Product Description
Although there is no one right approach to working with teachers, professional developers will increase their chances for success when they base their work on a solid theoretical background of adult learning theory and organizational development, along with an understanding of lessons learned from the practice of others through the years, both nationally and internationally.

This book provides an overview of professional development programs that have demonstrated longterm success through assessment of outcomes. The models described here explore approaches that expand teachers knowledge, skill, and confidence in using technology tools in teaching and learning environments, with the focus on improving teaching and learning rather than on the technology use.

Thirteen chapters cover a wide range of topics, including a history of professional development in educational technology and a grounding in the relevant literature; successful and cutting-edge professional development models that discuss program planning, implementation, and assessment; and a discussion of lessons to be learned. The chapters are presented against a backdrop of selected relevant literature.

Topics include:

-professional/career development
-adult learning

Also available:

Visual Arts Units for All Levels - ISBN 1564842428
IT's Elementary!: Integrating Technology in the Primary Grades - ISBN 1564842282

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the trusted source for professional development, knowledge generation, advocacy and leadership for innovation. ISTE is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. Home of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), the Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology (CARET), and ISTE's annual conference (formerly known as the National Educational Computing Conference, or NECC), ISTE represents more than 100,000 professionals worldwide. We support our members with information, networking opportunities, and guidance as they face the challenge of transforming education.

Some of the areas in which we publish are:
-Web. 2.0 in the classroom-RSS, podcasts, and more
-National Educational Technology Standards (NETS)
-Professional development for educators and administrators
-Integrating technology into the classroom and curriculum
-Safe practices for the Internet and technology
-Educational technology for parents ... Read more

Product Description

Written in an engaging, common-sense tone, Solving the Professional Development Puzzle addresses many issues facing graduates in today’s ever-changing, demanding workplace.  From working in a global space to dining with class to constructing a powerful resume, this book offers an abundance of activities, advice, examples, and suggestions for developing a power job search plan.  Strong coverage of ethics and character development is included, as well as a detailed chapter on financial management in the transition from college to the world of work including advice on buying a car, avoiding credit card debt, and running from check cashing centers.

Customer Reviews (1)

Book Purchase
I received the book within 4 days of purchase and it was in the exact condition they said it was in. I would order from this customer again. ... Read more

Product Description
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology has been designed to cover the clinical and patient-management aspects of gastrointestinal and liver disease in a unique and exciting format. * Includes more than 70 video clips depicting everything from endoscopic clips through instruction on performing the perfect liver biopsy....to virtual endoscopy. * Features weekly content updates personally edited by the book’s lead authors * reference links to MEDLINE abstracts * and links from every drug to complete information in Mosby’s Drug Consult. * Includes POCKETConsult technology that allows you to download updates to your handheld device, and more. * Includes all of the artwork from the text downloadable into PowerPoint® presentations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

such a steal
when i went to buy this book at the college it was priced 48$ new, i got the same thing on here for a steal! twelve bucks and the only thing wrong with the book..is that i ended up not needing it! hahaha

Good service
Fast delivery, the used book was in perfect condition and their customer service is great.

Perfect tool to prepare for that first job in healthcare...
This book is for someone who has probably never held a job yet, is going to come out of school and presue a job in healthcare...Vey simplistic... ... Read more

Product Description
How can we help both beginning and experienced teachers engage students in today=s diverse classrooms? How can we focus on actual problems that teachers face? This book offers a learning tool--problem-based learning (PBL). PBL is an instructional method that encourages learners to use critical thinking and problem solving as they apply content knowledge to real-world problems and issues. Editor Barbara Levin and the book=s contributing authors believe that if teachers are to use PBL effectively with their K-12 students, they need to personally experience PBL themselves.

Levin provides field-tested examples of how teacher educators have used PBL in many professional development settings. Based on actual PBL units and activities contributed by various authors, the book describes how teachers tackled authentic problems that required them to find, evaluate, and use resources to learn, just as they expect their students to do when using PBL.

A brief introduction explains why and how to use PBL with teachers. Chapters 1B5 focus on how the chapter authors used PBL in different teacher preparation courses at several universities. Chapters 6 and 7 show how the authors, working with experienced teachers, used PBL in inservice and staff development settings. The final chapter offers answers to frequently asked questions about using PBL with teachers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Encourages learners to use critical thinking
Barbara Levin's Energizing Teacher Education And Professional Development With Problem-Based Learning offers an instructional method that encourages learners to use critical thinking and problem solving as they apply content knowledge to real-world problems and issues. The contributors provide field-tested examples of how teacher educators have used "problem based learning" in professional development settings including university based teacher preparation courses, work with experienced teachers in staff development and in-service settings; and addressing frequently asked questions about using this approach with classroom educators. Energizing Teacher Education And Professional Development With Problem-Based Learning is an important and welcome addition to teacher education studies reference collections and reading lists. ... Read more

Product Description
Praise for the previous edition:

'Reflective practice and writing can change lives. It changed mine. The very act of writing down the problem, clarifying, thinking, working through the issues, being forced to commit, is powerful. Read…and learn more'

- Kenneth C. Calman, Vice-Chancellor and Warden, University of Durham

'The book gives me fresh ideas for my teaching, solid theoretical frameworks for understanding it, infused commitment to the method, and grateful pride to be a member of this band of the searchers for truth and joy through writing'

- Rita Charon, Program in Narrative Medicine, Columbia University, New York

In this fully updated and revised third edition, the author draws on her considerable experience and extensive research to demonstrate a creative dynamic mode of reflection and reflexivity. Using expressive and explorative writing combined with in-depth group work/mentoring alongside appropriate focussed research, it enables sensitive and critical examinations of practice.

The author offers a searching and thorough approach which increases student and professional motivation, satisfaction, and deep levels of learning. She clearly explains the use of reflection; reflexivity; narrative; metaphor; complexity, and the literary and artistic methods used are firmly grounded in educational theory and pedagogical principles. New to this edition:

" a new chapter presenting different ways of undertaking and facilitating reflective practice

" further international coverage, including material from Australia, New Zealand and USA

This edition also includes a 'how to use this book' section; an annotated glossary explaining key terms; end of chapter activities and exercises plus suggested further reading. It also has an accompanying website which includes discussion and workshop exercises; a glossary; and online readings.

The methods are appropriate to, and used worldwide by, student profesionals and professionals undertaking continuing professional develpoment, across education; medicine and healthcare; clinical psychology; nursing; therapy; social work; counselling; business management. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Revisiting Your 'Self' In Practice


There's a saying from William Carlos Williams: `despite our wonderful technological wizardry, a doctor has ultimately to fall back on his or her way of being in the world, his or her sense of self'. This idea is an important concession to accepting unreservedly the onslaught of technological progress in modern medicine. Technology tends to come with an accompanying mindset, which puts the measurement of specific parts of the patient above understanding the person as a whole.

Reflective Practice suggests a means of exploring the sense of self within the professional identity as a whole. Gillie Bolton attempts to describe how to use this process and its accompanying benefits.She uses individual examples to effectively convey the human side of their internal deliberations.

`We do not `store' experience as data, like a computer: we `story' it'.
Winter 1988, p.235

The following are the key issues examined in this text; Effective reflective practice; Deep reflection; Authority and responsibility; Willingness to stay with uncertainty; Professional identity; Deep values.
The author explains "The structures in which our professional and personal roles, values and every day lives are embedded are complex and volatile. Power is subtle and slippery; its location is often different from how it appears." She adds that deep reflection and reflexivity for development involve:

* Authority and responsibility for personal and professional identity, values, actions, feelings.
* Contestation
* Willingness to stay with uncertainty, unpredictability, questioning

Paradoxically she proposes that "the route is not through angry and uncomfortable confrontation:such revolution leads to destructive cycles of action and reaction." She feels that "The route is through spirited enquiry leading to constructive developmental change and personal and professional integrity, based on deep understanding. It is a creative process demanding the practitioner adopt a dynamic, self-affirming philosophy in their work.

"But reflective practice is not a thorn-less rose bed." She warns "People only learn and develop when they enjoy the process, and benefit personally." She goes on to develop her theme. "Serious professionals may cavil at adopting such creative methods, and feel suspicious of using deeply accessible varied sources of wisdom."
Einstein could be promoted as an advocate and exemplar of this approach to professional development. His success in science derived partly because he doggedly and constantly asked questions to which everyone thought they already knew the answers. Childlike, his genius comprised of asking essentially simple questions from a different vantage point than the norm, trying to `see' theoretical problems in a way that could provide a solution.

"He loved the questions themselves like locked rooms and certainly lived the questions" (Rilke,1934) There is a paradox proposed-that the events we forget easily, are the ones that perhaps most need reflection-giving rise to the deepest reflexivity: to this effect Bolton recommends a human resource development exercise, namely `Writing What You Do Not Remember'.

Plato, said, "The life without examination is no life." The author suggests that we accept his wisdom. Authentic education should explore methods of digging into material to discover what we don't know we know.

The method of travel affects what happens along the way-and the destination may be different as a result. A medical student commented: "We spend so much time studying medicine that we never have time to study sick people." Some argue that enquiry based learning should become the organised logic of entire teaching education programmes, with students learning through Medical courses need shaking up and more enquiry-based methods introduced. (`Curriculum' is Latin for `racecourse'-perhaps we need to lose the association with ancient Romans and its attendant bellicosity and the mayhem of the amphitheatre)?

A story is an attempt to create order and security out of a chaotic world. But for our experience to help us develop-socially, psychologically and spiritually,- our world must be made to appear strange. We, and our students, must be encouraged to examine our story-making processes critically: to create and recreate fresh accounts of our lives from different perspectives, different points of view, and to elicit and listen to the responses of peers. Listening critically to the stories of those peers also enables learning from the experience. `It is the exploration of experience, knowledge, values, identity that matters, rather than any attempt to arrive at a true account.' (Doyle 2004)
Without doubt the subject Bolton writes about so eloquently is essential to any professional working in healthcare and doubtless other areas of work. In any job it may be easy to forget that the practitioner needs to keep their practice authentic and responsive to those they contact. I cannot recommend Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development sufficiently. It's an excellent work, which provides opportunity for the reader to find out why they're working as they are and how to improve their practice. ... Read more

Product Description
Based on the belief that teachers ultimately are responsible for their own professional development, this book explores the concept of reflective teaching and provides practical advice on how to examine critically one's own teaching practices. ... Read more

Product Description
This book reveals whether or not teachers believe professional development components such as reflective dialogue and peer observation can positively impact their teaching. The literature emphasizes a laboratory-type setting where teachers recognize their environment as learning enriched rather than learning impoverished. It provides an excellent starting point for the shift in structure from one-shot, atheorectical, passive professional development sessions to sustained, proactive, theory-based activities that are part of a culture of ongoing professional development. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Wonderful book -- Highly Recommended
As a veteran educator, I feel that "How Teachers Learn Best" is one of the best organized and well-written texts on teacher development ever written.I cannot think of another text I would choose over it to showcase the failure of stagnant, inflexible, "one-size-fits-all" teaching approaches of the past.The text also provides an excellent overview of the myriad other professional issues challenging contemporary teachers (these insights carry over well to related fields - my wife is a professional counselor and thoroughly enjoyed the book as well).Dr. Fiszer obviously expects readers to become involved in introducing and applying fresh perspectives to "traditional approaches" that may not be as well suited for today's educational challenges.The author produces numerous useful examples for thought and discussion as well as skillfully designed activities for the classroom setting.

Excellent!!!
A great many educational books have been written dealing with how students learn (which is, of course, very important.)Few focus on how teachers learn.Dr. Edward Fiszer does an admirable job of this in his book,How Teachers Learn Best.Dr. Fiszer emphasizes shifting the focus of staff development from the traditional one-shot, isolated sessions to an ongoing, collaborative model which includes peer observations, consistent and constructive feedback, and reflective dialogue among teachers.He also ties the book together with practical and sensible recommendations on how this can be done.Dr. Fiszer's book is a sure-fire, practical model for administrators and supervisors to use in improving the learning capabilities for teachers, and ultimately, those of the students they teach.

Improving Teacher Quality
Dr. Edward Fiszer has discovered what other educational researchers have discovered as well: that teacher quality makes a difference in student achievement. This book focuses on on-going professional development and what Sparks and Hirsh refer to as "job-embedded" learning.With a focus on teachers as reflective practitioners, Fiszer's book can be used by teachers, principals, staff developers, and superintendents as well. It's good research in an accessible format. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume outlines how to use the NCATE-approved gifted education standards to determine professional development objectives for teachers and design and assess inservice training programs. ... Read more

Product Description
CCIE Professional Development: Large-Scale IP Network Solutions is a core textbook for preparation for the CCIE Routing and Switching exam track. As well as CCIE preparation, Large-Scale IP Network Solutions provides solutions for network engineers as IP networks grow and become more complex. The book discusses all major IP protocols in depth, including RIP, IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF, IS-IS, and BGP. It evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each protocol, helping you to choose the right ones for your environments. Special sections address scalability, migration planning, network management, and security for large-scale networks. Router configuration examples, network case studies, and sample scenarios all help you put the information presented in the book to use. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

What?
Never before has a Cisco book covered so many protocols so poorly in so little space.I actually felt more confused about IS-IS after reading this book than I did before I started.The coverage of other protocols is little better.The author's frequent grammatical slip-ups render many sentances open to contracdictory interpretations.On the whole, I would recommend the CCIE Routing TCP/IP Volumes I and II before this book.There are some good chapters here and there in the book, and some good information you won't find elsewhere, but the middle chunk of the text is a waste.So much of this book is a bad rehash of what the CCNP or CCIE candidate will have already studied elsewhere as to make the reading experience as a whole discouraging.

Poorly Edited
Editing seems to have been limited to running the text through a spell checker. Page 69 refers to "a Frame Rely network". Page 72 explains that an ISDN BRI provides "two barrier channels".

Frequently diagrams include acronyms for which no explanation is offered, as if the figure was shoveled in from somewhere else. There is no glossary of acronyms and many are missing from the index.

An entire chapter is spent on RIP1, with redundant statements about the lack of VLSM support and obsolete status.

My experience was that issues of technical sublety were as often muddied as they were explained.

There is good info in this book, too, but considering the Cisco name, I expected much better.

Good, but supplement your reading with the relevant RFCs
I used this book to understand Cisco's BGP4 implementation. And I thank my lucky stars that I'd read RFC 1771 first!

Overall, this book does a good job of explaining the various knobs that Cisco supports for the protocols discussed. However, in attempting to also cover the bits and bytes of these protocols, the book makes far too many mistakes.

For instance, on page 269, when discussing BGP's UPDATE message, the book says that the Withdrawn Routes field consists of, "... triples, with length being one octet, and indicates the number of octets in the prefix field." First of all, the so-called "" construct is not a "triple"! Second, the length element does not indicate the "number of octets" in the prefix field, rather, it indicates the number of significant bits!

On the other hand, this book does a much better job of explaining various protocol features at a high level. In particular, its discussion of BGP4 path attributes is very good. Much better than RFC 1771 in fact!

In summary, get your bits and bytes from the RFCs and use this book to understand when to tweak the Cisco's knobs for its various protocol implementations.

Yes, it's a good one.
This book is about 560 pages long, and aproximately first 300 pages describe briefly Internet evolution and basics of IP protocols. It's a pretty interesting stuff, the content is good and style is o.k. too, but you can read it anywhere and I'd say there is nothing special there. The real value of this book in the last 260 pages. There are a few case studies, and it's something really unique. I was very surprised that I've never thought about some issues specific to very large networks. Hub and spoke network design for 800 routers is pretty much different from the 80 routers network. I think there are very few people in the world who are working on so high level and it's very interesting just to take a look at the problem examples they meet in their work.

Probably, this book won't help much in your everyday work, and probaly you'd expect more large network specific information. Of course, I wouldn't recommend you to read this book in the very beginning of your networking career. But if you 've got a strong networking backgroung and you're looking for more advanced design tutorials, this book, especially last 200 pages, would be very helpful.

An outstanding book from one of the top network designers
Khalid is one of the best network designers I have ever met. His book isexcellent technically, and is both clear and concise. This is not a bookfor the faint hearted - a good knowledge of routing protocols and networkdesign is a must. For those who are experienced network engineers, tryingto "go to the next level", this is a MUST HAVE. ... Read more

Product Description
A soup-to-nuts guide to developing superiorproject-manager skills and competencies--from two of the mostrespected authorities in the field.

Effective project management is becoming a critical mission skill forindividuals and organizations in every industry. Faster product lifecycles, the widespread adoption of cross-functional teams, and theincreasing demands of customers are all contributing to the growingneed for professional managers who know how to marshal resources, makedecisions, and ensure the smooth flow of projects from idea tolaunch. In The World Class Project Manager, Robert Wysocki andJames Lewis offer a highly practical handbook for anyone who aspiresto achieve superior project-manager skills. Featuring self-assessmenttools, showcasing best practices from the field, and drawing on theirown extensive experience in training project managers around theworld, the authors provide a comprehensive program for crafting acareer development plan and putting it into action.Amazon.com Review
There's always room at the top. Those seeking to stake their claims can turn to The World Class Project Manager: A Professional Development Guide for expert planning advice on setting and reaching their management career goals. Authors Robert K. Wysocki and James P. Lewis and contributor Doug DeCarlo have extensive experience in training project managers, and their simple, direct style helps readers define their assets and devise a career development strategy. Through stories about clients and interviews with professional development consultants, the authors personalize the process and help readers understand and overcome the obstacles to success in project management.

The World Class Project Manager is well illustrated and packed with examples of simple steps to improve people-oriented and more strategic skills. Plentiful self-assessment exercises, including an expanded Meyers-Briggs and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, help organize the prospective PM's strengths and talents to best direct their assignments and advance their careers. Finishing with concrete advice for handling the day-to-day problems and mini-crises that inevitably arise on the job, the book gently steers readers toward confidence and competence in all things mission-critical. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Product Description
This text answers questions about the basics of nursing staff development, such as roles and responsibilities, educational designs, and learning styles, as well as advanced topics such as accreditation/approval and certification. Written in a controversial style, readers can quickly identify topics of interest. ... Read more

Product Description
Ubuntu Mobile is quickly being adopted by mobile device manufacturers and provides Web browsing, e-mail, media, camera, VoIP, instant messaging, GPS, blogging, digital TV, games, contacts, dates/calendar, and simple software updates on every mobile device. As the first book on Ubuntu Mobile, this resource is authored by one of the top experts for Ubuntu Mobile who shows how to implement solutions for original equipment manufacturers and independent software vendors wishing to go to market using Ubuntu Mobile. The material also covers setting up Linux for mobile application development, the difference between developing on a mobile Internet device and a regular desktop environment, step-by-step tutorials, and much more. ... Read more

Product Description
How we dress says alot about who we are, how we are feeling and how far we want our careers to go. In this sixth title from the Professional Development Series, Professional Image presents the concepts behind dressing for success. Beginning with traditional standards for office attire, the book covers the new dress codes including business casual and dress down days. With clear and concise explanations of what is acceptable in today's workplace, this handy reference will provide practical tips and guidelines to help you make the most of your professional appearance. ... Read more

Product Description
Discover the keys to being a betterofficer, citizen and individual!Scores of officers nationwide have used this resource to develop an ethically sound warrior mind-set that dictates the way they live their lives in the field, off-duty, and forever. Dr. Jetmore brilliantly melds universal concepts of ethical behavior with real-world scenarios, then challenges you with provocative questions that help you grasp the nuances ofright, wrongand the gray areas in between. Learn tolive your life confidently, respectfully and fully while meeting the demands of your job! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The path of the warrior
I picked this up after finishng Dr. Jetmore's Police Seargent Exam Prep Guide. Jetmore is a 20-year law enforcement veteran and former Police Commander. The focus of this book is on ethics as it relates to personal and professional development. This book ancient "codes of honor" and recounts stories of actions that police office took in their daily duties and the related values conflicts, psychological and physical stresses. It is a challenging read, but it raises interesting questions.

Jetmore Hits it on the Head.
I couldn't put this one down.I've been looking for something that addresses the things I've been trying to deal with on the job, and this book nailed it!

It doesn't give you all the answers, just the right encouragement to keep looking.

I would say this one's a must for anyone in law enforcement or any stressful field.

One of the best
I've read several books on the subject of police ethics.Jetmore's is byfar the best.A wonderful combination of research and actual stories fromthe streets, this books captured my interst from te very beginning.Veryinsightful.

How do you determine the "right" thing to do?
Dr. Jetmore, a law enforcement veteran of 21 years, challenges students and veterans alike to awaken their souls and become "warriors." Using "war stories" and the "ancient philosophy and code ofhonor used by King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table," Dr. Jetmoreprovides a concise yet encompassing work of challenges.

This workrecounts stories of actions that police officers take in the daily conductof their duties, only to be questioned later by the public. Such exposureto values conflicts subject officers to both psychological and physicalstress.

Dr. Jetmore challenges all who read this work to "takecontrol of their destiny," and seek professional and privatedevelopment. He even speaks the previously "unspeakable" innersould reactions to years of affiliation with traumatic events.

I suspectmany in law enforcement will disagree with Dr. Jetmore. All the reasonthose that are tasked with protecting us need to read and review his work.

A challenging book on multiple levels,yet worth the effort.
Larry Jetmore, a retired Hartford, CT Police Commander and current university educator, seeks to reawaken the ethical bearing of working police officers.

In a short book, less than 140 pages, that is liberally sprinkled with both inspirational quotes from philosophers and pertinent "war stories" Jetmore challenges his readers to recapture their "shadow".

"To become a warrior you must turn your back on the consensus of others, open the gate, cross the bridge and begin the inner quest of your heart and spirit."

In a time when ethics and ethics training are "hot topics", Jetmore has contributed a challenging and substantive work that will stand the test of time. It is an actual contribution to the ongoingdialogue within the profession. ... Read more

Product Description
This resource provides comprehensive information on the future of education, training and professional development in general practice and primary care. It is an anthology of work produced by many of the leading figures in general practice across the United Kingdom. General practice now faces challenges that could be seen as threatening the way it traditionally operates, but can also be seen as presenting opportunities. This book offers inspiration and guidance to its readers and fuel for the challenges ahead. It shares knowledge and best practice on education, teaching and professional development, drawing on examples from local, regional and national projects. It should be helpful to general practitioners involved in education and training, those who need to know how revalidation and professional development will influence them, and toall members of primary health care teams who want to be involved in shaping the primary care organizations of the future. ... Read more

Product Description
Free teachers tools on the Internet? Yes, indeed, and in amazing variety. Now, with help from Web expert Jim Lerman, you too can discover the choicest sites for classroom tools and professional development. Learn how you can edit digital media for free online rather than purchasing and installing costly software. Use the power of RSS to collect the content you want without tedious searching. Locate or custom-build student worksheets. Find video clips for on-demand viewing. Design your classroom floor plan. Construct tests that score themselves. All of this and more-all free, all vetted, and all online.

Features

Detailed site descriptions and highlights for teachers
Primer on RSS and Web 2.0 technologies
Full correlation to NETS for Teachers

Topics include:

-online resources
-productivity tools
-technology integration

Also available:

Educator's Podcast Guide - ISBN 1564842312
IT's Elementary!: Integrating Technology in the Primary Grades - ISBN 1564842282

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the trusted source for professional development, knowledge generation, advocacy and leadership for innovation. ISTE is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. Home of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), the Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology (CARET), and ISTE's annual conference (formerly known as the National Educational Computing Conference, or NECC), ISTE represents more than 100,000 professionals worldwide. We support our members with information, networking opportunities, and guidance as they face the challenge of transforming education.

Some of the areas in which we publish are:
-Web. 2.0 in the classroom-RSS, podcasts, and more
-National Educational Technology Standards (NETS)
-Professional development for educators and administrators
-Integrating technology into the classroom and curriculum
-Safe practices for the Internet and technology
-Educational technology for parents ... Read more

Product Description

“As Excel applications become more complex and the Windows development platform more powerful, Excel developers need books like this to help them evolve their solutions to the next level of sophistication. Professional Excel Development is a book for developers who want to build powerful, state-of-the-art Excel applications using the latest Microsoft technologies.”

–Gabhan Berry, Program Manager, Excel Programmability, Microsoft

“The first edition of Professional Excel Development is my most-consulted and most-recommended book on Office development. The second edition expands both the depth and range. It shines because it takes every issue one step further than you expect. The book relies on the authors’ current, real-world experience to cover not only how a feature works, but also the practical implications of using it in professional work.”

–Shauna Kelly, Director, Thendara Green

“This book illustrates techniques that will result in well-designed, robust, and maintainable Excel-based applications. The authors’ advice comes from decades of solid experience of designing and building applications. The practicality of the methods is well illustrated by the example timesheet application that is developed step-by-step through the book. Every serious Excel developer should read this and learn from it. I did.”

–Bill Manville, Application Developer, Bill Manville Associates

The Start-to-Finish Guide to Building State-of-the-Art Solutions with Excel 2007

In this book, four world-class Microsoft® Excel developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors—three of whom have been honored by Microsoft as Excel Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs)—show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel’s most powerful new features. Using their techniques,you can reduce development costs, time to market, and hassle—and build more effective, successful solutions.

Fully updated for Excel 2007, this book starts where other books on Excel programming leave off. Through a hands-on case study project, you’ll discover best practices for planning, architecting, and building Excel applications that are robust, secure, easy to maintain, and highly usable. If you’re a working developer, no other book on Excel programming offers you this much depth, insight, or value.

•    Design worksheets that will be more useful and reliable

•    Leverage built-in and application-specific add-ins

•    Construct applications that behave like independent Windows programs

•    Make the most of the new Ribbon user interface

•    Create cross-version applications that work with legacy versions of Excel

•    Utilize XML within Excel applications

•    Understand and use Windows API calls

•    Master VBA error handling, debugging, and performance optimization

•    Develop applications based on data stored in Access, SQL Server, and other databases

•    Build powerful visualization solutions with Excel charting engine

•    Learn how to work with VB.NET and leverage its IDE

•    Automate Microsoft Excel with VB.NET

•    Create managed COM add-ins for Microsoft Excel with VB.NET

•    Develop Excel solutions with Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO)

•    Integrate Excel with Web Services

•    Deploy applications more securely and efficiently

Customer Reviews (38)

Great Paper Weight
First thing that will irritate you about this book is the total lack of an accompanying PDF e-book.Sure, you can access the e-book online at safari - for 45 days (even though the book claims you can access it for 120 days!).After that, you have to "buy" tokens to get limited chapters and even then, you can't access the e-book without logging into safari.So if you want to look up something, it's old school time - use the index and pray you'll find it within the first hour.

What a joke!Oh, and don't even get me started on the joke website.You have to use a "real name" - their phrase.My real name didn't "qualify" and I was refused an account.I'd love to know who/how they determine a "real name"!

As for the book itself, I was actually interested in trying to count how many times the authors used the phrase, "beyond the scope of this book".So much is left out yet you wouldn't know it judging by the weight of the book!

Overall, a poorly contrived exercise in verbosity and yet so lacking in practical value.

Save your money and look elsewhere.

Chapter 3 is worth the entire book for beginning VBA'ers
I teach Excel and am a VBA developer.I laughed as I read chapter 3, titled "General Application Development Best Practices", because I found myself thinking, wow, if I had read this book 15 years ago I could have saved myself tons of grief!It is one of the BEST summaries of "good vba practices" that I've ever seen.For beginning developers, reading chapter 3 alone is worth the cost of the book.After developing for 15 years, I follow almost all of the practices that were covered in that chapter - and can't agree more with the importance of them.I haven't finished going through this book yet but my enthusiasm for the book wouldn't be diminished even if I hated the rest of it.

The Ultimate Power-User Book
Every once in a while a technical book comes along which strikes the perfect balance between "technical detail", "practical application", and "vision". I am, like many people who buy self-help style technical books (as opposed to full out college textbooks), a self declared power-user. Power users are folks who need to get stuff down; not much time for parsing minute details and theoretical concepts. We look for ways to make our day-to-day business tasks more automated. If you're self employed like me, you're very business existence depends on automation.

This book is special for 3 reasons:

1) Practicality of advanced topics:
As a power-user, when was the last time you found yourself seriously looking at c programming, ADO, and SQL? The authors give us real life uses for these sorts of things, in a very focused manner. You walk away with an excellent understanding of why and when to use these things (notice I didn't say thorough understanding. The authors wisely admit that's someone else job, and point you in the right direction), based on what you're trying to accomplish.

2) Relevance of good programming practices:
Most books on programming teach "good programming practice" as if you are going to be working in an enterprise environment, with a team of engineers and professors. That's fine but in reality power-users work under deadlines and completely alone. No one cares how well you comment your code. As long as the thing works, when you want it too, then you've programmed enough. The authors explain a concept called "Interfacing" in a way that makes "good programming" a very practical time investment. I know "Interfacing" is not a new concept (as none of the topics in this book are). Its all in how the authors connect the dots. The relationship of concepts is far more important than the concept itself.

3) You want to know more:
Usually that's a bad thing, but not in this case because you know why. 90% of technical authors write some form of a dictionary, sprinkled with examples. But the end goal of a program is automation (or at least it should be), whether its iTunes or VBA. Take a repetitious task and automate it. Power-users don't have the luxury of slogging through a dictionary. If I spend time learning an advanced technical topic, there must be clear, reasonably obtainable objectives. The authors accomplish this by a lot. This is a tech book that really sheds light on the usefulness of all those seemingly unuseful-to-you type topics that have spawned so many 1300 page books.

If you've hung with me this far, you might have noticed I don't talk about Excel. That's because this book really isn't about Excel. Excel acts mostly as a cloths-line, linking various topics, methods, and recommendations. The authors tell us at the beginning, Excel is an excellent platform for fast application development and prototyping. THAT's really what the book is about.

It's too bad books aren't written this way more often. Hope this review was helpful

A Real Time Saver
I purchased this book when started a project that involved using Excel as the platform for an application. I wanted a reference of best practices as a template for the development. I was able to adapt the PETRAS source code for my project and it saved me weeks of programming. It has convinced me of the viability of Excel for custom applictions and it has advanced my knowledge of class modules, interfaces, events, and encapsulation that will be helpful as I get deeper into applying .NET technologies. The text and examples for the standard use of defined names, generic command bar module, user interface classes, centralized error handling, disconnected recordsets, etc. have addressed most issues that have arisen. I highly recommend this book.

Technical Book on Excel Development
The book targets professional developers and definitely is not a beginner's book.It has a high technical level.The book assumes that you have a firm grasp of Excel and experience writing VBA.At over a thousand pages this is not really a book to read cover to cover.It is an excellent reference manual.There is good separation between the chapters.So you don't need to read the previous chapter to understand the present chapter.

This book doesn't waste time covering beginning areas that a professional developer should know.The book spends almost all the time discussing intermediate and advanced topics.There are plenty of code examples in the book that helps understand the concepts being presented.

The chapters covering best practices are good.It is interesting to hear professionals share their knowledge and expertise on what they consider the best way to do something.Don't have to always agree or implement their concepts, but to get professional points of view over a subject, is helpful.This is an excellent book to have on a bookshelf. ... Read more

Product Description
Applying TQM to systems engineering can reduce costs while simultaneously improving product quality. This guide to proactive systems engineering shows how to develop and optimize a practical approach, while highlighting the pitfalls and potentials involved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

written when TQM was hot
Somewhat of a faddish book. It came out when TQM was red hot in management circles. Since then, experience with TQM has dampened a lot of that initial ardour.

Various chapters of the book are solidly written, though. See the discussion about the different types of contracts - Firm Fixed Price, Cost Plus and others. For a manager, this may be the most crucial portion of the book.

Other sections are mundane. Like the different types of charts/graphs with which to visualise data. All the way up to PERT charts. ... Read more

Product Description
This text specifically targets busy school principals who want practical suggestions grounded in national NSDC standards for balancing everyday administrative tasks while encouraging teachers' professional growth. ... Read more