On Monday evenings during fall semester at Southwest Virginia Community College, thirteen students, all of whom are employed at various companies throughout the college service region are learning how to use the new version of Microsoft® Office Excel 2007. Kayla Ratliff, a Gasco Drilling, Inc. employee and current SwVCC student recommended the class to six of her co-workers. The other seven participants are office professionals by day, students by night.
Microsoft® Excel 2007 has dramatically improved and has a different look and feel compared to the earlier versions. The new version is getting excellent reviews from everyone because it provides an easier way to access common features and commands. The new interface of Office 2007 is evident now that the Office button has replaced the File menu, and the drop down menus have been replaced with Tabs and Ribbons. Since the release Office 2007, most people have elected to take a class to improve their job performance and learn the new layout before utilizing Excel 2007 on their office computers.
After completing the course, students should be prepared for the Excel 2007 Certification Exam, which is one of the new Microsoft Business Application certification exams. Testing candidates that earn a passing score will receive an official Microsoft Certified Applications Specialist (MCAS) certificate from Microsoft. A congratulatory letter endorsed by Bill Gates, President and CEO of Microsoft, Inc. is enclosed with each certificate.
Excel 2007 exam objectives are listed at Certiport, Inc., http://www.certiport.com and lots of helpful information is available on Microsoft’s web site http://www.microsoft.com . Other MCAS certification exams include Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, and Windows Vista. Please contact the SwVCC Business Division at 276.964.7277 to find out about upcoming classes and schedules. More information is available online at http://www.sw.edu/BusinessDivision or http://www.sw.edu/clc