Business software tools

Module title:

Business software tools

Module overview:

The aim of this course is to enable students to learn how to use and customize email programs and video conferencing systems for communication, planning, and organization. It also includes creating presentations in accordance with best practices, generating and managing documents using word processing programs, and using tools, functions, and formulas in spreadsheet programs for table creation and data calculations.

This course builds upon previous experiences and knowledge (e.g., knowledge acquired in secondary education) to equip students for independent use of software tools.

Attending this course is essential for students since the active use of technology systematically permeates an increasing number of everyday activities. The digital literacy acquired in this course is not only a key competency in contemporary society but also enables the development of other skills unrelated to information and communication technologies, such as analytical/problem-solving skills, creativity, communicativeness, and presentation skills.

With the acquired knowledge and skills, students can effectively and constructively contribute to achieving business goals in their future employment in positions such as IT professionals or digital marketing experts.
Students will learn:
use online storage solutions for data storage
concepts of network communication and email: sending, receiving, and managing email settings, organizing, and searching email messages
use the calendar and meeting organization features in email programs
use video conferencing systems
use word processing software to create, format, and store everyday documents
use presentation software for creating and formatting presentations for a specific audience, venue, and purpose
format and clean numerical, textual, and graphic data, and sort, link, and store necessary data
edit and present data in a graphical format at an advanced level
use functions related to logical, statistical, and mathematical operations, as well as available tools for viewing and managing data
use built-in AI tools with the aim of increasing productivity, creativity and developing critical thinking
structure an academic article and use different professional and scientific sources when writing an academic article.

Literature:

Required readings:
1. Foulkes, L. (2020) Learn Microsoft Office 2019: A comprehensive guide to getting started with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, and Outlook. Birmingham: Packt Publishing Ltd.
2. Microsoft (2020) Office support [Online]. Available at: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office (Accessed: 10 May 2020)

Supplementary readings:
1. Lambert, J. and Frye, C. (2019) Microsoft Office 2019 Step by step. [s.l.]: Pearson Education, Inc.
2. Habraken, J. (2019) Microsoft Office 2019 Inside Out, 1st edition. [s.l.]: Pearson Education, Inc.
3. Hollis Weber, J. (2013) Taming Apache OpenOffice: Getting Started. [s.l.]: Friends of OpenDocument, Inc.