications are rigorously structured in the following
hierarchal format: (a) Learn It Online, (b) Certification, and (c) Quick References. Figure 1
illustrates this structure visually.
Figure 1. Structure of Learning Modules for Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint
Thomson Courseware Microsoft Office 2007 2
Instructional/Learning Theories of Thomson Courseware’s MS Office 2007
It appears that Thomson Courseware’s MS Office 2007 falls within applies Robert
Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction (Krause, n.d.). Thomson Courseware acquires the learner’s
attention by the organizational layout of the course content. This interactive multimedia program
provides opportunities for the student to stimulate recall of key concepts and procedural
information—or as Bloom (1956) refers to in his Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as Level 1
learning or knowledge domain—relating to MS Office 2007 applications. As previously noted,
the program employs several interactive multimedia formats [e.g., flashcards, crossword puzzles,
built-in practice assessments (drills), and an online game entitled the Wheel of Terms)] which
falls within Gagne’s sixth, seventh, and eighth instructional events, elicit performance, provide
feedback, and assess performance (Krause, n.d.). Learners are able to develop their skills for
each of the MS Office applications. Moreover, learners are given the opportunity to prepare for
Microsoft Business Industry certification by skill-building in the MS Office 2007 applications.
Upon completion of the program, learners are able to gain feedback of their own performance by
using Thomson Courseware’s interactive multimedia programs. While the learning theory is
unclear (e.g., constructivist, behaviorist, etc), Thomson Courseware’s MS Office 2007 extends to
both learners with strengths as visual learners—spatial intelligence and verbal intelligence—the
linguistic intelligence (Armstrong, n.d.; Felder & Soloman, n.d.; Gardner, 1985). This particular
multimedia program does provide feedback scoring completion of an activity (e.g., flashcards,
Wheel of Terms); however, overall grades are not issued for completion of a learning module.
Assessment of Thomson Courseware’s MS Office 2007
Thomson Courseware’s MS Office 2007 interactive multimedia tutorial clearly provides
comprehensive skill development activities for first-year college students and business
Thomson Courseware Microsoft Office 2007 3
professionals. The learners benefit from the user interaction provided by the Thomson
Courseware’s MS Office 2007 interactive multimedia tutorial. However, this particular
interactive multimedia web tutorial could not replace the text since there are no objectives listed
on the website. Although, one can clearly see that Thomson Courseware’s MS Office 2007 meets
other eight steps of instruction (Krause, n.d.). This would be a great interactive multimedia tool
for teaching CAT 100 with a textbook.
Grading of Assignment 2A Instructional Learning Theories
Criteria
Points
Content (subjective)
21 /25
Includes required information
18 / 20
Grammar & spelling are correct
5 /5
Participation in Discussion Forum
10 / 10
Total
54/60
Thomson Courseware Microsoft Office 2007 4
References
Armstrong, T. (n.d.). Dr. Thomas Armstrong. Retrieved September 17, 2007, from
http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm
Bloom, B.S. (Ed). (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives handbook 1: cognitive domain.
New York: Longman, Green & Co.
Felder, R. M., & Soloman, B. A. (n.d.). Learning styles and strategies. Retrieved September 16,
2007, from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm
Gardner, H. (1985). Frame of mind: the theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic
Books, Inc.
Krause, K. (n.d.). Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction. In E-LearningGuru.com. Retrieved
September 14, 2008, from http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art3_3.htm
Thomson Courseware Technology. (n.d.). Microsoft Office 2007. In Thomson Course
Technology. Retrieved September 14, 2008, from
http://oc.course.com/sc/off2007/index.cfm?action=home