Learn How to Use Excel From a Microsoft Certified Master Instructor
Bizsnack Gets Some Time to Rap With Instructor Todd McLeod
by Mark Monaco
One of the defining characteristics of Bizsnack as an e-learning company is how much we focus on our instructors. This week we are catching up with Todd McLeod, Microsoft Certified Master Instructor and 20 year educator, to talk to him about his background as a teacher and his course on Bizsnack.
A little background
Todd Mcleod is a man of many interests. He is a writer, a consultant, a surfer and a Microsoft Certified Master Instructor. Todd has dedicated more than a decade to bringing Microsoft products and training people how to use Excel, in addition to his 20 years of teaching experience. As a tenured professor at Fresno City College he is a well respected member of the faculty there and is currently teaching in the Computer Information Technology department. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from UC Santa Cruz and an MBA from CSU Fresno.
What got you started in teaching Excel?
About a decade ago I decided to get a Microsoft Certified Master Instructor certification. There were roughly 1,000 people in the US who had earned it so it helped to bring my knowledge some validation. At the time I was teaching at a community college and the validation helped to act as a social signal to my students. People respect the training programs that Microsoft offers and I devoted myself to obtaining as many as possible. Eventually I learned about the Certified Master Instructor credentials and decided to go for it. I figured it would help to round out my knowledge base and have more to offer my students.
What drew you to teach your course on Bizsnack?
Bizsnack is great! Its amazing how much they have to offer their learners. It’s nice to know that there are focused options out there that are helping people to better themselves in their business acumen. Its an extremely valuable service that they provide and they are trying to engage their learners and instructors in a new and original way. I’m all for the personalized way they have been approaching things. It’s the perfect fit for me to teach people how to use Excel.
What are some of the reasons you decided to create an Excel course for eLearners?
My Excel course covers everything that the latest version has to offer. I start by showing students how to use functions to find solutions to problems and then eventually work them up to pivot tables. I’d like to think it’s very comprehensive. As far as eLearning goes there are a myriad of advantages over traditional learning systems. It’s personalized, can be tailored, can be enjoyed on-demand, any time, any place, and it is rapidly integrating methodologies to increase learning speed and retention.
Who usually needs help with Excel?
There is a sort of imbalance when it comes to people using Excel. Most people are very familiar with Microsoft Word since we have a focus on writing. We don’t spend a lot of time with data when we are learning in the early years, so people’s exposure to Excel is limited. This is what I’ve found through my years of training people how to use Excel. Everyone could use a little more time getting to know this great program.
What do you use Excel for?
I personally use Excel for any number of things. Professionally I use it to process data and take text from sources and make them into a more readable file. I do web scraping and drop it into an Excel file. It makes it so developing a competitive analysis is that much easier.
Another cool thing I use it for in my personal life is a mail merge (out of Gmail and into Excel). From there I can make form letters and even Christmas cards to go out to my family and friends.
Any thoughts about the direction education and training are taking?
The future of education is a change in the channels of distribution. This will emulate the transformations that have occurred in the music, movie, and book publishing industries: you have the content creators, the content consumers, and then between them are the content distributors. The old players weren't eliminated, however, roles have shifted. This will be the same in education. The current content distributors are universities/ colleges. This will change to reflect what Bizsnack is doing, providing tailored on-demand learning.
What does the future hold for Todd McLeod?
The future is always kind of unknown. Lately I’ve gotten into some basic programming and I am looking for ways to apply that to what I’m already doing. I’m also a novelist so I write a lot. I have a somewhat unusual writing style since I don’t correct grammatical errors, I prefer a more free form approach. I usually write, check the spelling and then publish my work, its a similar style to EE Cummings.
Aside from that I’ll continue to teach people how to use Excel and to better understand Microsoft programs.
What's your personal motto?
Be kind to each other.