Desktop Publishing and MicroSoft Word

Desktop publishing allows you to create newsletters, brochures, cards, calendars, menus, etc. It is extremely easy to use and includes multiple templates that one can simply fill in. This software is wonderful to use for monthly newsletters or brochures. Last year, I had my students pretend that they operated their own restaurant business. I had them create and design their restaurant menu using Publisher. It was a huge success! The students thoroughly enjoyed using Publisher.

There is so much more that can be done with MicroSoft Word than just typing memos or letters. When using Word, you can insert graphics, charts and graphs into the document. These graphics, charts and graphs can be manipulated. WordArt is another useful tool Word has to offer. It allows text to be uniquely designed by color and shape. One of the most interesting tools I learned about Word is how to track changes and insert comments. This is terrific for peer editing other's work. I especially like being able to insert a voice comment. This personalizes it and allows you to say exactly what your intentions are without having to type it. Voice comments are also excellent for compliments. Nothing makes you feel better after putting many hours in preparing a document than having your professor say, "You did a great job!" :-)