I am under the impression from both the reading and my own experience that most people over the age of about 8 have a general knowledge about how to use MS Word. I've used it frequently ever since I started middle school. I used it to do projects, write essays and papers, notes to teachers, book reports, science projects, ect. I still use it for all of this today. I know my teachers used if for writing up a class schedule or a syllabus. They also use it for decorating classrooms and labeling also. One reason for the use of Word instead of a pencil and paper, is due to the speed at which you can complete a project. Typing is much quicker than simply writing it out.
I can't think of a specific instance that really wow's me, but I can tell you everything that I think is creative about the MS Word program. Using word can spice up any peiece of work. You are able to add pictures (Clip Art), make the letters look funky in all different shapes, sizes, and colors (Word Art), and even insert links to websites (Hyperlink). Tests, charts, bullet points, outlines, and many more forms of writing can be more creative through all of these appications I just mentioned. Now that I've been writing I do remember in 7th grade my Geography teacher copied and pasted the shapes of countries and left room for us to label them each. That was the first time I had seen pictures like that on a test and I thought it was even cooler that it was in color! At the end we had to cut out all of the countries to make a whole continent. I learned a lot and the teacher simply clicked a button to cause my amazement of Word.
I have learned so many short cuts on word and on the computer through this class so far. I thin they will be very usful in saving time while writing papers, saving data, and surfing the web. I learned how to copy and paste something without even touching my mouse, I touched 4 keys and it was done! Having a laptop means that you wont necessarily always have access to the right click of a mouse to copy and paste something. For someone who takes and sends a lot of pictures it was helpful to learn how to do this without the use of a mouse. And now instead of clicking all over to get a new tab online all I do is click two buttons and Eurika, another tab is there in a flash! I'm anxious to learn more quickies about the computer.