The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

The Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) program is the only comprehensive, performance-based certification program approved by Microsoft to validate desktop computer skills using the Microsoft Office productivity software: Excel, Word, Power Point, Access, and Outlook.

The Comma Method of Microsoft® Office Specialist training was designed to meet the needs of college students, educators, administrators and business professionals. The need for Microsoft Office training is vast – it is now a requirement in education, as well as in virtually all business, technical and professional jobs. It is a “must” for small business and entrepreneurs. Over 2 million MOS certificates have been issued. Microsoft is currently granting approximately 38,000 certificates per month.

“We’ve made the course a lot of fun,” said Elizabeth Nofs, creative director for Comma Project LLC. “We use a lot of real-life examples in order to make the course more practical and memorable. The course focuses on teaching the skills the employers want their employees to have. Why wade through a lot of information you’ll never use? It’s a very effective course.”

Standards and Alignment The Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) program is aligned with the following standards:
• MOS Microsoft Office Specialist Certification Requirements
• ISTE NETS standards for Teachers, Administrators and Students
• Michigan Grade Level Expectations and Benchmarks for 6th grade Technology, Math and Science

This comprehensive, performance-based program teaches students to be proficient in Microsoft Office 2003: Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, and Access. The MOS program provides computer-program literacy, measures proficiency, and identifies opportunities for skills enhancement. Participants receive a certificate of completion from the college upon successful completion of the course. Students are then well prepared to take the Microsoft Office Specialist Certification Test.

How to Become MOS Certified To earn the Microsoft Office Specialist (Office Specialist) certification for Microsoft Office or Microsoft Project, a student must pass one or more certification exams. Office Specialist exams provide a valid and reliable measure of technical proficiency and expertise by evaluating your overall comprehension of Office or Microsoft Project programs, your ability to use their advanced features, and your ability to integrate the Office programs with other software programs.

Note: Students should have these Microsoft products already loaded on your computer in order to take this course: Word 2003; Excel 2003, Access 2003; Outlook 2003 and PowerPoint 2003.

Upon registering, you are given an initial six months to complete the program. Should you need more time, you may request a 6-month extension at no additional charge.

Microsoft Excel
Description: The Complete Guide to Excel teaches users how to create spreadsheets from simple checkbooks to price sheets, market forecast and scenarios.

Objectives: On completion, users will be able to:
• Create a spreadsheet.
• Create formulas with the Function Wizard or manually.
• Audit equations and troubleshoot errors.
• Analyze data by Sort, Filter, Subtotal, and PivotTables.
• Format spreadsheets, graphs and lists for printing

Length: There are three levels of Excel: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced. Each lesson has 3 or 4 modules. Each module can be completed in 30 minutes or less.

Microsoft Word
Description: The Complete Guide to Word teaches users how to create documents from simple letterheads and envelopes to custom web pages.

Objectives: On completion, users will be able to:
• Create a document.
• Format fonts, paragraphs, bullets and tables
• Use tables for on-line forms and webpage designs.
• Automate mail merges
• Share documents with a workgroup.

Length: There are three levels of Word: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced. Each lesson has 3 or 4 modules. Each module can be completed in 30 minutes or less.

Microsoft PowerPoint
Description: The Complete Guide to PowerPoint offers examples of colorful, animated slideshows.

Objectives: On completion, users will be able to:
• Create a slideshow.
• Format fonts, paragraphs, bullets and text boxes
• Use custom animation, slide transitions and effects.
• Use graphics, sound and on-screen navigation.
• Prepare a slide show for live presentations and kiosk demonstrations.

Length: There are two levels of PowerPoint: Beginning and Advanced. Each lesson has 3 or 4 modules. A module can be completed in 30 minutes or less.

Microsoft Outlook
Description: The Complete Guide to Outlook teaches users how to set up and use email, an electronic calendar, contacts, tasks, and journal entries effectively. Security, administration and backups are also demonstrated.

Objectives: On completion, users will be able to:
• Use email, Contacts, and work with attachments safely.
• Organize the Inbox and filter junk mail.
• Schedule meetings, recurring appointments, and tasks
• Analyze Outlook data in Microsoft Excel or Access.

Length: There are three levels of Outlook: Email, Calendar, and Administration. Each lesson has 3 or 4 modules. A module can be completed in 30 minutes or less.

Microsoft Access
Description: The Complete Guide to Access teaches users how to create database tables, forms, queries and reports. The focus is on optimizing the databases for efficient data entry and generating comprehensive reports.

Course Objectives: On completion, users will be able to:
• Create tables, forms and reports.
• Use queries to find, filter, update and calculate.
• Create forms that handle data automatically
• Optimize the database for easy navigation, and data input.

Length: There are three levels of Access: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced. Each lesson has 5 modules. Each module can be completed in 30 minutes or less.

Level 1-Beginning Windows
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Highlight text in document, Apply font formats: bold, italic, underline, Use the Spelling and Grammar checker (commands), Highlight text in document, understand beginning hardware troubleshooting, file management and administration features/procedures.

Level 2-Beginning Word
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Cut, copy, and paste, Insert pictures from ClipArt Menus: Edit Undo, Redo, Copy, Paste, Insert Picture Activity: Drag and drop editing, Move text, Insert ClipArt, and Resize pictures

Level 3-Beginning Word
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Insert date and time, Insert picture from file, Format font and font size, File Save As a template

Level 4-Beginning Word
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Locate and insert an existing document, Format newspaper columns, Use Paste Special Beginning Excel: Enter text, dates and numbers, Use AutoFill, Use the Chart Wizard, Modify Charts.

Level 5-Beginning Excel
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Format font styles (size, color, and styles), Apply number formats (currency, percent), Format borders and shading, Use AutoSum, Insert and delete rows or columns, Hide and unhide rows and columns, Set up headers and footers, Use references (relative), Use Functions: Average and IF

Level 6-Intermediate Word
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Use advanced text alignment, Use Mail Merge: Create main document, Create data source, Sort records to be merged, Merge the document and data. Intermediate Excel: Single and multilevel sorts

Level 7-Intermediate Word
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Create and format tables, Add borders and shading, Merge Cells, Save as a Web Page, Create Hyperlinks, Use Design Gallery Live, Practice Working with TABS Using Bookmarks with Hyperlinks

Level 8-Outlook
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Read, Compose and Address Mail, Use Address Book, Use mail features: Forward, Reply and Recall, Flag Mail messages, Send Mail, Work with attachments, Work with Contacts, Create a Distribution List, Use Inbox Rules, Handle Junk Mail, Archive Outlook, Instant Messaging

Level 9-Intermediate Excel
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Schedule appointments, Schedule events, Recurring appointments, Add and remove attendees. Plan meetings with others, Track the responses, Create Tasks, Assign a task, Work with the Journal, Find an appointment, Customize the calendar view. Intermediate Excel: Use Conditional Formatting, Merge and Center Cells, Use references (relative), Create form controls

Level 10-Intermediate Excel
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Rename a worksheet, Copy or Move worksheets, Link worksheets and consolidate data. Advanced Excel: Use Relative References, Absolute References, Work with Scenarios, Use Goal Seek, Use the Auditing Toolbar to trace errors. Calculate Revenue, Create a grand total from several spreadsheets, Understand Absolute and Relative References

Level 11-Beginning PowerPoint
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Navigate different views, Create a presentation from a template or a wizard, Use the Outline View, Use Bullets and numbers, Work with Graphics, Work with text boxes, Use the Slide Sorter, Add slide transitions, View the Slide Show, Modify the Slide Master, Insert headers and footers, Apply formatting, Add and group shapes, Animate text and objects, Custom Animation, Animation Effects, On screen navigation tools, Add and Print speaker notes.

Level 12-Advanced Word and Excel
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Create and modify forms, Make controls: Drop Down Lists, Date and Time Fields, Protect the document, Activity: Create an on-line form with drop down lists and default text values. Advanced Excel: Create a PivotTable, Use PivotTable auto format, Analyze data with a PivotTable.

Level 13-Advanced Topics
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Create and edit styles, Create a Table of Contents, Use Headers and Footers, Create Section Breaks, Use the Document Map. Advanced Excel: Filter the Data, Create Subtotals, Group and Outline Data, Use the VLookup Function

Level 14- Advanced PowerPoint
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Use advanced formatting and design, Add new slides from an Outline, from Word, from another presentation, Modify the slide design, customize a presentation with sound, narration, and action buttons. Prepare a presentation for different formats: speaker, kiosk, CD.

Level 15: Beginning Access
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Use and design tables, forms, and queries in Microsoft Access, create Queries to find and select records by criteria, write and test update queries.

Level 16: Intermediate Access
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: Create forms with subforms to represent one-to-many relationships, use criteria, parameters, concatenation, and operators in Query designs: calculate with DateDif(),Left(), and IIF(), improve report designs with Sorting and Grouping.

Level 17: Advanced Access
At the end of this unit, the student will be able to: link information and automate data entry, create a Search Form that uses a Combo Box to filter the records, use Microsoft Access and Word together in a Mail Merge, as well as publish an Access report to Word, optimize a database for multiple users.