Research Study - Word and Excel

My name is Shirley Gibbs and I am a Lecturer in the Department of Applied Computing at Lincoln University and am also completing my PhD. My research project involves trying to understand the range of computing skills that are required in a workplace and the level of computing skill that people in different jobs have.

In order to establish these things I am planning on conducting a study of  people in the workplace who use Word Processing and Spreadsheet software.

I would appreciate your help in recruiting participants in Christchurch for my study. If you think people in your organisation would be willing to help I would appreciate the opportunity of contacting them. This contact could be made in a variety of different ways:

Please contact Shirley direct shirley.gibbs@lincoln.ac.nz

Work Experience at Ripped Orange

This spring we are lucky to have Heather, Amy and Bianca joining us to undertake some work experience as part of their CPIT Studies.

It's great to have them around the office during the week as they work on projects with Sharepoint and Google Apps.

Taking on work experience projects does require an investment of time however there are some great benefits for many organisations.

Lincoln University are doing on Microsoft Word and Excel study that may benefit your organisation.. You can view more information here.

Working from home – the new normal in Christchurch

Work environments have changed a lot in the past few years in Christchurch.  The Ripped Orange team used to be based in Moorehouse Ave but were shaken out in September 2010.  After that we bounced around a few places until we settled into our new home in Brockworth Place.

For those that don’t know Christchurch “The Brock” was student flat capital, however this is changing rapidly.

We are based in a lovely old villa, and while we work from a home it’s not our home which is great because we get the benefits of working from home but don’t have to do the lawns, cleaning or feel isolated.

Spring at the Ripped Orange office

With a few minor modifications we have created an ideal training environment that is quiet and peaceful.  It’s also proving to be a very popular place for meetings, with many local Christchurch businesses booking our rooms. 

If you are looking for a quite peaceful place to hold an offsite staff meeting,  there is more information about The Grove and The Orchard on our website.

Brainstorm and Mind Map Software

Children do Mind mapping at school, why not at work?

Mind Maps have been around for a long time, with kids learning how to produce them at school.  They are great for engaging the creative side of the brain to solve and communicate difficult concepts.

There are plenty of on line tools available to help you construct mind maps.  These tools are great for business, and easier for creating and presenting mind maps than drawing them by hand.

At Ripped Orange we use Mindomo  for communicating our course road map.  It's very quick to make and easy for people to follow. You can check out our road map here

Because it's in the cloud you can also share mind maps between staff,  ideal for creating ideas, course plans and then sharing them for input.   This can be very powerful, and avoids everyone having to have their own set of crayons!

As you would expect, you can use Mindomo on a wide variety of applications,  from desktops, to tablets and smart phones.

The free version allows you to create three maps which is good to get you started, and hooked.  If you get out the credit card you can access a whole range of features including spell check, and the ability to make unlimited maps.