Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office

The Microsoft Office suite is the most commonly used productivity software in schools in South Australia. The products in this suite include:

  • Word - Word processor

  • Excel - Spreadsheet

  • PowerPoint - Presentation

  • Outlook - Email client

Office traditionally has been installed on a computer for use by an individual. More recently, Microsoft 365 has become available, offering the user the opportunity to work online or in a Department for Education setting, download and install the software onto a computer. Check with your school IT administrator for more information.

Classroom Applications

The Microsoft Office suite of software the is most commonly used productivity software for schools and workplaces around the world. Students will be exposed to Word and PowerPoint early in their education to create written content and presentations. Excel and Outlook are often introduced before the end of primary school as tools for maths (Excel) and easy access to emails.

For students with vision impairment, the Microsoft Office suite is based around the same keyboard shortcuts as Microsoft Windows - and expands upon them further. As such, the Office suite is largely accessible using the keyboard only, without a reliance on the mouse. Screen reader and magnification users alike can use the keyboard to complete the tasks that they need.

There are a huge range of these shortcuts for each of the programs within the Office suite. Some transfer between the programs, while others are more specific to that program. It will take time for students to learn both the purpose of using the software and how to best use the software to suit their purposes.

Some examples of how students might use the Office Suite:

Word - creation of content such as a reflection, narrative or response to stimulus. Students may also use Word to access materials presented to him digitally and resize it to suit their purposes, have it read aloud by their screen reader or access it via a braille display.

PowerPoint - most commonly used to create visual presentations to be viewed by others on a specific topic. Can feature text, images, sounds and videos as required.

Excel - perform calculations using formula to determine values, create a budget, graph data or keep track of items with a list of details.

Outlook - Access to emails to communicate quickly and efficiently with teachers and peers. Send and receive content that they require to complete their studies via attachments.

Guides

Power Point Recording Audio or video over slides JUNE 2022.pdf

Above: Guide on how to add audio recordings to PowerPoint presentations in PowerPoint for Office 365.

Video Guides

Coming Soon

Links