Study program a classy aid to total learning

A suite of tools for integrating sources of information

I managed to get my schooling out of the way just before computers and the internet took over our lives. My study materials consisted of a pile of dog-eared text books and a 1B5 notebook for each subject I took. By exam time, half the textbooks were lost or stolen and the notebooks were full of illegible scribbles and caricatures of my least favourite teachers.

I could really have done with something like Microsoft Student. It's a sort of workflow management system except it's your kids' homework that's being organised, not the workings of a factory production line.

There is a lot of software available catering to the education market. Much of it is specific to a particular school or country's education systems.

Microsoft Student is much more egalitarian. At its centre is arguably the most accessible of the electronic encyclopaedias, Microsoft Encarta.

Often underestimated, Encarta has been around for a decade now and when used in conjunction with trusted web sources of information is an incredibly powerful educational tool.

Present here is the Encarta Reference Library which includes the encyclopaedia, a world atlas, an English dictionary, four bilingual dictionaries and integration with online sources of information.

The real brains of Microsoft Student 2006, however, is a suite of tools to make sense of information culled from Encarta, the web and those dog-eared text books.

There are templates for presenting information and reports and tips on how students can get more out of Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Powerpoint and Excel.

For this reason, Microsoft Student is totally dependent on you having the Office suite installed on your computer.

The software has that familiar Office feel to it so should be easy to pick up for kids who have grown up with Windows. The internet-enabled element of the software is substantial but won't require a high-speed internet connection. A research tool displays results plucked from Encarta alongside your general internet search engine queries in the same way the Google Desktop search tool will display the contents of your computer hard drive alongside relative internet searches.

There are also guides to famous works of literature, the bare bones electronic equivalent of Cliff Notes.

Microsoft Student is an ideal software suite for the type of kids pictured on the front of the box - tech-savvy, intelligent vessels willing to be filled with knowledge.

It's not a remedial package for slow learners but simple to use, is of value to kids studying at all levels and parents who want to assist their children's learning.


Microsoft Student 2006

* Pros: Easy to use, Encarta greatly improved.
* Cons: Of limited use without Microsoft Office.
* Price: $118 (check dse.co.nz).
* Herald Rating: 7/10.