About IT Services Short Courses

IT Services offers free classes on various computer technology topics for School of Information students, faculty, and staff. Subjects range from operating systems like Unix to instruction in basic HTML and specific applications such as Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft PowerPoint. Most short courses are offered in the IT Lab Annex, Sanchez 451.

Spring 2009 Short Course Schedule

All courses will be one hour and held in the IT Lab annex (quiet room) unless otherwise noted. PDF class handouts will be posted to this site.

SERIES I: Wayfinding
S1 is about finding your way around the Lab and introducing some of the software or activities you will encounter while at the iSchool. The focus will be on navigating the workspace and generalized tasks and project approach.

SERIES II: Core skills and best practices
S2 works through core skills and best practices.

SERIES III: "Advanced"
S3 goes into the fun stuff; making the software do your work!

SERIES IV: Last Chance
S4 contains a "last chance web class" and the posters session.

Free Software Alternatives Handout (Handout)

SERIES I COURSES: January 26 - February 14

Sign up for courses here
Courses will be added to to the sign-up page as dates are confirmed

IT Lab and iSchool accounts (Instructor: Vivi)
Date: Monday, January 26, 4 pm

Intro to IT Lab (Handout)

• Equipment (in the lab, for checkout)
• Instruction (one-on-ones, short courses, boot camp, online tutorials)
• iSchool account (e-mail, server space)
• Policies (printing, basic lab rules)

Microsoft Basics (Instructor: Helen)
Date: Wednesday, Feb 4, 5 pm

Office Basics (Handout)

• Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Navigating the workspace
• Common tools
• Open Source alternatives

Intro to Web Design (Instructor: Rebecca)
2 date options:
Thursday, Feb 5, 6:30 pm
Saturday, Feb 7, 1 pm

Intro to Web Design(Handout)

• Introduce editors
• What is HTML, what are the key elements
• What is CSS, how does it relate to HMTL
• Using templates
• Site architecture
• Site validation

Scans, Screen Capture and Acrobat (Instructor: Vivi)
Date: Wednesday, Jan 28, 5 pm

Scans and Screenshots (Handout)

• How to do it on a PC
• How to do it on a Mac
• How to scan with the lab scanners
• Why create PDFs
• How to convert other types of docs into PDFs
• What Acrobat can and cannot be used for (full version vs. Reader)

Microsoft PowerPoint (Instructor: Emily W.)
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 11, 5:00

Microsoft PowerPoint (Handout)

• How to create a basic presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
• How to add media content to your presentation
• How to upload the presentation for display on the web
• Best practices for slide presentations
• Available alternatives to Microsoft PowerPoint 2007

Adobe Basics: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign (Instructor: Eryn)
Date: Friday, Feb. 13 10:30 a.m

• When to use which product
• Vector vs raster/bitmap images (scalability/pixellation)
• Differences from MS products ("place" and not "insert")
• Navigating the workspace
  • Common tools
  • Images for web vs. print (dpi, "save for web")
  • Open Source alternatives

SERIES II COURSES: February 11 - March 13

Sign up for courses here
Courses will be added to to the sign-up page as dates are confirmed

Word I with Helen

Date: Wednesday, Feb 18, 5 pm

• Header/footer
• Tabs and columns
• Page and section breaks
• Insert and format images
• Create and format tables
• Open Source alternatives

XML with Stephanie and Doug

2 date options:
Tuesday, Feb 17, 2 pm
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2pm

Intro to XML (Handout)

• XML: What is it, why is it so universal, its connection to metadata, data and metadata migration.
• What makes XML different than XHTML or HTML, what is a DTD, introduction to XML schemas
• Introduction editors
• Oxygen, Notepad ++ (open-source)
• Pros and cons of programs
• Basic code: elements of header, importance of proper coding
• Troubleshooting
• Validate
• Using Oxygen
• Other methods: validator sites, etc.

GLIFOS with Emily Vinson
Date: Thursday, Feb 19, 6 pm

GLIFOS (Handout)

• Intro to GLIFOS
• Cleaning your Transcript
• Syncing Video and Transcript
• KMZ files
• Troubleshooting

Omigraffle and Visio with Eryn

• New documents options for creating new documents
• Importing and exporting diagrams to and from Visio
• Templates: how to download
• Sample documents
• blueprint
• wireframe
• work flow
• organization diagram
• workspace
• common tools

Description: Diagramming software was created for natural born organizers like you! This short course is tailored to explain the common uses of Omnigraffle and Visio for the information architect. We'll cover importing and exporting file types, creating new documents, using templates, and review some sample documents.

• First hour and half is for instruction and activities
• Last half hour is optional for self directed exploration

WEB I: HTML for Templates with Kevin and Stephanie

2 date options:
Sunday, March 1, 2 pm
Wednesday, March 4, 2 pm

WEB I (Handout)

• Picking a template that suits your needs
• Cherry-picking code/modifying templates
• HTML basics, proper code, etc.
• CC & copyright issues
• Validation

Excel with Helen

Date: Wednesday, March 4, 5 pm

• Basic formatting, formulas and functions
• Filters
• Charts
• Gantt chart (customize a stacked bar chart)
• Header/Footer
• Working with multiple tabs and views (freeze pane and windows)
• Print options (print gridlines, repeat row/column)
• Open Source alternatives

WEB II: HTML and CSS with Kevin and Stephanie

2 date options:
Sunday, March 8, 2 pm
Wednesday, March 11, 2 pm

WEB II (Handout)

• Review of HTML basics
• Fundamentals of CSS [div tags, headers, etc]
• Attaching stylesheets
• Lots of time to play around and experiment

SERIES III: "advanced"

Sign up for courses here
Courses will be added to to the sign-up page as dates are confirmed.

InDesign with Doug

Thursday, March 26, 1 p.m.

• Setting up pages
• Working with text
• Setting type
• Importing and managing graphics
• Arranging and combining objects
• Working with transparency (if there's time)
• Applying color (if there's time)

Excel II with Rebecca

Thursday, March 26, 6pm

• Conditional formatting
• Conditional functions (countif, sumif...)
• Advanced functions (concantenate, trim, transpose, etc)
• Create drop-down menus

Photoshop with Stephanie

2 dates options:
Tuesday, Mar 31, 1 pm
Wednesday, Apr 1, 2 pm

• Intro to the tools panel, getting familiar with the layout
• Layers - why use them, what you can do with them
• Batch processing (actions, etc.)
• "Save for web" option and other "save as" commands - RBG, CMYK, etc.
• Time to play

Word II with Rebecca

Thursday, April 2, 6 pm

• Using and customizing styles
• Create table of contents, etc.
• Mail merge
• Using "names" and "bookmarks"

SERIES IV COURSES: April 12 - April 17

Poster Session

"Last chance for Web"

Previous Courses

Boot Camp Basics

iSchool Vocab (Handout)
Introduction to IT Lab resources (Handout | Slides)
Powerpoint (Handout | Slides)
Excel (Handout | Slides)
Server Space (Handout | Slides)
Introduction to Macs (Handout)
Screenshots: Mac & PC (Handout | Slides)
Server Space (Handout | Slides)

Boot Camp Web

HTML and Templates (Handout | Slides)
an introduction to HTML and templates. HTML is a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document. Templates are a tool to separate the content from the presentation in Web design. Templates are a quick and dirty way to get a Web site up fast; great for Web portfolios.

HTML and Dreamweaver (Handout | Slides)
An introduction to HTML and Adobe Dreamweaver. HTML is a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document. Adobe Dreamweaver is a web design and site management program. Dreamweaver is an easy way to build sites without knowing a lot of code, and great for long-term site building and maintenance.

HTML and Intro to CSS (Handout | Slides)
An introduction to HTML and CSS. HTML is a means to describe the structure of text based information in a document. CSS is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language. CSS is a great way of changing the look of an entire site without having to change each page individually.

Other courses

Getting Your Vision on Big Paper: Poster Sessions and You (Handout | Slides)
Resources for students creating a poster for a presentation session and tips for poster creation and presentation. Materials also cover information and expectations for the iSchool's Capstone Poster Session, a mandatory graduation requirement.

Past Courses

Introduction to Macs for PC Users
Advanced Searching With Google
Using RSS
Converting VHS Tapes to DVD
Introduction to Morae
Getting Your Vision on Big Paper: Poster Sessions and You
How to Create and Post a Web Page
How to Use Your School of Information Account
Introduction to PowerPoint
Introduction to Photoshop
Introduction to Fireworks
Introduction to Illustrator
Introduction to Microsoft Word
Introduction to Dreamweaver
Advanced Dreamweaver
Introduction to HTML
Introduction to XML
How to Use Cascading Style Sheets
Introduction to iLife (iPhoto, iMusic, iMovie, iDVD)
Usability Testing with Morae
Using Linux