I have finally finished recording Word 2007 Basic 1. What is "Basic 1" you might ask? Well, I've decided to change the way I categorize my courses. Instead of 101, 102, 103, etc. I've decided to change them to:

Basic
Expert
Advanced
Developer

So, Microsoft 2007 Basic 1 (or B1) is the first beginner Word course, which will be followed by Basic 2, 3, etc. and then Expert 1, 2, 3, and so on for Advanced and Developer.

Why the change? I've decided to make some fairly radical changes to the WAY I teach some of my classes. I want the Basic courses to be tailored to the first time or novice users who just want to learn one simple way of doing things. The goal for the Basic courses is to just get productive with the application.

For example, in Word 101, I teach you several different ways to cut, copy, and paste text using the mouse and keyboard. I show you four or five different ways to open and save documents. When I started working on the new Office 2007 courses, I realized that a first-time Word user doesn't care about all that. They just want to learn ONE good way to save and open a document.

So the Basic courses will focus on ONE way of doing things. I'll save all of the options, tips, tricks, and timesavers for the EXPERT lessons. The Expert users are the ones who want to go beyond the Basics. You want to learn all of the different ways to copy and paste text. You want to learn all of the different options for saving and loading documents. You already know how to use Word, now you want to become more proficient with Word. So the slogan for the Expert lessons is, "show me the details."

The Advanced and Developer courses will be for those 5% of my students who want to go even further with the application. This generally involves programming (macros or VBA) and other developer-level techniques. This is where I personally have a lot of fun, and I can't wait to rip Office 2007 apart with you - to learn what's under the hood.

I've found through all of the surveys that I get from new customers that the old numbering system of 101, 102, 201, etc. is sometimes confusing. Students don't often know where to start, or what course they should move to next. Hopefully this will help.

Plus, it's easier to read "Word 2007 Basic 1" than it is to try and figure out "Word 2007 101". Don't you think?

Anyhow... I just finished Word 2007 B1 tonight. It took me over 10 hours to record about an hour worth of video - not counting the many hours I spent researching and developing the outline to find JUST the right combination of features to cover for a novice user.

The beginner lessons are the most challenging for me because the videos have to be PERFECT. I need to make sure I speak clearly and slowly enough to be understood. Those of you who have taken some of my seminars and advanced classes before know how I can sometimes get going to start talking real fast or moving the mouse around like a crazy man. I don't know how many times I've caught myself doing this while recording Word B1. "Retake!"

So, here is the outline for this new class. I hope to have it posted to the Web site for download / viewing online tomorrow. I still have to record the "intro" and "review" lessons, but that only takes a few minutes.

Oh, and of course, those of you who purchased my old Word 101 course during the FREE upgrade window (November 2007 to today) will get instructions on how to redeem your free copy.

Take care.