Computerized Office Essentials

Program Overview

This 14 week - 305 hour course is designed for people who need the computer skills and experience necessary in today's job market. Upon completion, the participants will be able to fit into a modern computerized office setting with a working knowledge of a major software packages. Each participant will have access to their own computer. Extra lab time may be required to complete your assignments. Use of a home computer is valuable but not a requirement.

Course Overview

  • PC Hardware and File Management
  • Windows Level 1 & II
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Word Levels 1 & II
  • Microsoft Excel Levels I & II
  • Microsoft Access Levels I & II
  • Desktop Publishing
  • Basic Bookkeeping & Computerized Accounting
  • Integrating MS Office
  • Marketing Your Skills
Employment Insurance Benefits

Human Resources Development Canada
You may qualify for assistance depending on your circumstances. Please talk to an Employment and Insurance Officer about your situation.

Evaluations

The program consists of 14 courses. Each of the courses requires a passing grade of 60%. You will be assessed throughout the program through exercises, assignments and tests. The method of evaluation is determined by the individual instructors. Upon successful completion of all fourteen courses you will receive a Fanshawe College - Computerized Office Essentials Certificate. You will be invited to attend our graduation ceremony in the Fall of 2003.

Two methods of payment:

One: 1 installment of $1528.00
(with Job Placement) $1753.00
July 15, 2002

Two: 2 installments as follows:
July       15, 2002 $792.00
August 19, 2002 $836.00
Note: if paying in installments, there is an extra $100.00 fee.

Text Books

Text books may need to be purchased for the various courses, some may be loaned. Approximate cost of the textbooks will be $250.00 - $300.00. Text books may be purchased as the course progresses, they do not need to be purchased all at once.

What Now?

If you are on E.I. you should talk to your Employment Counsellor first and let him/her know of your intentions. Registration forms are available and can be completed in this classroom or returned at a later date. Take your registration form with your payment to the office. Acceptance into the program is based on the first 15 paid registrations. No payment is processed until the final registration date or until the course is full. After 15 applicants, your name will be put on a waiting list.

Computerized Office Essentials Course Descriptions

Hardware & DOS: The student will become familiar with the inner workings of the personal computer, understand DOS and the basic commands required in a Windows environment.

Windows: Students have a high comfort level with the Windows environment. They learned such things as how to perform disk maintenance (scandisk & defrag), how to locate missing files, how to create, copy, move and delete both files and folders. They learned how to work in multiple programs at the same time as well as how to use data from one program in another.

Office 2000: The students were introduced to the basics of all the components of the Microsoft Office Suite.

In Word they learned such things as how to create new documents and edit existing documents, use clipart, use the drawing toolbar, copy and paste between documents, create and work with tables, perform spelling & grammar checks, create autocorrect and autotext entries, change the page layout, the paragraph layout and text appearance.

Excel lessons included creating spreadsheets, inputting formulas & functions, formatting cells to appear differently, linking worksheets together, protecting worksheets, creating and adjusting charts and how to use Excel & Word together to create professional reports.

The Access portion of the course taught the students database terminology, how to create & work with tables, form, reports & queries. Students were intoduced to design views for all of the above as well as how to use this data in Word for mail merges.

PowerPoint is always a fun software program and CorelDraw was included in the desktop publishing portion of the course. In PowerPoint students created their own self-running slide show about a topic that they felt strongly about. They learned aspects of effective presentation, creating and printing handouts, speaker notes and overhead transparencies.

Communication in a Networked Office: Students learned how to use the Internet effectively to find information quickly without wasting a lot of time. They also learned the correct, safe procedures for downloading files, email etiquette and how to attach files and manipulate attachments. They were introduced to creating folders to organize their email and how to use the Microsoft Outlook calendar to schedule individual appointments, change the appointments or schedule recurring appointments.

Simply Accounting:This was 50 hours of instruction that combined accounting theory and manual systems with computerized accounting using Simply Accounting. The students were introduced to the concepts of bookkeeping, accounts receivable, payable, general ledgers, etc.

Office Etiquette:Office Etiquette provided the students with some of the soft skills necessary in an office environment, including things like the importance of punctuality, time and stress management, written & oral communication skills, customer service skills, etc.

Employment Insurance Information

You may qualify for assistance:

  1. If you are currently on Employment Insurance
  2. If you have been on a regular Employment Insurance claim in the last 3 years
  3. If you have been on a parantal or maternity Employment Insurance claim in the last 5 years
If you are currently on a claim that will expire before the course end date you Employment insurance benefits will continue through to the end of the course at 75% of your current benefit rate.

Assistance could include all or some of the following depending on your circumstances:
  1. 75% of tuition and books paid
  2. child care expenses
  3. gas allowance
If you decide that you want to take the course the steps to follow are:
  1. Go to the campus and register for the course. Payment (all or first installment must be included at this time)
  2. While there, ask for a letter for Employment Insurance (verifying that you have registered)
  3. Take the letter to the Employment Insurance office and speak to an Employment Insurance Officer
  4. Complete the necessary forms for them
  5. Payment should be processed by Employment Insurance on the 2nd Sunday after the course start date. This may vary due to unforseen circumstances but this is the norm.
If you are in receipt of Social Assistance you may qualify for full or partial tuition assistance. You should set up an appointment and speak with your case worker.