Here’s a quick tip that can make an immediate impact: use the Rule of Thirds to layout slides. According to the rule of thirds, an image is most pleasing when it is organized along imaginary lines that divide the image into thirds. This rule is used by photographers to compose photos. Notice how points of interest appear at the intersections, and the horizon follows the top line.

You can set up guides in PowerPoint so you can follow this design tip in your own slides. Here’s how:

Click the View tab on the Ribbon and click the Guides check box in the Show group. By default the guides are arranged to the center of the slide. To rearrange them and divide the slide in thirds, just click and drag the guides. To add a guide, press and hold <Ctrl> as you click and drag.
Now you can organize the slide into thirds. (The guides appear for all slides in the presentation.) For example, we’ve taken this slide, which doesn’t follow the rule of thirds, and rearranged the items at focal points along the intersections of the lines, instead of just in the middle.

As you can see, simply rearranging the slide has made it much more interesting. And now you have the design tip you’ve been wanting for making your slides (and photos) better.

Excel does this by using formulas in cells. A formula performs calculations or other actions on the data in your worksheet. A formula always starts with an equal sign (=), which can be followed by numbers, math operators (such as a plus or minus sign), and functions, which can really expand the power of a formula.

For example, the following formula multiplies 2 by 3 and then adds 5 to that result to come up with the answer, 11.

=2*3+5

This next formula uses the PMT function to calculate a mortgage payment ($1,073.64), which is based on a 5 percent interest rate (5% divided by 12 months equals the monthly interest rate) over a 30-year period (360 months) for a $200,000 loan:

=PMT(0.05/12,360,200000)

Here are some additional examples of formulas that you can enter in a worksheet.

• =A1+A2+A3    Adds the values in cells A1, A2, and A3.
• =SQRT(A1)    Uses the SQRT function to return the square root of the value in A1.
• =TODAY()    Returns the current date.
• =UPPER(“hello”)     Converts the text “hello” to “HELLO” by using the UPPER worksheet function.
• =IF(A1>0)    Tests the cell A1 to determine if it contains a value greater than 0.

The parts of a formula

A formula can also contain any or all of the following: functions, references, operators, and constants.

Using constants in formulas

A constant is a value that is not calculated; it always stays the same. For example, the date 10/9/2008, the number 210, and the text “Quarterly Earnings” are all constants. An expression or a value resulting from an expression is not a constant. If you use constants in a formula instead of references to cells (for example, =30+70+110), the result changes only if you modify the formula.

Using calculation operators in formulas

Operators specify the type of calculation that you want to perform on the elements of a formula. There is a default order in which calculations occur (this follows general mathematical rules), but you can change this order by using parentheses.

Types of operators

There are four different types of calculation operators: arithmetic, comparison, text concatenation, and reference.

Arithmetic operators

To perform basic mathematical operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division; combine numbers; and produce numeric results, use the following arithmetic operators.

Comparison operators

You can compare two values with the following operators. When two values are compared by using these operators, the result is a logical value — either TRUE or FALSE.

Text concatenation operator

Use the ampersand (&) to concatenate (join) one or more text strings to produce a single piece of text.

Reference operators

Combine ranges of cells for calculations with the following operators.

The order in which Excel performs operations in formulas

In some cases, the order in which a calculation is performed can affect the return value of the formula, so it’s important to understand how the order is determined and how you can change the order to obtain the results you want.

Calculation order

Formulas calculate values in a specific order. A formula in Excel always begins with an equal sign (=). Excel interprets the characters that follow the equal sign as a formula. Following the equal sign are the elements to be calculated (the operands), such as constants or cell references. These are separated by calculation operators. Excel calculates the formula from left to right, according to a specific order for each operator in the formula.

Operator precedence

If you combine several operators in a single formula, Excel performs the operations in the order shown in the following table. If a formula contains operators with the same precedence — for example, if a formula contains both a multiplication and division operator — Excel evaluates the operators from left to right.

Use of parentheses

To change the order of evaluation, enclose in parentheses the part of the formula to be calculated first. For example, the following formula produces 11 because Excel performs multiplication before addition. The formula multiplies 2 by 3 and then adds 5 to the result.

=5+2*3

In contrast, if you use parentheses to change the syntax, Excel adds 5 and 2 together and then multiplies the result by 3 to produce 21.

=(5+2)*3

In the following example, the parentheses that enclose the first part of the formula force Excel to calculate B4+25 first and then divide the result by the sum of the values in cells D5, E5, and F5.

=(B4+25)/SUM(D5:F5)

Using references in formulas

A reference identifies a cell or a range of cells on a worksheet, and tells Excel where to look for the values or data you want to use in a formula. You can use references to use data contained in different parts of a worksheet in one formula or use the value from one cell in several formulas. You can also refer to cells on other sheets in the same workbook, and to other workbooks. References to cells in other workbooks are called links or external references.

The A1 reference style

The default reference style    By default, Excel uses the A1 reference style, which refers to columns with letters (A through XFD, for a total of 16,384 columns) and refers to rows with numbers (1 through 1,048,576). These letters and numbers are called row and column headings. To refer to a cell, enter the column letter followed by the row number. For example, B2 refers to the cell at the intersection of column B and row 2.

Making a reference to another worksheet    In the following example, the AVERAGE worksheet function calculates the average value for the range B1:B10 on the worksheet named Marketing in the same workbook.

 Refers to the worksheet named Marketing

 Refers to the range of cells between B1 and B10, inclusively

 Separates the worksheet reference from the cell range reference

Microsoft Word 2010 is a word-processing program, designed to help you create professional-quality documents. With the finest document-formatting tools, Word helps you organize and write your documents more efficiently. Word also includes powerful editing and revising tools so that you can collaborate with others easily.

Find and apply a template

Word 2010 allows you to apply built-in templates, to apply your own custom templates, and to search from a variety of templates available on Office.com. Office.com provides a wide selection of popular Word templates, including basic resumes, job-specific resumes, agendas, print business cards, and faxes.

To find and apply a template in Word, do the following:

1. On the File tab, click New.
2. Under Available Templates, do one of the following:

• To use one of the built-in templates, click Sample Templates, click the template that you want, and then click Create.
• To reuse a template that you’ve recently used, click Recent Templates, click the template that you want, and then click Create.
• To use your own template that you previously created, click My Templates, click the template that you want, and then click OK.
• To find a template on Office.com, under Office.com Templates, click the template category that you want, click the template that you want, and click Download to download the template from Office.com to your computer

Create a new document

1. Click the File tab and then click New.
2. Under Available Templates, click Blank Document.
3. Click Create.

Open a document

1. Click the File tab, and then click Open.
2. In the left pane of the Open dialog box, click the drive or folder that contains the document.
3. In the right pane of the Open dialog box, open the folder that contains the drawing that you want.
4. Click the document and then click Open.

Save a document

To save a document in the format used by Word 2010 and Word 2007, do the following:

1. Click the File tab.
2. Click Save As.
3. In the File name box, enter a name for your document.
4. Click Save.

To save a document so that it is compatible with Word 2003 or earlier, do the following:

1. Open the document that you want to be used in Word 2003 or earlier.
2. Click the File tab.
3. Click Save As.
4. In the Save as type list, click Word 97-2003 Document. This changes the file format to .doc.
5. In the File name box, type a name for the document.
6. Click Save.

Read documents

1. Open the document that you want to read.
2. On the View tab, in the Document Views group, click Full Screen Reading

3. To move from page to page in a document, do one of the following:

• Click the arrows in the lower corners of the pages.
• Press PAGE DOWN and PAGE UP or SPACEBAR and BACKSPACE on the keyboard.
• Click the navigation arrows at the top center of the screen.

Track changes and insert comments

• To turn on change tracking, on the Review tab, in the Tracking group, click Track Change.

• To insert a comment, on the Review tab, in the Comments group, click New Comment.

Print your document

1. Click the File tab and then click Print.
2. Do the following:

• Under Print, in the Copies box, enter the number of copies that you want to print.
• Under Printer, make sure that the printer that you want is selected.
• Under Settings, the default print settings for your printer are selected for you. If you want to change a setting, click the setting you want to change and then select the setting that you want.

3. When you are satisfied with the settings, click Print.

Everyone did very well. We have even opened up opportunities for all graduates to come in on Fridays and work on getting additional blood draw sticks with our Medical Assistant students. (previous students that want to take advantage of this, please email us, clientservices@the-learning-pad.com.)

We are so proud of everything that Tiffany Estrada has accomplished. She was sponsored by a grant and she took full opportunity of what was provided to her. There were a few times she questioned herself and if she could or would complete the program, but she listened and took to heart the advice her counselors and instructors provided, and she completed and PASSED her National Certification Exam.

She is now certified as a Clinical Medical Assistant, as a Certified Phlebotomy Technician, Certified as a Electrocardiogram Technician, and she has earned her Clinical CPR, AED Certifications.

Keep up the GREAT work Tiffany and you will go far!

The Learning Pad will celebrate its launch with a Ribbon Cutting by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and Open House on August 22, 2011 from10:30am-5:30pm CST. The open house will be featuring:

• Food & drink
• Scholarship drawings.
• Drawings for free software workshops.
• Free Office 2010 workshops onsite and online.
• Free Adobe Photoshop workshops onsite and online.
• Free healthcare screening (blood pressure, EKG’s, and tours of the medical labs and classrooms.)
• Free computer diagnostics, bring in your computer that is running slow or not at all.

It can be a little nervous performing a venipuncture in front of the rest of the class, but everyone supported everyone and all did just fine. And PASSED!!

Way to go everyone!!

Way to go team!!

Others had backgrounds in other service industries such as the food industry and retail, and were taking this class to expand their resume and employment opportunities.

A few in this class after graduation went on to volunteer at the Central Texas Blood and Tissue Center to expand their resume for employment. And other were able to get on at some of the various laboratories in town such as CPL.

We wish everyone good luck in their endeavors!

Each student worked very hard in studying and learning via hands on labs and classroom work. Each one was able to build from scratch a Personal Computer. They were able to install new operating systems, and they were able to run diagnostics. Alot of fun was also had in being able to perform these tasks in our computer build laboratory. After that they learned how to network these computers together and administrate that network.

Their instructor Mr. Coffey, as well as the rest of our staff wish them well in their Technology endeavors.