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Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and Learning

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and Learning

By
KABIRU BAWA, SHUAIBU SAMINU, ABDULLAHI RABIU, And
IBRAHIM ZUBAIRU
Department of Science and Technical Education,
Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano
Introduction
A computer has become an essential part of teaching and learning due to the
way it simplifies activities and provides accurate data with a very high
processing speed. It is a very vital device for efficiency improvement and
precision of task execution (Kazaure et al, 2019). A computer is an electronic
device operating under the control of instructions stored in its memory, these
instructions tell the machine what to do (Mugivane, 2014). This means a
computer cannot work without instructions (operating systems such as
Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu, etc., and application packages such as Microsoft
office word, excel, and PowerPoint, etc.).
Teaching and learning is an ongoing lifelong activity where teachers
incorporated new methods and skills and the learners change their expectations
by acquiring knowledge that departs from the traditional approach. Teaching
and Learning have passed through different stages ranging from the stone and
rock age where people used the surface of rocks to make drawing and writing
for teaching and learning purpose, followed by the book and chalkboard stage,
at this stage there was widespread awareness and knowledge acquisition through
the use of printing materials, then mass communication stage where radio and
television were used for conveying information and knowledge, and finally the
computer stage where the computer is used as a tool for teaching and learning
(Rajagopalan, 2019).
Therefore, teaching and learning transformed from the traditional approach to
technology or a computer-based approach. Skills in using a computer will now
be a necessary requirement for teaching and learning. By the end of this chapter,
one will be able to develop skills in the application of Microsoft office suite
Desktop publishing in teaching and learning.

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

Concepts of Microsoft Office Suite

Microsoft Office is an office suite developed by Microsoft Corp. (a U.S.
company founded in 1975). It is a set of computer software applications for
office use, it allows automated activities of an office.
The first version of Microsoft Office was launched in 1989 with two basic
suites: the first one contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft
PowerPoint, and the other one has Microsoft Access and Schedule Plus software
as its content. MS Word is one of the most popular programs that are part of
Microsoft Office suite. It is a software used for word processing which includes
a spell checker, a synonym and it can work with many fonts type and style. MS
Excel is a spreadsheet software that has the ability to perform arithmetic
calculations automatically, thus making the assessments and computing students
results simple. While, MS PowerPoint is an office software which is used to
create and show visual presentations. It focused on the development of
multimedia slides which may include texts, images, sound and videos. The
management of personal information and emails can be managed from
Outlook. Its main point is mail, though it also contains a calendar and a
directory of contacts. Microsoft Office is a licensed program, which means it
must be purchased by users if they want to benefit from its services. Microsoft
Office suite has competitors, such as OpenOffice, Star Office, WordPerfect
Office and Lotus Symphony, but Microsoft Office suite is more commonly used
worldwide more than the other suites (Wiki Didactics, 2015).
Even though Microsoft Office comes with two basic suites but Microsoft Word,
Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint suite is mostly used more than
Microsoft Access and Schedule Plus software. So, this book chapter focuses on
the application of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint
in teaching and learning.
Microsoft Word
MS Word is a widely used word processor package designed by Microsoft
Corporation. It is a remunerated software that helps in making, editing, storing,
and printing documents accurately within a short time.
MS Word is a part of the Microsoft Office package; it can be purchased as a
stand- alone product. It was originally launched in 1983 and has been
reviewed many

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

times. It is available on both Macintosh and Windows operating systems

(Technopedia, 2020).
MS Word has several features to ease document creation and editing as follows:

1. It ensures that whatever you see on the screen will appear the same thing
when printed or converted to another format or program.
2. Proof Reading – Spelling and Grammar check: Word comes with a built-
in dictionary for spell checking; misspelled words are marked with a red
underline.
3. Text-level features such as bold, underline, italic, strikethrough,
subscript, and superscript.
4. It has Page-level features which help in paragraphing, indentation, and
justification of typed document.
5. Word Wrapping
6. Selection of a block of Text by highlighting
7. It allows text to be copied or cut, moved, pasted
8. It enables searching and replacement of text
9. It allows margin and column editing
10. Formatting and styling of text character
11. MS Word is compatible with many other programs, the most common is
the other applications in the Office package

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

The file format was .doc at default prior to the MS Word 2007 version; but in
2007, .docx became the default file format (Abdelrahman, 2013).

Application of Word Processors in Teaching and Learning

Dunbar (2007) identify some uses of MS Word in the classroom, and Sharma
(2017) also stated some importance of MS Word in education as follows:
1. E-Content Generation
 A new trend of providing customized notes to students directly in
graphic- text format is emerging.
 An educational E-content can include notes, references to books, names
of institutions, courses and subjects title, images, charts, etc. All of these
can be inserted using a word processor.
 E-content produced by educators are frequently uploaded to Internet
websites for everyone to read while online.
 E-contents are uploaded in softcopy in many formats such as PDF. It
allows anyone to read formatting content correctly in any computer
system with a PDF reader available.
 It is also creating an electronic self-learning environment for students.
2. Group Controlled Instruction
 It allows write-ups for Group interactive Sessions and learning sheets for
students Group Discussion in cloud space.
 Team Work can be easily generated via a Word Processor.

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

 Using a word processor allows storage of a digital version and easy

printing.
3. Other Uses of MS word
 Preparation of question papers and marking schemes for exams in
educational institutions.
 Producing documents for most educational administrators at any level is
done using word processors.
 Like teachers, nowadays students also use modified word processors for
storing their lesson notes.

Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a software program developed by Microsoft Corporation that
permits users to prepare, format, and calculate data with formulas using an excel
spreadsheet. This software is a part of the Microsoft Office suite and is
compatible with other applications of the office suite.

MS Excel has the same features as all other spreadsheets, and use as a group of
cells arranged into rows and columns to organize data. They also show data as
histograms, charts, and line graphs. MS Excel file is called a Workbook. A
workbook always contains at least one Worksheet. Worksheets are the grid
where a user can store and calculate data. Many worksheets can be stored by the
user inside a single workbook and each worksheet with a unique title.

Excel is used generally in most educational related activities. The ability to

make new spreadsheets where users can define formulas to calculate many
things from a simple exam grading report to a full semester/term report makes
Excel highly appealing.

Excel is a convenient tool for scientific and statistical analysis with huge data
sets. Excel’s statistical formulas and graphing can help researchers perform
variance analysis, chi-square testing, chart, and complex data analysis.

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

(BBamantra, 2020).

Applications of MS Excel in Teaching and Learning Environment:

Inputting, processing, analysis, and visualization of numerical data in a tabular
grid is done by Excel. It has the following uses in the teaching and learning
environment:
1. Administration and Management of educational institutions
 The entire management workflow of an institution is backed up by
spreadsheets.
 Databases of student scores and grades, identification, identities of
teachers, and other tabulated data can easily be produced and processed
by a spreadsheet application. It makes monitoring, evaluation, and
reporting via functional charts an easy task at the management level of
every institution of learning.
 Schedule and Time Management
 Excel spreadsheet assist in the creation of large time management
schedules and routines.
 Schedules for Organized Group Instruction can be easily managed using
an excel spreadsheet. (Teachnology, 2020).

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

2. The classroom environment

 Teachers use an excel spreadsheet to teach students how to make graphic
charts with statistical data.
 Result of classroom quizzes and other surveys activities is inputted into
the spreadsheets for better visualization and measure of the classroom
learning environment.
 Students’ learning improvement can be separately tracked using
spreadsheets.
 Likewise, the teacher can check the effectiveness of certain activities on
students and student groups. This data can provide information about the
interactive ability of a student in Group Controlled Sessions.
 Data created by using spreadsheets helps teachers to improve their
teaching capabilities and improve their individual student assessment
skills. (Sharma, 2017).
3. In Educational Research
 Excel spreadsheet is used in any sort of data related to the research field.
 It gives room to process data in phases that is data collection, data
processing, data visualization, and analysis of collected data by charts,
figures, etc. (Aydin 2016).
Microsoft PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft Corporation. This
application software permits users to create many things from simple slide
shows to complex presentations.
PowerPoint is used to communicate ideas efficiently through visual aids that are
professionally designed and are easy to create.
PowerPoint is frequently used to create educational or informational
presentations, but can also be used for business purposes. The presentations
consist of slides that mostly contain texts, images, and other media like audio
clips and videos. Sound and animations can also be added to make the
presentation more interesting. The PowerPoint design features support
customization of the appearance and formatting of the slides. PowerPoint
contains a set of preloaded themes or templates to choose from during simple
color changes to complete format layouts. It also includes all basic text editing
and styling options (Linda, 2011).

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

The default file format was .ppt earlier to the MS PowerPoint 2007 version; in
2007, .pptx then became the default file format. Also, the extensions .pps
(before MS PowerPoint 2007) and .ppsx (MS PowerPoint 2007 onwards) can be
used for opening and making presentations in Slide Show view instead of the
normal view. Data presentation in media (audio-visual) text format to any
audience is done using PowerPoint Presentation Software and Projectors
(machine to project an image onto a screen, like
in cinemas).

Applications of MS PowerPoint in Teaching and Learning Environment

Jone (2003) in his study, (The use and abuse of PowerPoint in teaching and
learning in the life sciences: A personal overview), has extensively discussed
the application of PowerPoint in teaching and learning, viz.
1. In the classroom environment
 Many modern classrooms have image projectors integrated using a
white- board touch-enabled as a screen which can be used for
PowerPoint presentation.
 Presentation slides with brief bulleting points, concept charts, images,
etc. are designed by the teachers to facilitate teaching in the classroom.
 All Presentation Software have a Slide Show feature to display all the
slides in series with animations, audio, video, etc.
 Students learn by visual understanding and revise based on bullet
representation of the data.

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

 Slides can also be made interesting to middle school students via the use
of animations.
2. Standard educational presentation must:
 Have bulletin to explain key concept/sub-concept in around 10 words.
 Contain at least 15-20 slides pages for 50-60 minutes of presentation.
 Have graphical representations to symbolize complex concepts.
 Not have more than 2 images in a slide.
 Use text colors and formatting to indicate ideas. Example - Negative and
Positive.
3. Other uses of MS PowerPoint
 PowerPoint slide shows are used in creating and displaying flashcard
quizzes for a classroom.
 PowerPoint slide-shows can be used in creating group activity and
carryout revision of topics in a classroom via question-and-answer
sessions.
4. Group Activities
 PowerPoint interactive slide shows and presentations can enable scoring
in a quiz competition session.
 Outcomes of students' group discussions and other activities can also be
presented.
Conclusion
Microsoft Office suite has become a vital software package in teaching and
learning setup where educational institutions worldwide use the package in their
daily activities ranging from academic work such as note preparation, lecture
presentation, students’ records, and student’s results computations to
administrative ones such as meetings and seminar presentations, annual
progressive reports, etc. It also plays a great role in helping students in
preparing their research work, assignment, and group or individual
presentations, therefore, the application of Microsoft office suite in teaching and
learning is highly essential.
Recommendations
1. It is recommended that MS word should be used in preparing lecture
note, test/exam question papers by teachers and also students should
motivate to prepare assignment and project chapters in MS word typeset.

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

2. It is recommended that teachers should be preparing students continuous

assessment and exams records using MS Excel and its contents should
be taught to students to prepare them for its application in teaching and
learning and other personal uses.
3. It is recommended that teachers should be using MS PowerPoint in
lectures, seminars and conference presentations and student should also
be motivated to utilize its applications for all class presentations.

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 Application of Microsoft Office Suite in Teaching and

References
Abdelrahman, O. M. (2013). The Impact of Using the Word Processor to
Develop EFL Learners' Writing Skill at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibin Saud
Islamic University. ISSN 1726-6807
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Aydin S. (2016). Using Excel in Teacher Education for Sustainability. Journal
of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 18(2), 89-104, 2016. DOI:
10.1515/jtes-2016-0017
BBamantra, (2020, October 31) computer application. Retrieve from
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Dunbar F. (2007, February 01). Ten Cool Ways to Use MS Word in Your
Classroom Retrieved from https://www.techlearning.com/news/ten-cool-
ways-to-use-ms-word-in-your-classroom on 15th December, 2020
Jones, A. M. (2003) “The use and abuse of PowerPoint in Teaching and
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