FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 

on using Microsoft Office to create 

an electronic course portfolio

Table of Contents

1. What is the structure of the Electronic Course Portfolio? How is it Organized?
2. Where should I save the course portfolio index and the artifacts (i.e., all the files I create)?
3. What is Microsoft Excel?

4. What is the difference between an Excel Worksheet, an Excel Workbook, and Excel File?

5. How do I add a hyperlink to a file in Word or Excel?
6. How do I add a hyperlink to another location in the same document in Word?
7. How do I copy a URL to Excel or Word ?
8. How do I add an image to my Word Document ?
9. How do I copy images from a web site and save it to my computer ?
10. How do I keep track of my downloaded  images ?
11. How do I add a comment to a cell in Excel?
12. How do I cite electronic source materials in my portfolio?
13. What is the Web Toolbar and how do I add it to Word or Excel?

What is the structure of the Electronic Course Portfolio? How is it Organized?

The electronic course portfolio is a collection of artifacts that you are required to produce to fulfill course requirements. The artifacts are different types of electronic documents such as essays (e.g., Word documents), calculations (e.g., Excel files), presentations (e.g., PowerPoint files), and organized collections of information (e.g., Excel database).  You may, for example, have 10 artifacts that are required for your course portfolio.  Each artifact needs to be clearly identified and easily accessible.  To organize your artifacts you will need to create a Word document with a title page and an index page.

The Title Page - This page identifies the course (e.g., My Physiological Psychology Course Portfolio) and the student’s name.  It can also include a clipart or picture.

The Index Page – This page lists the content of the portfolio. Each item in the list will have a hyperlink so that when the reader clicks on the hyperlink the artifact will  open  automatically.

An example is shown below.  All blue words are hyperlinks to other documents or files.  In the original document (not in the image shown below) clicking on the hyperlinks will automatically open the file and the application that was used to create that file.

The title and index page should be created in a single Word document.  From now on this document is referred to as the course portfolio index and all of the other files that have a link in the index will be referred to as artifacts.  Save the course portfolio index with a name that identifies the course (e.g., “My_Intro_Psyc_Course_Portfolio” or “My_Experimental_Psych_Course_Portfolio”). 

Click here to download a zipped file of the Index page shown above and the associated files (these are incomplete documents). Save it to your desktop and unzip it. After unzipping the file you will find a folder (containing several artifacts)  and the My_Intro_Psyc_Course_Portfolio.doc file. Open My_Intro_Psyc_Course_Portfolio.doc  in Word and scroll down to the second page of the document, the index page. Click the hyperlinks on the Index page to open the other documents (you may need to hold down the CTRL button and click the hyperlink depending on the version of Office that you are using).

Back to Top

Where should I save the course portfolio index and the artifacts (i.e., all the files I create)?

This is what you should do.  First create a new folder in your My Documents folder.  Give this folder the name My Course Portfolios. Save the course portfolio index in the “My Course Portfolios” folder, but do not put your artifacts directly in this folder.  You should create a new folder inside the “My Course Portfolios” folder that will contain all of your artifacts.  The name of this second folder should be similar to the name of your course portfolio index.  You can see in the image below that the “My Course Portfolios” folder contains two items: the course portfolio index (named Intro Psyc Course Portfolio.doc) and the corresponding folder that contains all of the artifacts (named Intro Psych Course Portfolio).  Note that all of your artifacts should be placed in the folder before you create a hyperlink in the Index page.

When your course portfolio is complete and you want to save it to a CD (or floppy), all you have to do is to burn (or save) the course portfolio index and the corresponding folder to the CD (or floppy). If you do not follow the folder structure outlined here the hyperlinks in your Index page  may not work when someone tries to access your course portfolio from the CD or floppy disk that you created.

Back to Top

What is Microsoft Excel?

Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is usually described as a computer equivalent of a paper ledger sheet. Excel is also used to do simple to fairly complex mathematical calculations.  But Excel can also be used for non mathematical tasks such as keeping a simple database of information. If you save a lot of images from the Internet, for example, you can store all of the images in a folder but use Excel to keep track of  the images by  include hyperlinks to the images on your  computer and useful (or necessary) information on the images (see example).

Back to Top

What is the difference between an Excel worksheet, an Excel workbook,  and Excel file?

A worksheet is a single (but very large) page of columns and rows.  The intersection of a column and row is called a cell.  Cells can contain many items (e.g., numbers, labels, formulas, words, sentences, hyperlinks).  What you put in the cells depends on your needs.

In most cases when you open a Microsoft Excel file you are opening a collection of Excel worksheets; for this reason the Excel file is called a workbook.  When a new file is created in Excel three blank Worksheets are automatically added to the Workbook. The 3 worksheets are labeled Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3 and you can see them one at a time by clicking on the tabs at the bottom of the Excel screen.  If desired you can add more worksheets or delete worksheets.  Also the names of the worksheets can be renamed by double clicking on them. 

Back to Top

How do I add a hyperlink to a file in Word or Excel?

To  add a hyperlink in Word or Excel: 

• Select the text (or an image) that you want to make a hyperlink (or click on a cell in Excel) 
• Select Insert and Hyperlink
• In the Insert Hyperlink window click File under "Search for.." and browse to the file.
• If the hyperlink is to a web site instead of a file on your computer, enter the complete url in the url space that appears in the hyperlink window (or use the web browser button to find a web page).
• NOTE:  Once the hyperlink is created do not move or rename the file, or the  folders it is stored in, otherwise the hyperlink will be broken. 

Back to Top

How do I add a hyperlink to another location in the same document in Word? 

 What if you have a table of contents in a document that is 10 pages long?  You can add a hyperlink to each item in the table of contents so that when you click on an item the cursor  jumps to the corresponding section in the document. 

First you need to mark each section of the document that you would like to "jump" to.  These marks are called Bookmarks.  Next you will need to select a word (in the table of contents, for example) that will be a hyperlink to the bookmarked section.

To add a bookmark 

• Click where you want to insert a bookmark (usually in front of the first word that begins the section you want to "jump" to).
• Select Insert and Bookmark
• Under Bookmark Name type a meaningful name (Important! Do not use spaces or numbers)
• Click Add

Now select a word that you want to represent the hyperlink (e.g., an item in the Table of Contents)

• Select Insert and Hyperlink
• Under Browse for.., click Bookmark
• From the list select the bookmark you wish the hyperlink to jump to (If no there is no bookmark you must create it first).

Back to Top

How do I copy a URL to Word or Excel?

          The URL is the address to a Web Page. To add a URL into a document

• While you are in the browser highlight the URL in the browser address window, right click and select copy
• Go to the Word file and  and click where you want the URL to appear
• Right click and choose Paste
• Press Enter, Word should automatically create a hyperlink in the document
• (use the same copy - paste  steps to copy a URL into a cell in Excel)

Back to Top

How do I add an image to my Microsoft Word document?

1. Open the document to which you need to insert an image.
2. Place the cursor on the target location in the document and left click.
3. Select Insert from the standard toolbar select Picture and From File…
4. From the window that opens browse for the image , select it and click Insert (it helps to place all your images in the same  folder, e.g., “My Pictures” folder).

 To  change the size of the image 

1. Click on the image to select it
2. Place the cursor over a corner until the double-headed arrow appears
3. Left click and keep the button pressed as you drag to change the size of the image.

TIP:  Right click on the image, select Format Picture and Layout to play with the layout style

TIP: Sometimes it is easier to deal with images by placing them in a two cell Table. One cell holds the picture and the other cell holds text that describes the picture. To insert a Table select Table from the standard tool bar and follow the directions.

Back to Top

How do I copy images from a web site and save it to my computer ?

When you copy an image to a folder on your computer you should also make a record of the URL and note the copyright requests of the image owner. What you do with this information depends on what you will do with the image. (see #3 below).

1. Copy the image to the My Pictures folder located in My Documents (or create another folder for your images)

• Place the cursor over the image and right click (i.e., click the button on the right side of the mouse). 
• Choose Save Picture As ... or Save File As ...  and accept the name created by the image owner or  give the image a name that is meaningful to you (recommended). 

                                  Try it now...

  
A dog named Disney 

Disney is my family's 8-year-old female Malt-a-Poo (Maltese-Poodle mix). A sweeter dog you will not find! Yes, of course you have my permission to copy and use her picture. 

2. Copy  the URL and save it as the source of the image

• Highlight the full URL in the Browser's address window, right click and select copy. Open the file that you are using to maintain a record of all your copied images, right click and paste. ( I use a Microsoft Excel file to keep a log of all my copied  images. For instructions and an Excel  template that you can download for your own use click here.)

3. Note the copyright request of the image owner.

If the image you copied  is for your own enjoyment and the image will not be distributed in any way you need not be concerned with the  information you collected.  If you are attaching the image to a class assignment (e.g., the portfolio assignment) you must provide the source of the image (the URL) in your document. If you plan on posting the image on your personal Web site you must respect the wishes of the owner of the image.  Permission or denial of permission  to post an image may be stated explicitly.  Sometimes the owner gives permission but only if  the source of the image is included on the web site. Honor the requests of the image owner. What if  there is no indication of the image owner's wishes? This is a gray area-  you may go ahead and post it (I would include the source URL), but the safest thing to do is to ask for permission

Back to Top

How do I keep track of my downloaded  images?

I use Microsoft Excel to maintain a log of  my images. The Excel workbook includes  links to the images stored on my hard drive, notes describing the images (the red triangle in Column B indicates that a note was added),  the source URL, the date the images were downloaded, and the request of the image owners. When I download images from the Internet I keep the Excel workbook file open in the background so that I can easily add  the URLs and other information on the images.

Do you want to try it out? Download this zip file which contains the Excel workbook and example images. After unzipping the file, save the images to your images folder, open the Excel workbook and replace the hyperlinks in column B ("Location on my Computer") with the new  locations. 

NOTE: Each workbook has multiple worksheets which can be accessed by clicking on the tabs on the bottom of the screen.  It may be convenient to  use the different worksheets to categorize the images.

• To change the name of a worksheet: Right click on the tab for the worksheet, select Rename and type the new name. 
• To add a new worksheet: Select Insert and Worksheet
• To change the order of the worksheets: left click on the worksheet tab and hold down as you drag the tab to the left or right.

Back to Top

To add a comment to a cell  in Excel:

• place the cursor over the cell
• right click
• select Insert Comment
• add a comment in the box that appears. The size of the comment box can be stretched larger or smaller.  Clicking on any cell outside of the comment box will close it and a red triangle will appear in the upper right hand corner indicating that a comment was added. To read the comment just move the cursor over the cell.
• to edit the comment right click on the cell and choose Edit Comment
• to delete the comment right click on the cell and choose Delete Comment

Back to Top

How do I cite electronic sources in my portfolio?

According to the APAStyle.org  web site the proper citation for an online document is 

Author, A. A. (year). Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from source.

Example: 

Suler, J. (1996). The psychology of cyberspace.  Retrieved October 15, 2001, from http://www.rider.edu/users/suler/psycyber/psycyber.html

What if  the author or date is NOT indicated? Leave out the author and replace the date with (n.d.)

Example: 

For more examples visit the  APAStyle.org  web page for electronic citations

Also check out this useful web site:  The Right Cite http://www.bluewillowpages.com/rightcite/

Back to Top

What is the Web Toolbar and how do I add it to Word or Excel?

By default Microsoft Office applications have the Standard and Formatting toolbars on the top of the screen.  There are many other toolbars that are available for giving the Microsoft applications instructions on what to do.  To see the list of available (and installed) toolbars right click on any of the existing toolbars (or select View | Toolbars); click on one in the list to make it available.  One of the toolbars in the list is the "Web" toolbar.  This Web toolbar allows you to navigate to Internet, but it also allows you to navigate between the documents on your computer that you opened with the hyperlinks that you created. Another useful toolbar is the Drawing Toolbar.

Back to Top

What is Missing from this list?  Let me know what else I can help you with to create your portfolio using Microsoft Office.  E-Mail: vigorimi@shu.edu

Copyright © 2001  Michael Vigorito All rights reserved.
Revised: October 20, 2003 .