Quick Course® Series
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the Quick Course® series different?
How are Quick Course® titles developed?
What's your teaching style like?
What do Quick Course® books look like?
Who's using the Quick Course® series?
How is the Quick Course® series used?
Do Quick Course® books come with sample files?
Are the Quick Course® materials available on video?
Do you still offer online courses?
Why is the Quick Course® series different?
There's a saying in the computer industry that 80 percent of the people who buy best-selling software products use only 20 percent of the products' features. Quick Course titles cover a lot more than that 20 percent, but it is not our intention to describe in detail every command and feature of each software program. Instead, we cover only what people need to know to do useful work. In other words, our goal is to help people integrate computer software into their daily work lives with as little fuss as possible.
How are Quick Course® titles developed?
We start with a list of the tasks usually performed in an office environment and the types of documents usually created with each type of software—word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and so on. Next we work with a particular program, often before it is released, to determine which features people need to learn to efficiently carry out these tasks. We then create sample documents and show people, step-by-step, how to use the software's features in logical combinations to produce professional results. By adhering to this task-based, document-oriented approach, we avoid the pitfalls inherent in methods that teach software features without providing context.
What's your teaching style like?
We believe in learning by doing, but we also believe that in order for true learning to take place, "doing" must have some context. So we provide a balance between step-by-step instruction, visual reinforcement, and text explanations. But don't take our word for it. Click here to see a sample chapter from one of our books and get an idea of the style, pace, and depth of coverage of our titles.
Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this sample file. If you have trouble opening a file from the web site, save it to your computer's hard drive before opening it.
What do Quick Course® books look like?
Quick Course books are designed for ease of use at the computer. They have large type and wide margins for taking notes. Margin pointers indicate the location of related material, and tips provide extra help or background information without cluttering up the main text. See the Sample Pages for a typical book interior.
Who's using the Quick Course® series?
Our customers include:
- Educators in community colleges, technical schools, universities, adult and continuing education programs, and high schools
- Corporate and government trainers
- Commercial training companies
- Libraries
- Individuals
How is the Quick Course® series used?
The Quick Course series has been designed with instructional flexibility in mind. The titles can be used as the basis for:
- Quarter- or semester-long courses
- Week-long courses
- One- or two-day seminars
- Refresher courses
- Self-paced training
Often educators and trainers are responsible for teaching the same software program in more than one environment. For example, an educator might be required to teach a semester-long course and a short course. Or a trainer might be responsible for conducting an all-day workshop and providing materials for managers who want to teach themselves. Meeting all these expectations was easier when educators and trainers had time to develop their own materials. Now, with shrinking budgets and the difficulty of keeping up-to-date with ever-evolving software, those faced with the task of meeting the needs of a diverse clientele look to outside sources for materials.
We strive to ensure that Quick Course titles can be adapted to meet a variety of training needs, including classroom instruction, take-away practice exercises, and self-training. As a result, our clients aren't faced with the task of familiarizing themselves with different materials for different types of instruction. Here's an example of how this works.
For corporate environments, we promote the implementation of trickle-down training. More than just a catchy phrase, trickle-down training can enable trainers with limited resources to bring groups of employees or even entire departments up to speed with the software programs used to carry out the group's functions. At its simplest, the concept works like this: One member of each group is selected to attend an in-house workshop and receive hands-on instruction in one or more software programs. That person goes back to his or her group armed with the Quick Course book or CD-ROM used in the workshop. Copies of the same Quick Course book or CD-ROM are also made available to each of the other members of the group, who are allocated a certain amount of time to independently work through the material. If at any point any member of the group has questions or problems, the person who attended the workshop is available to help.
Do Quick Course® books come with sample files?
Some do, some don't. For Quick Course books that come with additional exercises, we also provide instructor's materials that include source disks. In most office situations, however, people are rarely handed a document on a disk and asked, for example, to add headers and footers to it. When they first begin working with a software program, they usually enter their documents from scratch, formatting them as appropriate for each type of document. As they accumulate a "library" of documents on their hard disks, they start to recycle them, using a memo as the basis for a letter, for example, or one spreadsheet as the basis for another. The concept of recycling documents is critical to increasing efficiency and therefore productivity, so we incorporate create-from-scratch-and-then-recycle experiences into our books as part of the course. As people follow along with a Quick Course book, they first enter simple documents from scratch, and then they recycle them. In the case of database programs, they construct a simple relational database from scratch because we believe that's the best way for people to see how all the pieces fit together.
But for those clients whose classes don't take a linear path through the Quick Course tutorials or for those who want additional exercises, we supply documents on disk for an additional fee.
Are the Quick Course® materials available on video?
The short answer is "No." Most people don't have video machines and TV screens in their offices to walk them through the steps for creating that sales summary by lunch time or getting that flyer to the printer by 4:00 PM. Even if they did, videos don't exactly shine when it comes to looking something up. Quick Course titles, on the other hand, are designed to be useful long after people have taken a class or worked through the tutorial on their own. Can't remember how to link the cells in two Excel worksheets? Or how to add page numbers to the slides of a PowerPoint presentation? In all Quick Course titles, an annotated table of contents, chapter contents lists, and an index.
Do you still offer online courses?
We no longer sell Quick Course online courses, but we still support courses for customers who have purchased from us in the past. Click this link to open the Online Course Login page: